Alienware x51 keeps stuttering, hiccuping and sometimes freezing. please help!

Sorry man if I go harsh but:

- Gtx 560 ti is NOT suitable for your system. Too high temps, too low PSU for that card. Your problems are, 99'9999999999999% sure, related to the GPU swap you did. Remove it inmediately and put back your original card, and see how it works.

- You pretty much voided the warranty by modding the case.

Sorry.

dngray,

Did I void the warranty when I modified the case to fit the GTX 560 ti in?

* Can you post some pictures of the case modification? How much of the Dell hardware did you remove?

Thanks for the replies!

Arandir83, I forgot to mention that I upgraded my power supply the 330 watt and that has been adequate in powering my card. This is the video card I upgraded too and it is praised for its ability to cool its self which I think does a better job than the stock video card. I understand this card is a bit beefier so it generates more heat...

www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx

DELL - Chris, I will take some pics today and post them. It was a minor modification where basically I had to bend the corner of the steel frame within the case and exclude that clip bracket thingy that sits on top of the video card and video card chassis.

what temps are you getting for the GPU when you run a program like hwmonitor?  what MAX temp does it get to.  If the video card gets too hot it will "throttle" itself to avoid damage.  Also does you GTX560Ti dump hot air out the back of the card only?  that's the most desirable model to evacuate heat from the chassis but not all GFX cards are designed that way.

Spill over heat from a card that does not eject heat out the back, most reference Nvidia cards do this, could raise the ambient temp in the chassis affecting all components like the CPU for example..

for the modification, i used bottle nose pliers and i was grounded when doing it.

i also excluded the plastic videocard bracket chip that holds the video card into the video card chasis

i have the upgraded 330watt power supply and the top end model of the alienware x51.

please let me know if you need more information

i am hope i didn't void the warranty and spent too much money on this machine for it to be a lemon :(

here is a video of the modification:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAQ2DeoHWOo]

That is a good question Mav I am not sure what the direction of air flow is with the MSi GTX 560 ti card.

DELL chris i am going to post some pictures and a video of the modification I did to fit the video card. My x51 is so unstable now I had to set up my old tower PC. I am able to get about 20 minutes of web browsing out of my x51 before it freezes. It freezes after about 5 minutes of starcraft 2. However, strangely enough, I am able to run the complete benchmark test for 3dMark 11 with out the x51 crashing.

here are some pics and a vid of the modification

@Dngray

First you need to monitor your Gpu and CPU temps while intense game play and report

Secondly the 560 gtx are not the best choice for the x51 , if I was you I would chose amd hd 7850

If you like u can go here and read in the midle of page one for some solutions users have come to

en.community.dell.com/.../20115095.aspx

@dngray

The 560 Ti may be praised for it's low temps in reviews and such. But keep in mind, those reviewers installed their 560 Tis in full sized cases, which have plenty of cool air to cool the GPU. Our X51s don't have that luxury, and we are forced to use low TDP cards to maintain low temps for the GPU as well as the CPU.

And you mentioned your CPU reached temps of 98c. That is an INSANE temperature under gaming load. Many of us who've run Prime95 tests bare past 80c, and even that is considered hot under normal circumstances.

Did this problem occur after you instaleld the 560 Ti, or did the CPU always run hot. If it ran hot before you installed the 560 Ti, you should have returned it immediately, as it seems the heatsink or the CPU was faulty. If the 560 Ti is the cause, then well, the problem there is clear as day. No amount of thermal paste reapplication or heatsink modification can help you there.

My best advice for you now is to somehow return/sell your 560 Ti, and purchase yourself a HD 7850 or GTX 670 like many of us have, since it has been proven to run cool, with great gaming results. Infact, the HD 7850 runs cooler, consumes less power, and is a more powerful GPU compared to the 560 Ti.

Right now I'm just baffled as to why you bought the 560 Ti in the first place, as many of us have found previous owners with reported heat horror stories, and returned cards as a result of that. Your story is a prime example as to why not to buy a 560 Ti.

My only solution to you now is to re-install the GTX 555 if you still have it, and report back your CPU temps.

my fear is that the CPU has been ruined from the high temps.

The GPU temps for the GTX 560 ti at idle was 40C and under load 73-76C. I am using pcwizard, and desktop gadgets to monitor the CPU and GPU temps

the CPU temp at idle was 53-58C and under load upwards to 98C and the PC shut off a few times because it hit the thresh hold of 100C  the temperature water boils at :(

Vani1ty you bring up some good points and believe me I am face palming right now. I think the 560 ti is indeed sucking in air from the outside and dumping the heat into the case which is why I have low GPU temps but crazy high GPU temps. I wonder if newegg will take back the 560 ti or I guess I could sell in on craigslist. I do have the GTX 555 which I am using now in my older tower PC. I will post back here once I swapped the video cards to see if that has changed anything. Van1ty could you direct me to a thread that has a list of approved tried/tested video cards that work well for the X51.

crazy high CPU temps***

@dngray

I'll facepalm along with you then bro. Hehe.

Well, it's not a long list, but from what I know here are your best options considering your 330W PSU:

Radeon HD 7850 (If you're worried about temps)

Radeon HD 7870

GeForce GTX 670 (If you have a big budget)