GTX 680M throttling at only 75c

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce' started by liezryou, Apr 13, 2015.

  1. liezryou

    liezryou Guest

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    Nah i just blew compressed air into the vents. Well i bought this laptop about 6 months ago and the guy before me said he had dusted it properly.

    I'm too scared to open my laptop and i don't think anyone knows how to properly deal with alienware where i am ATM (pakistan). I think i may have to wait until I'm back in the states to repair it, assuming it is a paste/dust problem.

    Although i did notice that this started when summer started here, hot as hell. Was working perfectly fine before the hot weather.
     
  2. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Laptops have limited airflow across heatsinks. Unless you plan on replacing your laptop on a regular basis, cleaning is a must. Heatsink designs in a laptop are less than ideal and can have very small airflow paths. These airflow paths are very easy for dust to block and can be a nightmare to clean.

    Due to the increased operating temperature, thermal paste tends to dry out faster. Dried thermal paste is less efficient at conducting heat. Dried thermal paste also tends to develop cracks, which are great for trapping hot air and further increasing operating temperatures.
     
  3. scatman839

    scatman839 Ancient Guru

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    You're going to need to open it, compressed air can only do so much and once dust starts compressing and cakes up it isn't going to be budged by any amount of air, you need to pick it out.

    Just have a probe then, your case will be reasonably easy to take apart since it's high end.
    http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/alienware-m17x-r3/manuals

    There's a disassembly manual there, it looks easy enough.

    It's good to become familiar with your own laptop, as long as you have a good flat work area and enough screwdrivers to open it and keep track of the screws you will be fine. You're not really going to have to take it completely apart, just removing some of the bottom case.
     
  4. liezryou

    liezryou Guest

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    Ok update here, i got some thermal paste, got myself some screwdrivers, but one of the videos on youtube mentions something about a cleaning fluid to remove the gunk left by the old paste. If i don't have such a thing available what would be a good household alternative?

    I'll probably crack it open this weekend, seeing as i only have to open the back it shouldn't be too bad.
     

  5. scatman839

    scatman839 Ancient Guru

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    You don't really need a cleaning fluid most of the time, not unless it has dried out and caked on. Some paper tissue should be enough.

    White spirit is what you're looking for though, just a small amount on the paper tissue and rub the stuff off.

    But I would just try cleaning off the heatsinks first, might not need to take it apart. Unless you're taking it apart to properly wash the heatsinks.
     
  6. liezryou

    liezryou Guest

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    What do you mean take it apart? I want to repaste it so don't i have to take it apart then remove the old paste from the heatsink and the cpu then repaste on the cpu only? Also, i'm confused on how much paste i need to put. One video showed a small dot in the center of the cpu another video showed a huge line running horizontally across the center of the cpu.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2015
  7. scatman839

    scatman839 Ancient Guru

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    By take apart I mean taking off the heatsink and repasteing like your going to do. Just I meant that what I do is have a screwdriver small enough that I can pick dust out of the fins of the heatsink and use air to blow the rest out.

    You'll need to ideally repaste both the CPU and GPU, they should be on different heatsinks.

    Paste application varies from person to person yeah, but it's a splodge in the centre, not too much, don't know why one video showed a huge line that's not right.

    If you want to test out paste application, try putting some paste of a flat surface then getting a glass cup base and pressing it onto it, you can see how much it will spread out. You don't want paste going off the edge of the cpu.
     
  8. liezryou

    liezryou Guest

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    Oh yeah an update guys, turns out it was a CPU problem. There was a buttload of dust stuck in the fan and the thermal paste was totally dried out. Did some cleaning and some repasting and BAM, cool as a cucumber while playing GTA V. Thanks for your helps!
     
  9. scatman839

    scatman839 Ancient Guru

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    Good stuff, and now you know for future how to do it all
     

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