Laptop insanely hot

[Inkz]

So I was just playing some Overwatch and I noticed that my GPU temp was kinda high. I went to check core temp and it said my CPU core 1 hit a max of 100C AND WAS 92 WHEN I CHECKED. I took apart the back, no dust in fans or heatsink and there is still airflow. I have an alienware 17 R4, the temps used to be great, always sub 80 while gaming. I don't know what happened, anyone have any ideas?

[Super Spartan]

6 minutes ago, Inkz said:

So I was just playing some Overwatch and I noticed that my GPU temp was kinda high. I went to check core temp and it said my CPU core 1 hit a max of 100C AND WAS 92 WHEN I CHECKED. I took apart the back, no dust in fans or heatsink and there is still airflow. I have an alienware 17 R4, the temps used to be great, always sub 80 while gaming. I don't know what happened, anyone have any ideas?

Your thermal paste has probably dried out. Are you comfortable re-pasting it yourself? The best thermal paste right now is Phobya NanoGrease Extreme

[Inkz]

I don't think I am, I have done it for desktops, but my laptop has a really complicated heatsink and it's my only computer I have with me right now

[Inkz]

Also I got it Late November in 2019, does TP dry out that fast?

[Inkz]

4 minutes ago, Ultra Male said:

Your thermal paste has probably dried out. Are you comfortable re-pasting it yourself? The best thermal paste right now is Phobya NanoGrease Extreme

oops forgot to quote you

 

[Fakmykak]

It is a laptop.... 

 

Consider investing in one of those fan tray things that sit under your laptop to blow cool air into the intakes. Those have helps me a lot in the past. You will just have to get used to the new position you gotta put your hands. Worth it for the performance increase and less sound in my opinion.

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/0VE-00ZR-00014?Description=laptop cooler&cm_re=laptop_cooler-_-9SIA4RE5UA5322-_-Product

[Inkz]

Just now, Fakmykak said:

It is a laptop.... 

 

Consider investing in one of those fan tray things that sit under your laptop to blow cool air into the intakes. Those have helps me a lot in the past. You will just have to get used to the new position you gotta put your hands. Worth it for the performance increase and less sound in my opinion.

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/0VE-00ZR-00014?Description=laptop cooler&cm_re=laptop_cooler-_-9SIA4RE5UA5322-_-Product

Yeah, but it has excellent cooling. I purposely got like the best cooling that generation had. For the past few years even while gaming it would only get to like 80 or 81c while OC. I appreciate the advice, but I know it is a laptop. 

[Fakmykak]

1 minute ago, Inkz said:

Yeah, but it has excellent cooling. I purposely got like the best cooling that generation had. For the past few years even while gaming it would only get to like 80 or 81c while OC. I appreciate the advice, but I know it is a laptop. 

It is probably either the thermal paste, or there is a buncha dust stuck in the cooling system or fans. Either way you will most likely have to open it, if you want to fix it for real.

[Zodiark1593]

You're in luck as far as disassembly goes. Alienware laptops tend to make accessing the cpu/gpu very easy. Many other laptops require extensive work to extract the board. The Alienware should allow for direct access to the heatsinks.

[Inkz]

Just now, Fakmykak said:

It is probably either the thermal paste, or there is a buncha dust stuck in the cooling system or fans. Either way you will most likely have to open it, if you want to fix it for real.

Maybe it is thermal paste, I said in OP that I already checked for dust and fans and heatsinks were clean.

[Inkz]

7 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

You're in luck as far as disassembly goes. Alienware laptops tend to make accessing the cpu/gpu very easy. Many other laptops require extensive work to extract the board. The Alienware should allow for direct access to the heatsinks.

Really? I looked up a video and they had to disconnect like every part, but I don't mess with laptops so maybe I just haven't experienced how even worse others are. 

[AndreiArgeanu]

Well I recommend to RMA it as it is the best if your laptop is still under warranty. When I had issues with my Asus (hard drive) I sent it to them and not only did they fix the issue but also thoroughly tested my laptop with stress tests and replaced the thermal paste because apparently it was overheating (never had an issue with it overheating) and all that was for free, I mean in my case Asus has lovely service, not sure about Dell though.

Also by the way, Alienware laptops are notorious for overheating. 

Also Dell has a page solely on this topic, a google search would have fixed all your problems. I hyperlinked it btw

[Super Spartan]

On 7/15/2019 at 12:11 AM, Inkz said:

Also I got it Late November in 2019, does TP dry out that fast?

It shouldn't, but it may happen if the factory thermal paste job was a crappy one which we all know is usually the case. Often times they just put a small dot and slap the heatsink on not caring whether or not they put enough or the thermal paste spread out properly.

 

I suggest you look up a video of how to disassemble your laptop on YouTube or simply call Dell and let them send you a technician to help you do this but use your own thermal paste that I suggested.

 

I just got this Alienware Area-51m in April 2019 but the temps were very high so I changed the stock thermal paste with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on the CPU (which is a liquid metal not the regular thermal paste) and Phobya Nanogrease Extreme on the GPU.

