Brand new Aurora R7, CPU temps 70+

Question

I just set up my brand new Aurora R7 with air cooling (don't trust liquid coolers), and all I've done so far is install some games on Steam. During install, according to thermal controls in the command center, my CPU is reaching up to 77 degrees, and the fan ramps up to where it sounds like a car engine revving.

Something has to be wrong here, if the CPU is this hot just installing stuff I don't want to think about how overheated it's going to be when I actually start playing games. So basically the product is flawed or the readings are incorrect. Is that correct or am I totally off? Either way, what should I do about it?

Also I'm running Windows 10 if that's relevant.

ghooper · Accepted Answer

To me 70+ doesn't seem very hot for an i7 that is under heavy load. (Whether the CPU should be under heavy load when just installing Steam apps is a different question.)

I have an XPS 8930 with an i7-8700. The XPS 8930 has an almost identical internal chassis to the Aurora R7.

Under 100% load my CPU was reaching high 80s to low 90s. This would cause the case fan and the CPU cooler fan to spin up to their maximum speeds creating a lot of noise.

The solution for me was to replace the Dell supplied CPU cooler (you probably have the same one in the R7) with a more efficient one. i went for a Scythe Big Shuriken 2. With this new CPU cooler the system runs somewhat cooler (rarely exceeds low 80s even under long term heavy load) and much, much quieter.

Details of the upgrade together with another option for reducing fan noise are here:

XPS 8930 How I Fixed the Noise Issues

The difference between the chasis for the XPS and the R7 is that the R7 has a cut-out in the top of the case in which you can fit the radiator and fan from a liquid CPU cooler. Personally, if I had an R7 I would upgrade to a liquid CPU cooler. (That wasn't an option on my XPS.)

beamermt79 · Answer

Hello! So a couple of things could be going on. If you just turned on your computer after unpacking it, installed steam and started downloading and installing games your computer is actually doing a lot of things. Based of my experience, steam is heavily DRM'd meaning it has to do a lot of things when downloading the games and installing them which takes a bit of processing power. Also Windows 10 is a resource hog, especially if you haven't touched any of the settings. Its busy updating files, downloading updates, downloading junk you probably don't want or need, sending junk to Microsoft to make things better, which all takes processing power. Plus you didn't say if you kept the McAfee Antivirus that comes with most Dell machines or not? That thing is a hog and a half and I would delete it ASAP and get something better. Also what processor did you get? Some do tend to run hotter then others just by default.

mike238 · Answer

I did the initial windows update stuff last night, so this was just Steam.  I also did an initial run with CCleaner yesterday to get rid of unwanted programs, and no McAfee.  My processor is an i7-8700, it's idling at 38 degrees now that it's not doing anything.  Is Steam really that resource-intensive to cause that much of an increase?

boidsonly · Answer

Go to Task Manager (right click the Windows Icon) and disable everything but your firewall, AV, etc. All other programs should be disabled; they can be invoked when you start them manually, i.e., CCleaner, etc. Steam should not start up with your PC-only when you decide to play games.

That will cut down on running background processes.

Also make sure all your Windows updates have been applied-they fix a boatload of bugs.

mike238 · Answer

Do I really need to shut down everything to keep my CPU from these temps on a brand new Alienware when simply installing stuff? That's a massive red flag.

If you mean only the peripheral stuff then yeah, all that's not running. I don't keep CCleaner, etc. on constantly.

mike238 · Answer

Yeah for me it's not so much the noise issue as the temperature issue.  I'll look into what I have and possible replacement.  I don't really trust liquid cooling, not least of which because I don't have the time or expertise to continually check up on it to see if it's working properly, so I'll probably go with a better air-cooling option if that ends up being an issue.  I've only had minimal gaming done so far so I've yet to see how it holds up under longer workloads.

Tesla1856 · Answer

I'm surprised the Configurator lets you buy an Intel i7-8700 without throwing a warning that you need (Asetek) Liquid-Cooling. It's a "gaming machine" so obviously, you are going to be pushing it hard.

