cooling an xps m1530

pwd

This laptop is notorious for overheating thanks to the 8600m gpu. The power board had to be replaced recently for the second time on my two year old one. [At least I got an extended warranty].

I need to try to prevent this happening again. I play games such as L4D2, TF2 on it so it does run pretty hot a lot of the time. [Then again it runs pretty hot a lot of the time outside of playing games too].

I have the newer bios that makes the fan run more already installed. Software to control the fans does not appear to be an option for two reasons: It is blocked by the driver signing checks in Windows 7; I haven't seen any compatible with this laptop anyway [I read that the bios is not compatible with them].

I saw mention of a utility called undervolt, which reduces the voltage to the cpu or gpu. Has anyone used this, or know much about it?

I want to get a cooling mat for it. I looked into this before and dismissed it, because it seemed like they weren't much different to just propping up the back of the laptop, which I do anyway. I've been reading reviews about them though, and it seems that some of them do make a significant difference. This review seems well-informed and highly positive, for the Zalman NC 1000:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/accessories/264531-zalman-nc-1000-cooling-test-xps-m1530.html

Does anyone have this cooler, or any other recommendations?

Overheal

well immediately you need to clock down your game settings. Running l4d2 in 800x600 is not as bad as it sounds.

the other option is to re-rig the heatsink on the computer. some article i found last year or so described how to disassemble the heatsink in this case; install a new copper contact using proper thermal paste and getting better conductivity that way.


http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid%C2%AE-Office-Solutions-Adjustable-Laptop/dp/B000XJ37HQ

this doesnt work too bad either and i supposed if i cared enough i could attach a fan to it that would feed cold air direclt into the CPU intake, but i have yet to bother with that step.

Voodu Child

My M1530 is 2 & 1/2 years old, Ive done tonnes of video encoding and plenty of gaming on it and it's still running fine.

The most recent BIOS doesnt run my fan any more than expected. If my GPU is under 69C, my fan doesnt run at all, it is 100% off. It kicks in at 69, brings the GPU down to 59 and turns off again.

The only measures ive taken are:
-Change the thermal paste to something better
-Keep the fan/vents etc clean
-Undervolt the CPU if its going to be under load

I would do those things with any laptop I own anyway. I have a cooling pad lying around but hardly ever use it, tbh it has a smaller effect than any of the 3 things above, couple of C at most. If you understand the way a laptop cooling system works, you'll realise that blowing air at it from the outside is pretty ineffective compared to the internal cooling system. Buy one if you want but dont expect miracles.

Finally, if you are seriously paranoid about the laptop and it is affecting your enjoyment of it, maybe just get rid of it.

Menengroth™

I have the Zalman NC2000, it's very good, reduces my cpu and gpus temperatures by about 5-10 degrees. Very useful for when they're under load and for overclocking.

Would recommend changing the thermal paste as well.

pwd

Thanks for the replies.

I already run games at below recommended specs because I dislike getting occasional frame rate issues at higher specs. Have played TF2 at 640X480 more than any other resolution, for example.

The technician from Dell said he used better thermal paste on the machine when he replaced the powerboard. The external temperature seems higher rather than lower generally since then, though that could be more down to the hot weather I suppose.

I went ahead and ordered the zm 1000 soon after starting this thread, after reading enough reviews to be convinced.

The fan runs less if the BIOS installed is older than version A09.

I do keep the fans and vents clean. There wasn't much dust on them after it failed.

I'll look into undervolting the system. Voodu_Child; how did you go about undervolting your m1530?

Voodu Child

pwd wrote: »

I'll look into undervolting the system. Voodu_Child; how did you go about undervolting your m1530?

RMClock. You just find the lowest stable voltage for each multiplier, then give it an extra step to be safe.

John2009

@ pwd

This thread here from Flipfire on notebookreview.com has all you need to know on how to undervolt your CPU safely to get those temps down

post #1, have a good read from it and try and get an understanding of what needs to be done and undervolt away until you get the BSOD

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

And another handy piece of equipment to have are those wooden kids building blocks for propping up the laptop from the rear below the rubber feet, i've stolen 2 from my son for my Asus G50vt with an Intel T9400 and Nvidia 9800M GS and my laptop idles around 29c - 31c, not bad for a gaming laptop with great specs.

like here

pwd

John2009 wrote: »

@ pwd

This thread here from Flipfire on notebookreview.com has all you need to know on how to undervolt your CPU safely to get those temps down

post #1, have a good read from it and try and get an understanding of what needs to be done and undervolt away until you get the BSOD

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

And another handy piece of equipment to have are those wooden kids building blocks for propping up the laptop from the rear below the rubber feet, i've stolen 2 from my son for my Asus G50vt with an Intel T9400 and Nvidia 9800M GS and my laptop idles around 29c - 31c, not bad for a gaming laptop with great specs.

like here

Thanks - that guide is very good.
At first I ran into the same issue as with the fan control software; it needs a digitally signed 64 bit driver. There is one available for rmclock however:
same problem as with the fan control software - needs a digitally

signed driver for w7

64 bit digitally signed driver is available for this software

however:

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flipfire.net%2Fdownload%2Frtcore64.zip&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.notebookreview.com%2Fmicrosoft-windows-7%2F435958-rmclock-win7-64-bit.html

I've set up the undervolting and it makes a difference, although I haven't established the best voltages to use yet.