 

 

When applying regular thermal paste (non-metal), I suggest you use the X Cross method rather than the pea sized dot method.

 

The X Cross method is the best in my experience as once the heatsink is fitted, it provides the maximum coverage with the least air bubbles

 

 

 

[Inkz]

2 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

Well I recommend to RMA it as it is the best if your laptop is still under warranty. When I had issues with my Asus (hard drive) I sent it to them and not only did they fix the issue but also thoroughly tested my laptop with stress tests and replaced the thermal paste because apparently it was overheating (never had an issue with it overheating) and all that was for free, I mean in my case Asus has lovely service, not sure about Dell though.

Also by the way, Alienware laptops are notorious for overheating. 

Also Dell has a page solely on this topic, a google search would have fixed all your problems. I hyperlinked it btw

 

58 minutes ago, Ultra Male said:

It shouldn't, but it may happen if the factory thermal paste job was a crappy one which we all know is usually the case. Often times they just put a small dot and slap the heatsink on not caring whether or not they put enough or the thermal paste spread out properly.

 

I suggest you look up a video of how to disassemble your laptop on YouTube or simply call Dell and let them send you a technician to help you do this but use your own thermal paste that I suggested.

 

I just got this Alienware Area-51m in April 2019 but the temps were very high so I changed the stock thermal paste with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on the CPU (which is a liquid metal not the regular thermal paste) and Phobya Nanogrease Extreme on the GPU.

 

 

When applying regular thermal paste (non-metal), I suggest you use the X Cross method rather than the pea sized dot method.

 

The X Cross method is the best in my experience as once the heatsink is fitted, it provides the maximum coverage with the least air bubbles

 

 

[MEDIA=youtube]EyXLu1Ms-q4[/MEDIA]

Unfortunatly it is out of warranty, I did contact dell and they said I could pay to ship it, but the cost of labor or parts is unknown if I do that. Also I have not heard anything about Alienwares being notorious for overheating. Until last week my machine has been the coolest gaming laptop I have ever seen barring the crazy liquid-cooled ones. 

[genexis_x]

On 7/15/2019 at 4:19 AM, Inkz said:

excellent cooling

lol, not even close to that with all those issues

[Inkz]

On 7/16/2019 at 3:26 AM, GeneXiS_X said:

lol, not even close to that with all those issues

mine did until whatever happened recently. I did a repaste and the GPU while gaming now is under 75 after gaming for a while. Just because a model of any computer has an independent issue late in it's life span does not take away from the what you bought it at. Also I would love to see what reviews you are saying that claim this overheating? Even Linus found the cooling to be absolutely excellent for a laptop. 

 

[ApolloX75]

Alienware units; especially the previous generation 15s and 17s, are ridiculous when it comes to heat management. I have RMA'd my 15 R3 at least six times since I bought it in November of 2017 for overheating and hardware failure related to overheating. It was so bad I purchased an extended warranty til 2020 and it has already paid for itself twice over.

 

Seriously the last time I sent it, they had it for over two months and put it through an engineering and QA team to fix the issue, which this time they seem to have done something right since it no longer overheats (as badly anyway) and hasn't failed in like six months which is a damn record. I've had three motherboard replacements and four heatsink replacements. Not to mention numerous RAM module replacements. 

 

I tried everything from repasting with conductonaut to undervolting and had no success.

 

Since you are out of warranty your best bet is to disassemble it VERY carefully; follow the multitude of guides that are available and repaste. While you're in there do a thorough clean out of the heatsinks as dust and debris gets caught on the inside of the laptop fans; under the sticky tape they use, and can cause a dramatic increase in temperatures on it's own.

[Inkz]

3 minutes ago, ApolloX75 said:

Alienware units; especially the previous generation 15s and 17s, are ridiculous when it comes to heat management. I have RMA'd my 15 R3 at least six times since I bought it in November of 2017 for overheating and hardware failure related to overheating. It was so bad I purchased an extended warranty til 2020 and it has already paid for itself twice over.

 

Seriously the last time I sent it, they had it for over two months and put it through an engineering and QA team to fix the issue, which this time they seem to have done something right since it no longer overheats (as badly anyway) and hasn't failed in like six months which is a damn record. I've had three motherboard replacements and four heatsink replacements. Not to mention numerous RAM module replacements. 

 

I tried everything from repasting with conductonaut to undervolting and had no success.

 

Since you are out of warranty your best bet is to disassemble it VERY carefully; follow the multitude of guides that are available and repaste. While you're in there do a thorough clean out of the heatsinks as dust and debris gets caught on the inside of the laptop fans; under the sticky tape they use, and can cause a dramatic increase in temperatures on it's own.

I had someone repaste CPU and GPU, CPU is just a little warmer but I had the CPU in performance in BIOS so that was an OC on it. GPU while gaming is now like 75. .

[ApolloX75]

2 minutes ago, Inkz said:

I had someone repaste CPU and GPU, CPU is just a little warmer but I had the CPU in performance in BIOS so that was an OC on it. GPU while gaming is now like 75. .

Good. They are really nice laptops and I love mine, but damn if they aren't high maintenance.