With the Alienware stock (Asetek made) Liquid-Cooler ... it should ramp-up and hold around 70c (no matter what you are doing).

beamermt79 · Answer

Honestly for an Intel 70c + is like a nice sunny day. If its start getting to 85 or higher while doing basic non gaming tasks, then I'd worry.

hrgreen · Answer

There are several things you can do short of changing to a liquid cooler.  A better air system, like the Noctus 15. And re-lidding your 8700 with a better thermal paste.  You can do it yourself with a $30 tool and $10 worth of decent paste, or send it to somebody like Silicon Lottery, for a few more bucks.  If you don't want to void the warranty on the system, buy one already re-lidded and guaranteed and put yours in a drawer.  This re-lid I have averages 13 deg C lower temps on the same loads.  It was selected as working at 5.2GHz with a liquid cooler and Asus Maximus X-series MB.  Although the Alienware board is not the latest design, I can run video editing, file conversion, benchmarks, etc., at 5.1GHz.  Not a gamer, but the game-like demos in 4K run well.

Jippi · Answer

So you're basicly saying that after buying that 1.4k$ gaming computer installing everything and updated everything. I need to open it, throw away a fan and buy a new one because that fan wasn't made for the computer's performance? Or is there someone out there with an Aurora R7 that doesn't have a fan that goes 1500 rpm all the time and doesn't goes over 80c temps opening L.o.L or Far Cry 5?

Tesla1856 · Answer

@Jippi wrote:

So you're basicly saying that after buying that 1.4k$ gaming computer installing everything and updated everything. I need to open it, throw away a fan and buy a new one because that fan wasn't made for the computer's performance? Or is there someone out there with an Aurora R7 that doesn't have a fan that goes 1500 rpm all the time and doesn't goes over 80c temps opening L.o.L or Far Cry 5?

80c is ok (I'm guessing you have an Intel-i7) , but a Liquid-Cooler can do more like 70c at max utilization. However, you have to be doing something more than gaming to get all cores up to 100%.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General/Aurora-R6-Hard-Lockup-and-crash-while-gaming-SOLVED/m-p/5504134/highlight/true#M6110

My general thoughts are already posted in this thread and others.

Playing Fallout-4 with Ultra settings at 1440p ... my Aurora-R6 is pretty quiet. The fan on the LC's radiator is certainly not making a lot of noise.

X6205 · Answer

Wellcome to the Alienware community. Premium priced "gamming" computers with cheap OEM components inside :)

I have X51 R2 and what really helped me lower CPU temperatures was to use high quality thermal paste like Arctics MX-4 or Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. On my i7-4770 i was able to take down 6-8 degrees celsius.

Regarding noise, there is not much what you can do beside setup custom fan profile. My machine was also very noisy "jet engine" sound in gamming sessions, but not anymore. I have purchased Argus Monitor software and setup custom CPU fan profile.

I have learned that durring gaming my CPU fan starts to be loud over 2000RPM and by default it is around 260RPM in games and very loud. After several hours of testing with Argus Monitor i have learned, that CPU fan does not needs to go over 1800-2000RPM to hold stable CPU temperature. There is no need for 2600+RPM's with jet engine sound.

Since you have Aurora R7, you should be able to modify custom CPU fan profiles in Alienware Command Center or maybe in bios, not sure. I cannot do that in my X51 R2, it's not supported in AWCC or bios that's why i need third party software for fan control.

Btw. CPU temps up to 80 celsius are safe and you don't even need to replace stock Intel heatsink. Start with better thermal paste and continue with custom cpu fan profile for noise reduction.

MyR3x · Answer

Aurora R7 with 8700k and OC level 2.  Temps are in the mid 60C during heavy gaming.  The Aurora design needs liquid cooling.

Jippi · Answer

Here I'm just running this little support Assist and the temp goes to 97! I don't have a lot of knowledge about computer's performance, but one of my friend told me it was kind of bad that it reached this kind of temperature. I've got an Aurora R7 Intel i7-8700 . GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

it was an open box certified GEEK Squad. I just don't want this computer to break after a while. Capture d’écran (2).png

Tesla1856 · Answer

@MyR3x wrote:

1. Aurora R7 with 8700k and OC level 2. Temps are in the mid 60C during heavy gaming.

2. The Aurora design needs liquid cooling.

1. Nice

2. That's what I keep telling users ... especially with Intel-i7. Any computer really (with Intel-i7 or better).

Alienware Desktops

Brand new Aurora R7, CPU temps 70+

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