Overheal

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=desk+fan&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&cid=17852418432066899596&ei=rHP-S9HIOaL-2wS_kP2bCA&sa=title&ved=0CBkQ8wIwAzgA#p

you could also get a desk fan and build a cardboard chute out of cereal box that would force air current down across the bottom of the laptop.

Voodu Child

pwd wrote: »

I've set up the undervolting and it makes a difference, although I haven't established the best voltages to use yet.

Normally I start with the highest multiplier (12x or whatever). Untick all the other multipliers so you are forcing it to use only that multiplier. Run a stresstester so the CPU is running flat out. Then just drop the VID for that multiplier - start one or two steps below the default and then lower it by one step every 3 minutes. Write down your progress.

Eventually it'll BSOD or crash. Thats normal, it just means you've gone below the stable voltage for that multiplier. So when you reboot it, put the VID at two steps above where it crashed, and then give it a longer stress-test to confirm stability. If its not stable, go up another notch.

Then just repeat for all the other multipliers.

Menengroth™

Overheal wrote: »

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=desk+fan&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&cid=17852418432066899596&ei=rHP-S9HIOaL-2wS_kP2bCA&sa=title&ved=0CBkQ8wIwAzgA#p

you could also get a desk fan and build a cardboard chute out of cereal box that would force air current down across the bottom of the laptop.

Oh MacGyver, how I've missed you.

pwd

Undervolting reduced peak cpu temperature from 103 to 97 degrees celsius during a stress test.
..That's in a cool well-ventilated room, with the back of the laptop raised a few inches... Tried running a stress test earlier when it was warmer and it reached 103 degrees in 1 minute 40 seconds, so I thought I'd better stop. This system really does get very hot.

Voodu Child

pwd wrote: »

Undervolting reduced peak cpu temperature from 103 to 97 degrees celsius during a stress test.
..That's in a cool well-ventilated room, with the back of the laptop raised a few inches... Tried running a stress test earlier when it was warmer and it reached 103 degrees in 1 minute 40 seconds, so I thought I'd better stop. This system really does get very hot.

Something not right there. Ran Orthos full whack there for about 5 mins on my M1530 (T7500 35W) and the CPU topped out at ~65C.

Whats your CPU?

pwd

It's different: Core Duo T8300 2.4GHz
That's a huge difference in temperature though...
/googles

edit:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/249368-looknig-undervolting-results-m1530-t8300-3.html

They all seem to get results in the 60s, and some have same processor as me.
Must double check I read/ran the tests correctly.

pwd

Got 86 degrees after running it for 10 minutes now. [Earlier I ran them for over 20]
The temperatures listed for the individual cores are a bit lower I see. I was quoting the cpu temperature at the top. They're still a bit high though.

Voodu Child

pwd wrote: »

It's different: Core Duo T8300 2.4GHz
That's a huge difference in temperature though...
/googles

T8300 should run cooler than mine as it is a newer 45nm CPU.

Something is not allowing the cooling system to work properly, and the likelihood is that it comes back to the suggestions I made earlier.

1) CPU/heatsink interface - ie is the heatsink drawing heat away from the CPU fast enough. Could be wrongly assembled (ie not sitting flush), thermal paste not applied properly.

2) Fan/vents - ie heat not being taken away from the heatsink fast enough, which in turn prevents it from pulling heat off the CPU. The vents, fan blades or heatsink fins could be full of dust, or the motor could be shot.

Thats what i'd look at first anyway.

pwd

I removed the fan from the vent and there was a thick wedge of dust blocking the vent.
I really should have already inspected this because I fixed the exact same issue on my inspiron a few weeks ago - that had gotten to the stage of overheating the whole time and now works fine again.
And in case I wasn't feeling silly enough, I just realised I never plugged the fan back in when I put it back together.:eek:

edit: Peaking at 67 degrees now, under load test - staying under 60 most of the time.

Thanks for the help.

Voodu Child

Also, in case you havent done it, anytime you remove the heatsink, before reattaching it, you should clean the contact points and re-apply thermal paste. Dell's engineers use some cruddy stuff and normally do a rush job, so you'll probably end up with better temps than before anyhow.

If I recall the M1530 heatsink has a thermal pad at one contact point (so dont do anything there) and then thermal paste on the GPU and CPU.

Skerries

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/03_COOLERS/productdetails/15488206/ZALMAN_ZM_NC1500_Notebook_fan_with_1_port_USB/ZM-NC1500/default.aspx

i bought the Zalman 1500 last week and whereas before the bottom of my laptop was nearly untouchable with the heat it is now only mildly warm when i use the cooler

Overheal

Skerries wrote: »

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/03_COOLERS/productdetails/15488206/ZALMAN_ZM_NC1500_Notebook_fan_with_1_port_USB/ZM-NC1500/default.aspx

i bought the Zalman 1500 last week and whereas before the bottom of my laptop was nearly untouchable with the heat it is now only mildly warm when i use the cooler

Laptops should not be getting that dangerously hot. Warm is norm; Hot is Not.

I would check some of the steps voodoo child offered up in this thread: check for dust and think about applying new thermal paste, etc.