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April 15th, 2014 19:00

Dell XPS 15 (L521x) CPU Too Hot When Gaming - Decreased Performance - How Can I Cool It?

I have a Dell XPS 15 (L521x) laptop. While gaming my CPU heats up to temperatures ranging from 73 to 86 degrees Celsius (NOTE: This is with a CM Storm SF-19 cooling pad and today-applied Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra Thermal Compound). 

My question is how else can I reduce this heat because I know as it gets hotter it (at times) throttles back to avoid crashing, thus decreasing performance, and I know the excessive heat ages components in the laptop.
Please read EVERYTHING before responding!

Here are specs of everything:

Model - Dell XPS 15 (L521x)
OS- Windows 7 64-bit Professional
CPU - Intel Core i7-3632QM
BIOS - A16 (Up to date)
SSD - 128GB (ReadyBoost, 57GB free)
HDD - 1TB (40GB free)
RAM - 16GB
GPU - Nvidia GT 640M

Drivers for EVERYTHING (including my graphics card and BIOS) are up to date.

CM Storm SF-19 Gaming Laptop Cooling Pad with two 140mm Turbine Fans (1200-2600 RPM's, I always keep it at max blast).

Using software program, RealTemp (and having my cooling pad on max blast), I have retrieved the following data:

~ My CPU idles around 43 degrees Celsius and can max around 86 degrees Celsius

My room temperature varies from 10-24 degrees Celsius (50-75 degrees Fahrenheit)

I had this laptop since July of 2012 and I had my motherboard replaced (GPU is integrated) as it was under warranty.
 
Things I've tried...
-Removed the battery (laptop powered now by only charger)
-Removed existing thermal paste and replaced it with new Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra thermal compound (did whole procedure correctly), didn't do much (at least not yet)
-Blew compressed air through the entire interior and exterior of the laptop (fan and heat sink included)
 
There aren't any problems with the fan and I've tried using Speed Fan to manually regulate fan speed but it can't detect my fan (I don't think it would matter anyway because the fan always properly adjusts to the demand of power and processing).
 
I made my own power plan (using the "High Performance Plan" as a foundation) which makes my laptop at max performance (no power saving). I've also made another plan that makes max processor power 50%, somewhat cools it but performance during games in not acceptable.

I always defragment both drives (SSD only when above 15% because I heard defragging a SSD is not good for its longevity) and I always perform disk cleanups, scans, driver updates, BIOS updates, etc. Essentially I try to keep everything clean, organized, and updated.

I have a lot of games on Steam and Origin that I play and most of the more graphic demanding games (such as Battlefield 3, even on minimum graphics) really heat up the CPU and as a result the performance decreases (and no it's not online lag). Note: These games are not played from CD's.

I always leave my laptop plugged in ( but not always on, mostly on sleep or shut down at night), any unnecessary background programs or services closed, and try to lower brightness and turn off LED key lights unless necessary.

I've looked everywhere for an answer but I still can't seem to find one.

I want to thank in advance those of you who fully read and provide any such answer to my problem.

I know a decent amount about software programs and hardware so don't be tempted to "baby" technical terms with me.

Lastly, please DO NOT negatively comment this post.

Also, I know the cooling pad blows out air but it does not suck in any and redirect it and my intake vent is in the front and back of the laptop and the exhaust vent is opposite (in the back in between two intakes). The pad makes a difference but is there a way I can simply "suck out" the hot exhaust air and blow cool air into the intake? And I know the aluminum body does not help for reducing heat.

One more thing, please don't recommend me any software programs to download because I just don't like having them or relying on them.

Like I said before, thank you in advance.
~ Nick

April 27th, 2014 05:00

Did you replace the thermal pads when you cleaned the heatsink? Once removed you shouldn't reuse old thermal pads. I run a computer repair shop an I always replace thermal pads with "K5-PRO" gummy thermal paste.

You can see a video of it here

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7gD4ZBOp-bE

And it is avaliable on ebay here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261419411897

1 Message

February 18th, 2017 06:00

Hi I know its about 3 years later but I have still my l521x.

My one gets a bit hotter so the question

did you get yours cooler? Can you remember how much the cooling Pad help?

Hope that you are still there :D

Jakob

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