XPS M1530 handrest/case temperature

I noticed recently that the area of the laptop on the left of the touchpad and the touchpad itself have been getting quite hot to the touch.

I've read the temperature survey thread, and I don't think my temperatures are that bad.

When idle, I get around 50-55 C for the cores, and 60-65C for the GPU. It's higher than that under load, (GPU/CPU can go into 70's) but as far as I understand it's not atrociously bad.

(These are SpeedFan temps).

But I am bothered that the handrest is getting so hot, I'm not sure if it used to get this hot because I use a laptopstand that has its own handrest so I rarely touch it.

Is this your experience as well?

Should I be calling Dell?

thank you

 

It's a common issue with this units if it's getting that hot I would be worried so contact Dell if you feel you cant not correct this problem your self.
Try cleaning out the cooling unit and pay attention to the exhaust fins and fan blow out any junk trapped between or in these fields.
Jack the laptop rear end from your working surface at least 1.5 to 3 inc to aid better air flow.

 

Do you think it's worth getting new thermal paste?

 

Edit sorry..
Most cases it's worth replacing the paste.. Try arctic cooling mx-2 or mx-3 unless you have one to hand your thinking of using

 

From my personal experience on a Dell Vostro 1500, the answer is a resounding yes !

My Vostro 1500 is going on two years and over time I noticed my temps were climbing from the normal 35c-45c (CPU) and 40c-50c(GPU) they began to climb to 48c idle/63c load(CPU) and 50c idle/68c load (GPU).

My Dell uses a different video card than yours as it's not soldered onto the mobo. So as BlackRussian eluded to I first replaced the thermal paste and cleaned all the dust off of the CPU heatsink fins. That helped a lot but over time I noticed my temps started to climb back up to where they can become a problem.

So this morning I removed the videocard and viola there was the second problem the fins on the GPU heatsink had a thick layer of dust so I cleaned that out and removed the CPU fan and cleaned the fins.

My temps are back to where they were when I first got my laptop nearly two years ago. It's running sooooo much cooler now.

So the morale of the story is yes if you decide to replace the thermal paste YOU SHOULD clean out the dust bunnies on the heatsink fins and fan as well.

 

The 1530 is a hot running laptop. My usual temps while doing general stuff like Word and browsing is 50-60's C for the cores, and 70ish C for the GPU. In almost any game, the cores are around 80-90 C and the GPU is usually above 100 C but never above 103 C.

When I first noticed these, I took the laptop in to a Dell service center, who replaced the thermal paste and told me to come back when it failed.

 

How can I tell if my fan is working properly? Hardware Monitor shows it reaching ~4000 rpm, however I can't say I feel a significant airflow out of the back. (If I put my hand there, I don't feel wind.) Is this normal? Or should there be wind coming out of the back of my laptop?

Thank you

 

this info might help you out.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=263039

 

I replaced my OEM hard drive with a Western Digital Scorpio Blue and it has been much much cooler. The wrist area heating up is primarily due to the hard disk. the CPU and GPU also has a slight impact, but I'm assuming the mix of the 3 is causing it to get really hot.

I'd start by using some better thermal paste on the CPU & GPU. OCZ or Artic Silver and cleaning out the fan and grills. That will help your overall temps. But the wrist area is primarily from your hard drive, I think mine was a samsung (ran super hot).

Good Luck. Thermal paste is a great start IMO.

 

OP your temps are not atrocious by any means. I wouldn't get too worried unless the machine gets so hot that you can't comfortably sit in on your lap. Mine gets light load temps of about 50ish for the CPU and 58-60ish on the GPU and the case is warm, but it's not scorching even after it's been on for a few days straight.