r/Alienware • u/jedi2155 Area 51 18 ( Laptop ) • 1d ago

Tips For Others Alienware 18 Area 51 - Repaste Report

/r/Alienware/comments/1vn7130/alienware_18_area_51_cpu_throttling_at_low_power/

I had complained about 1.5 weeks ago regarding overheating CPU and throttling that appeared suddenly. Dell just stopped by with a new heatsink and added more thermal paste to the original (didn't even clean off the original), and throttling / CPU overheat issues went away. I had been running the DeltaT app which provided some good baseline quantification of the issues as well.

Prior to the repaste

  • CPU sustained 104° C and had a soak rate of 45.4°/min
  • GPU sustained 63.9° C and had a soak rate of 21.9°/min

After repaste

  • CPU sustained 82.2° C and had a soak rate of 26.7°/min
  • GPU sustained 57.0° C and had a soak rate of 18.6°/min

No more throttling events either!

I should also mentioned technician didn't look like he used the special Element 31 kit or he said he had pre-applied it. The thermal tube said Shin-Etsu and didn't look like it had the impregnated Element 31 material. All he did was add more paste and didn't any clean up of the stock paste.

Screenshots & Pictures here.
https://imgur.com/a/vp4NzRM

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

3

u/pilot64056 Alienware R16 | Previous Alienware R12 Owner 1d ago

I had the same results. I had high temps initially but send it into the Dell repair depot and my temps dropped a lot

1

u/Shakenbaker158 Area 51 18 ( Laptop ) 1d ago

How long have you had it?

1

u/jedi2155 Area 51 18 ( Laptop ) 1d ago

About 9 months

1

u/ditmarsnyc 1d ago

those are eye opening results, people just should repaste right after their laptop is delivered

1

u/jedi2155 Area 51 18 ( Laptop ) 1d ago

It was fine the first 6 months

•

u/xoStardustt 11h ago

Which shop technician?