Thermal pad vs goop/thick paste on Alienware M15

jm_bmw · March 4, 2022

Hello everyone,

I recently got a second hand Alienware M15 and the thing just overheats, even after a cleanup/repaste...

The i7-8750H uses 70-80W while on boost and isntantly gets to 95-100C on the cores, throttling down to 3.5-3.6Ghz (from 3.9 all core)

The 1070MaxQ uses 85-90W, doesn`t seem to thermal throttle -keeps 1450-1500Mhz clock- but easily gets to 85-90C and 98-102C on the hotspot when in pair w the CPU/gaming.

I have all thermal pad sizes from Thermalright (12.8w/mk) and a large tube of Noctua`s NT-H1 thermal paste so I was checking fitment and contact several times. I found out that the heatsink is not perfectly flat and on some places -like the vram on the left- were not even making contact, confirmed it was an out of factory issue since those vram had a shinny white writing on them (like brand new) while the other ones w contact were darker.

So what I did was to use extra pads/paste, first picture is the testing method (little dots of thermal paste to see what is contacting or not) and second is how I mounted, but as I said temperatures are about the same... maybe because there is more components making contact w the heatsink now...

I was thinking to order a new heatsink, but would like to try a thick paste or goop first, that way I know for sure that everything is making contact and that there is no pads to prevent a good cpu-gpu mount.

What are you guys experience w those, does it worth a try? whatelse could I do? are those M15 models know for being that hot?

jaslion · March 4, 2022

The overheating is by design. This was an issue at launch. No point in ordering a heatsink becayse you'll just get the same one with the same issues.

This laptop is the design when a 7700hq + 980m were the best and even those were running VERY hot. Add 2 more cores to that and well boom there goes the heatsink being overloaded..

Vishera · March 4, 2022

Clean the vents and heatsink fins with high pressure stuff,

Often dust gets stuck in there and overheating occurs.

jm_bmw · March 4, 2022

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

The overheating is by design. This was an issue at launch. No point in ordering a heatsink becayse you'll just get the same one with the same issues.

This laptop is the design when a 7700hq + 980m were the best and even those were running VERY hot. Add 2 more cores to that and well boom there goes the heatsink being overloaded..

Ouch, well thanks, good to know... the weird thing is that I was comparing with this review from 2018:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-m15-i7-8750H-GTX-1070-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.374921.0.html

On the review, cpu/gpu were around 84/74C so I wonder if something is wrong w my setup... but another strange thing is that the 8750H from the review used a maximum of 65W (reported on HWinfo screens) while mine uses a whole 75-80W... I wonder if there is something behind that...

52 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Clean the vents and heatsink fins with high pressure stuff,

Often dust gets stuck in there and overheating occurs.

Yes I did open the fans casing and cleaned everything properly, no dust leftovers.

jaslion · March 4, 2022

3 minutes ago, jm_bmw said:

Ouch, well thanks, good to know... the weird thing is that I was comparing with this review from 2018:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-m15-i7-8750H-GTX-1070-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.374921.0.html

On the review, cpu/gpu were around 84/74C so I wonder if something is wrong w my setup... but another strange thing is that the 8750H from the review used a maximum of 65W (reported on HWinfo screens) while mine uses a whole 75-80W... I wonder if there is something behind that...

Yes I did open the fans casing and cleaned everything properly, no dust leftovers.

This laptop can run in a locked and unlocked mode. Unlocked well enjoy overheating and lowered performance. Locked it's borderline ok but the back has to be lifted up.