Dell XPS new machine over heating

Hi, I just received delivery of the Dell XPS on 24 December. I bought it in Mumbai, India and then came to stay for a year at Grenoble, France. I love the machine. However, I have been noticing that the machine is over heating, to a point where I can't keep it on my lap and work with it. The bottom of the machine is also too hot to touch. I tried calling the Dell Call Centre, but my French sucks. Any ideas why this is happening? Or how I can fix it?

 

Have you checked what the actual temperatures are using a program? There's a lot you can use: Gpu-Z, MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, etc. If you can report back to us with a screenshot on the temperatures and what your specs are we can help you out, with what we have now "feels hot to the touch" we can't do much as that statement is very subjective.

 

the SAME case is with me, the 740QM i7 runs mostly at 49-55C at idle, and gpu remains at 50-52C. At load, the i7 can go upto mid 70's or near to 80's when gaming. But from the bottom, the laptop seems abnormally HOT, even when idle. However, this was a replacement for my dell studio 1458, even that notebook with the i5 and ATI 5450 ran much cooler than the XPS from the bottom. The XPS is too hot to touch from the bottom, from the day it was brand NEW.

 

@DaneGRClose, does your XPS run hot from the bottom? I have the 6cell battery by the way.

 

i7 is a lot hotter than i5. The SandyBridge is ever hotter. I've seen temps in the 90s.

 

My i7 does not cause this to happen.

I run some heavy games at times and while the air vent on the left does get quite hot, my temps have not gone over 70-75. Also, the bottom is never hot, the bottom vent next to the left main vent is even cold to the touch.

Imho, this is a defective/refurbished unit and you should call Dell to get a replacement.

 

some good info.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...rket-upgrades/263039-nbr-cooling-central.html

 

i get no more then 55 C on normal usage, when i play games it goes up to 65 C

 

I am using the 9 cell battery and the temperature is around 40-50 idle and up tp 55c if I play online games.

I7 hotter than i5? Well, it is possible with the first generation core i7 but not for SB CPUs though. They are cooler. In fact, the Dell XPS 17 which I am using last longer on a single charge than my previous Acerbic TimelineX 3820TZ and cooler (the acerbic suffered from overheating),

 

i don't know what u guys r talking about? There's a huge thread on this board about the high temps of the SB i7 in the L502x and MacBooks

 

perhaps we're talking about the first gen i7 processors, the clarksfield ones.

the right portion of the palmrest gets more than noticeably hot too.

even when its elevated, the case is almost the same.

 

What games are you playing, Angry Birds? It's been proven the SB processors run hot (as we call it), when in fact they are designed to run all the way up to 100*C and then throttle to keep temps under control. It's been proven on the slower processors like yours as well as the faster ones like mine.

 

The topic is about the clarksfield i7 and specifically XPS 14 (L401X) which gets too hot from the bottom.

Is the overheating due to the sloppy thermal paste job? Also the right side of the palmrest remains hotter than the left side of palmrest which is not normal. Most chassis of the laptops I've experienced generally get hot mostly on or near the sites of heatsink. But for the XPS, it gets too hot at the left bottom, but does not get hot on the left side of the palmrest, but the right portion of the palmrest??

Btw if I call dell to redo the thermal paste job will they? And will it make any difference to my temps if they use THEIR own stock thermal paste, which may not be AS5, MX3, etc. but something else?

 

Give a call to Dell customer service and they will come over to sort out your overheating problem. Most probably they will replace the heatsink/fan/thermal paste. That was what happened to me last year. They came in three times to fix the problem.

 

So did you notice any reduction in temps? And did they replace thermal paste also?

 

I normally play games for about an hour a day, like FIFA 2011 or PES at 900p resolution, normally the temperature is about 65C after I played.

 

Your temps are fine, but what's a better fix in bringing down the temps at their best? (I'm asking in terms of an individual fix) A cooling pad or a thermal paste replacement?

can anybody suggest a good cooling pad within the range of 40-50$ for my xps 14 that can bring a 10c+ decrease in temps especially under load?

 

You can get lots of third party notebook coolers, e.g. Akasa. Perhaps it will be best for you to shop around. I think having a 9 cell battery will solve the problem. Make sure that you have sufficient ventilation especially you are in India. Are you working with your laptop in an air-conditioned room all the time? If that is the case, it will remove some of the overheating problems.

 

Dell laptops and heat are two sides of a coin: heat will be there with every Dell laptops

 

Well, I work in an air-conditioned room at all time. My old studio 14 (specs in my sig) also never got heated in such a way.

Even when idling, my XPS heats to a particular extent (especially the right side of palmrest) and the bottom aswell.

I use it on a flat surface. Sometimes I use books also to elevate the laptop and try to give it enough cooling.

Even when the Air conditioner is operating at 16c, it remains hot, and needs direct contact of air in order to keep itself cool. Though room temperature is fine.

So what's your say mavericke? The cooler master thermal fusion 400 thermal paste or a logitech cooling N100 cooling pad?

 

Well, I'm looking at these cooling pads:

Cooler Master Notepal E1
NotePal E1 - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case | Cooler | Power Supply

Cooler Master Notepal X2
NotePal X2 - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case | Cooler | Power Supply

Cooler Master Notepal Infinite

Belkin Laptop Cooling Pad
Belkin Cooling Pad F5L055

Can anyone tell me which one is the best for me? I don't care much about the fan noise, but just wanted to make sure if the fan noise stays at about 40-45dB, not more than that.

What I want is the biggest possible decrease in internal temps (like CPU and GPU).

Also, one more question, my XPS has the vents located on the left side. So does any of the cooling pad(s) affect the cooling operation, when the fan is situated on the left side? Thanks.