Alienware Aurora CPU getting warm

Your thermal paste is three years old and could stand a new application. They will tend to dry out.

Your fans may also be coated with dust and should be removed and cleaned as well.

Here is a review of different types of TP. If you are not sure how to do it you may want to ask a friend to show you how.

TG-1 found at NewEgg.com will work very well.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermal-interface-roundup-1_8.html#sect0

Google how to apply TP. There are many examples and techniques.

I also noticed the radiator is blowing air out... isnt it supposed to take outside air in to cool?

From what I read on how these coolers are supposed to work?

Thanks for the speedy reply :)

Btw I suppose the old thermal paste would have to be removed or cleaned as well then? Any recommendations on the how or with what?

Would be nice if Dell/Alienware could provide us with a manual on how to do maintenance on those parts...

Alienware is designed to take air in the front of the case and exhuast it out the rear. There isn't any significant imorovement reversing fan flow.

Rubbing alcohol of 97 percent and a clean soft cloth. (old tee-shirt to finish it off)  The initial paste can be removed with a Q-tip dipped in the rubbing alcohol.

Be very careful of the pins on the on the mother board and pay attention as to how the chip is removed. Some people leave the chip in place and clean it. Just be careful.

As I suggest in the earlier post TG-1 is one of the best. The article shows many diiferent pastes and their effectiveness.

This google page offers many examples of how to reapply the thermal past. Watch as many as you can until you understand what to do.

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+apply+thermal+paste&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=

Applied some new thermal paste and added a fan for a push/pull.

Temp under load in prime 95 runs up to 90°c still, now idles around 55-60°C which is still too hot.

Reading the four core temperatures that is...

So it idles higher now with the new paste? Thats odd. What kind did you use. Also a 50c Idle temp and 72 load is not terrible. My 920 idles and loads around there(@stock and OC clocks not much difference in temp). The biggest factor is the temp of the room your in, I live in SoFla and my room can get warm. If your room is pretty cold than those temps are a bit high. If your room is on the normal to warmer side, the temps are ok. 50c at idle and 72c at load is FINE. But if it went up since the new paste that wouldnt make much sense...

My i7-930 idles between 40c-45c (various cores) .

Under stress, the radiator fan finally starts to speed up around 60c .

Even pegging all the cores at 100% with HyperPI for a long time ... I don't think I've ever seen a single core go over 70c.

When running Prime95 ... can you hear and feel the radiator fan speed up? Your idle temp is just a little high, but your max temp is way off

All-CPU-Meter by AddGadget.com and CoreTemp make a nice combo.

I applied Artic Silver 5.

The room temperature should be around 20-22°C we live in a well isolated appartment.

Am I reading the temperatures right?

When I use CPUID Hardware monitor I look at the Intel core i7 930 Core #0-3 temps these are the ones getting 90° in prime 95.

For now they are about 50°C. (just surfing and downloading a bit so no real CPU load)

When I look at Temperatures : TMPIN0-2 I read temperatures from 36°- 48°C (in that order)

in Speedfan I only have Temp1-3 no mention of cores anywhere I think: 37 - 48°C

When I run prime my pc is about to take off fans spinning full speed.

Am testing now:

Speedfan temp with Prime 95 after one minute: Temp 1 75°C, Temp2 46°C, Temp 3: 48°C

CPUID HW monitor: TMPIN0:77°C, TMPIN1: 47°C, TMPIN3: 47°C, INTEL i7930 Core#0 90°C till Core #3 85°C rest is in between...

We basically have the same machine, so it would help if we used the same diag. tools.

I installed and ran Prime96-x64. Torture Test/Blend/8

After 5 minutes

Core 0-3 = 63c to 67c max.

Processor = 146w

FANIN0 = 2400rpm (this is radiator fan)

Then idle:

Core 0-3 = 42c to 46c max.

Processor = 39w

FANIN0 = 1200rpm (this is radiator fan)

Ignore TMPIN? readings for now. They are in various places on motherboard (chipset, etc.). Just look at CPU core temps for now.

I also noticed that CoreTemp is reporting slightly different temps the whole time. Another good reason for us both to use the same diag. software.

How many times have you actually re-applied the thermal compound on the 930? Is there a chance there isn't the right amount (too much or too little) on maybe the Asetek unit isn't on there exactly level/flat?

A week ago a friend of mine applied AS5 the first time round to show me how and had better results.

Small problem was I had taken out the radiator as well from the case to remove the cooler out of the case to clean it.

Afterwards we put everything back and temps were reasonably fine I think, better than now anyway.

After my friend went home happy to have done a good job I decided to close my case again, to discover I couldn't close it anymore (part of the radiator was sticking out on that side) so had to take out the radiator again and mount it correct again. The repositioning of the radiator caused some pressure on the tubes I think loosening the cooler again?

That's when I noticed my temps had gone up again, fans starting to spin again making noise and temp readings higher than before.

So I took the cooler off again from the cpu(this time left radiator in place) to clean the cpu and cooler and reapply new AS 5. This was the first and only time so far I applied it myself.

Which prog are you using for your readings? CPUID HW monitor?

For Prime I noticed u used Blend as torture test. I used In-pplace large FTTs (max heat,power cons, some RAM tested)

For this test I will use Blend/8 like you:

after 5 minutes:

Core 0-3 = 91c to 84c max.

Processor = 146.47w

FANIN0 = 3957rpm (this is radiator fan)

Then idle:

Core 0-3 = 51c to 49c max.

Processor = 46.97w power fluctuates all the time from 34.8 to46.97 to 116W to 145.29W

FANIN0 = 1200rpm

All readings were taken from Max values.

Yes, I am using CPU-ID HW Monitor and Prime95-x64 ... just like you.

Notice my fan only has to run at 2400 max to keep 930 at 67c max. This is with all cores at 100% utilization.

Yours runs at 3957 (might even be the physical max speed of the fan) and only manages 91c max.

I would say the cooler is damaged somehow, thermal compound is not applied properly, or likely ... the pump/heatsink assembly just isn't mounted on there properly.

Not sure what to make of this at idle: ... power fluctuates all the time to ... 116W to 145.29W

If there are no other processor intensive processes running.

Did you ever install:

addgadget.com/all_cpu_meter

... it's just a real easy way to see which cores/threads are being utilized and what amount.