HELP WITH M18x FAN CONTROL

www.alienwarearena.com/.../-guide-unofficial-aw-fan-control-

forum.notebookreview.com/.../627874-alienware-m18x-gtx-580m-sli-throttle-fix-no-vbios-flashing-required.html

http://www.alienwarearena.com/forums/topic/11194/hardware/possible-thermal-issue-/1/?quote=288719&who=Sajin

Once again, thanks Sajin, I'll give it a try

If you look at the 3rd link I show how to setup hwinfo32 with pics. It makes it so the fans are running at 100%.

Hi Sajin, I download and experimented with hwinfo64, and it does exactly what I want, except for one small issue, is it possible to permanently change fan speeds without having to start the program every time you restart your computer, that was the one thing I like about nVIDIA system tools, it allowed you to set it once and forget to so speak

Setup everything just like this without checking Minimize Sensors on Startup and all you have to do is click the small fan icon on start up and then click Minimize All button within the hwinfo fan control menu. You will have to do this everytime at startup but the program should start by itself and bring up sensors menu and all you have to click is those two buttons and be done.

Zoom in to see the pics better.

Thanks, thats all good for myself, but I was looking for a solution to a customers laptop, the dual GTX580m are reaching mid 90 degree's (C) while playing battlefeild three, I'm going to try a repaste with arctic silver 5, can you tell me anything about copper heat pads, do you think they are better than silicon, if I use copper pads is it possible to layer them ontop of each other to create a thicker plate, or do I have to purchase the correct size, is it OK to put copper plate straight ontop of the graphics card components without any insulation, and lastly, do you know the name of the silicon compound used in the Alienware graphics cards - Hope you dont mind me picking your brain,lol.

Or if by chance you know of a fan control/monitoring program that I can set events for ( like nvidia system tools ) that would be good too, thanks for your help

Forget the pads and the AS5, repaste the GPU's with some IC Diamond 24 Carat Thermal Compound.

www.frozencpu.com/.../Innovation_Cooling_Diamond_24_Carat_Thermal_Compound_-_48_Grams.html

Just bought some on ebay, the reports look great, what should I do about the pads, throw them away altogether? Replace them with new ones? Reuse them again or use this new compound in place of the pads.

Cheers

If the surface of the gpu is smooth and looks like the cpu, along with the heatsink being smooth, then you should replace with paste, but if it looks something like this...

replace with new pad.

Cheers, thanks for your help, one last thing, with all the different thermal pads on the market I'm really not sure which one I should use on the Alienware Laptop Graphics cards, can you tell me in your opinion what the best brand thermal pads are, expense is not a issue

Cut to size and apply.

www.frozencpu.com/.../Fujipoly_Premium_System_Builder_Thermal_Pad_-_14_Sheet_-_150_x_100_x_10_-_Thermal_Conductivity_60_WmK.html

OK, I've installed and are using the recommended fan control program, I've also repasted with IC diamond and used new pads, idle temp is fantastic, around 39-44 degree's for both GPU's - After playing Crysis 2 on full res for 2 hours on maximum difficulty (so lots more movement on screen) average temps for both GPU's sat around the high 70's to low 80's with a spike to 87 for a few seconds, same with Battlefield 3. Thats down about 12-15 degrees from before the mods, have you any idea if these temps are normal for these games, whats the long term prospects on video card quality if they run at high 70's regularly - Cards were also throttling very badly, but it turned out to be a faulty PSU.

Cheers

A.S.

no idea if those are normal temps for those games, high 70's are really safe temps. I don't think you should have any problems with the longevity of the cards at those temps.

Cheers - Thanks for your help Sajin