XPS 1710 - Heating Issue

63 degrees celsius is not abnormaly hot for a mobile CPU the maximum thermal temperature for Pentium mobile and core 2 due CPUs are 100 degrees celsius.

I would invenstigate defective RAM or another component as the problem. 

     I've had the exact same problem with my XPS M1710 and my nVidia Geforce 7900GTX video card.  I also took my laptop to Iraq for 15 months with no issues, and I've regularly removed the keyboard unit and blew the system out - along with the fans and cooling fins.  I recently blew up my video card - out of warranty of course...  I purchased a replacement card (used) and it's working like a champ.  However, I found some interesting issues while surfing the web.

     Apparently Dell laptops (inspiron, latitude, and XPS models) have all experienced cooling fan activiation and speed-step issues.  Mine began after I upgraded my operating system to Windows Vista.  I'm not sure if that was the problem, but it was about the same time.  Even with the new video card and attached cooling unit, I noticed the fans would not kick into high unless I did it manually through the BIOS test.  After researching, I found a program called I8kfanGUI.  With it I can automatically (or manually) control the fan speed based on system temperatures - as well as monitor the 4 critical temperature thermistors (video, CPU, memory, and "chipset". 

     I've since kept the GPU fan on high permanently and the processor fan on speed-step.  It operates fine through the software once Windows is loaded, but does not kick in until the system fully boots.  However, the video card still burns hot: around 54 deg C at idle, and up to 70 deg C during heavy applications - at room temperature.  It may be designed to run hot around 100 deg C as you've stated, but that's way too hot for extended use.  For this system it definitely requires more airflow, or even liquid cooling.  LC is hard to fit into a laptop, but it could easily be done with an external pumping unit.  The heat fins are connected to copper piping already - if they were coupled to a quick disconnect fitting on an external liquid cooling pump, it would solve all heat related issues.  This may be something Dell could develop, but until then...  Buy a small, strong fan or a laptop mat-style cooler (external fans).

     I love my XPS, but if I burn out another video card, I'm going with Alienware next time.  You can find the fan monitor/control program at the following websites:

http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/

http://www.softsift.com/200701/i8kfangui-30-dell-notebook-fan-control-utility.html

     Check it out, but be careful about your settings.  Take the time to get familiary with the program before you make any changes.  It's not difficult, and it has an easy graphical-user interface, but if you don't set it right, you can obviously overheat your computer if your temps are set to activate too high.

Eric