Hi @Haukon welcome to this user to user discussion forum. This is not Dell Support. 

Dell has embraced the Intel Plundervolt vulnerability fix of disabling CPU features and saying CPU temperature of 100ºC (boiling point of water) is suddenly acceptable. There is no report of the Intel Plundervolt vulnerability having been exploited. 

Advocate factory reset to reinstate the original laptop performance, and not install the Dell updates to fix the intel Plundervolt vulnerability. 

Please click on Kudos to say thank you for response from user that is not employed by Dell. Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you. 

Hey Crimsom,

Thanks for taking your time to reply. I am aware this isn't Dell support, as I have scoured these forums far and wide when the laptop first started acting up two years ago, trying to diagnose and fix things up.

I am aware that people have the same issues with this laptop, and more, the whole BIOS controversy, the locking of the alienware command center overclocking feature, and all that jazz. I'm aware of the whole undervolting, tinkering with MSI afterburner and Intel Extreme utility tool to tweak the performance and lower the temperature at the same time, and also the "factory reset", installing specific updates, specific BIOS etc.

I have already done all those things previously, and while they did help shave off some degrees, it was like adding a couple of tablespoons of cold water in a pot of boiling water, and hope it would now be considerably colder. The issue still remained unfortunately.

I will admit, it is the first time I read about the whole 'intel plundervolt' thing, and I am not saying it won't help, but in the logs I have taken, the CPU temperature isn't what's going off the roof, the GPU is. CPU core temperature is on average around 65°/66°C, give or take depending on the core, as some might run hotter than others

Which also doesn't make sense, cause the side of the laptop that runs excruciatingly hot is the side where the CPU is installed, but alas that's another mystery I don't yet grasp about this system.


Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not willing to do another factory reset. But last time it did practically nothing, beside wasting my time. Even if it makes the CPU cooler, I don't see how it can stop the GPU running infernally hot.
Also the fact that after the repasting/replacing of the heatsink assembly last time, kinda validates the point that this isn't caused by something software side: it's something happening hardware side.

To me, this felt like little by little, the temperature started creeping up more and more, over the months, and now we're at a point where it's just unacceptable. It feels like a behavior more related to hardware than software.

/rantover2

Hi @Haukon  thank you for sharing additional information that a factory reset, etc. has already been undertaken. 

To recap, the Intel i7 9700k (with on-board Intel UHD Graphics 630) CPU core temperature is about 65°/66°C (max safe temp 100°C), and the discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU temperature is reaching 75°C (max safe temp 88°C). 

The Alienware series is designed to deliver performance and the Area-51m R1 is no exception. Both the CPU & GPU temperatures are both running at less than their maximum safe temperatures. 

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme Thermal Paste is probably the best thermal compound. Its thermal conductivity is 14.2 W/mK. The operating temperature of this thermal paste is -250ºC / +350ºC, which makes it the best thermal paste for both Traditional Overclocking and Sub-Zero Overclocking. The thermal paste is greyish in colour and is electrically non-conductive and also non-capacitive. It is also a long-lasting thermal paste and has no curing time. It can be applied to both aluminium and copper heatsinks. 

Please explain why you think there is a temperature problem more clearly. Which Kryonaut thermal paste was used during your repasting? 

Please click on Kudos to say thank you for response from user that is not employed by Dell. Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you. 

Just so we can rule everything out, can you run the ePSA diagnostic in the Boot Menu to make sure the fans are running properly. I'm sure they are but it doesn't hurt to try.

EDIT: Also, try having a go at what the guy suggests in this video. I've never had a 51M though so I can't use personal experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aavjaAdUzpA

@crimsom 

To answer your questions:

- Yes, the recap is correct, although I'd like to point out that the 75° C temp doesn't go any higher because the system won't allow it, by sacrificing the performance and allow it to sustain that heat, as you probably know. I could raise the limit, and make it reach over 80°C, but I don't see the point, except for making the laptop be even more uncomfortable to use.

- As far as I know, there is only one Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut paste, and it's the one and the same I was referring to, and that you described in your post.

- Why do I "feel" I am having temperature/hermal issues is a question simply answered by: because I already had the same issues before, over a year ago, and Dell acknowledged it after several diagnostics/temperature logs, software side tweaks. The technician came around, and he replaced the heatsink assembly (the part that hosts the fans, heatsinks and heat pipes) along with repasting using my Kryonaut paste. I don't honestly remember if the GPU was replaced too, but I wouldn't say so, considering no changes were necessary software side. The results were pretty drastic: from peaking 82° and over in a few minutes of gaming, the GPU was reaching barely 60° and never going much higher, the whole system was running very cool, so I know how it's technically supposed to run, and how it shouldn't. 

In fact, I challenge any Dell employees to come over and experience my laptop, type on the scorching hot keyboard, maybe cook an egg on it too, while telling me that this is how the machine was intended to be working, cause I'm pretty sure it isn't. 

I don't know what is causing this, but given the reasons above, I believe it has something to do with the hardware. Considering I repasted twice, i am assuming it isn't that. I clean the laptop regularly, but as I said this time I was very thorough, hoping that maybe some dust was clogging the heatsinks/pipes somewhere, but whatever I did, it didn't work.

@mattyb3 

Hey there,

I have ran the diagnostic, and the fans don't seem to have any issue. 

Regarding the video, that's part of what I already went through software side, in fact it was one of the things the Dell assistant told me to do the first time around when I contacted them. The system is already running with the tweaks through intel extreme utility and MSI afterburner to lower the temperature down.

Please explain why you think there is a temperature problem more clearly. Which Kryonaut thermal paste was used during your repasting?