I know the people from Dell read these threads. It appears this is a known defect and is happening why too much. It should be brought to the attention of whoever makes the cooling systems and the powers that be at Alienware. This is just one forum out of many so how many of these failures are going unreported. The fact that it is happening right after the warranty runs out looks rather suspicious.

i signed up just to say thank you for this. teh fan was so loud for months and noone had any idea why, and this was exactly what was wrong. thank you so much!

Thanks for that info. I have printed it out and will keep it for reference, am sure I will be using it in the future. I totally agree with the price we pay for these Alienware computers the parts should be more than the 3rd class parts they put in them. As I stated once before, you buy and pay for a Rolls Royce and it has Yugo parts in it.

I had the same problem.  I got my Aurora R4 in June 2012, and around Aug 2013 (out of warranty) my CPU fan went nuts and under load, the processor would climb above 200 F.

I replaced my Dell OEM water cooling unit today with a Corsair H80i.  Here's the post-mortem on the CPU cooler from Dell.

The decision to cut corners on this Asetek OEM cooler, probably a $0.50 difference for good quality fluid versus the clogging detritus that came with my $3k computer, put my $800 processor at risk of early failure.  Dell, I am disappoint.

Hello, ive had the same problem with that stuff, But i found a other problem....

Have you tried to take the pump off the 2 hoses and blow in the hose ? I did, the hose and radiator was BLOCKED tight.

So i took the fan off the radiator and the pump off the hoses, boiled the radiator in hot water with alcohol in the hoses, i then flushed it with water pressure, and voilà everything got unblocked !

Now my CPU temp is between 49 and 51 degrees C.

Note: i have added a liquid made for CPU cooled pumps.

Hi, I recently installed a Corsair H80i into my Aurora R4. The H80i plugs its power into any available SATA power connector. The H80i also needs to connect to the 4 pin connector labeled " CPU Fan" on the top lighting board connector and an available USB connector on the motherboard (found on the bottom end of the board on the R4s). The H80i lowered by temps around 10 degrees C at idle and performance even when my system was new a year and a half ago. The only draw back to the H80i is the noise of the twin corsair fans is much higher on performance than the stock single R4 fan.  The noise though can be dramatically lowered by replacing the Corsair fans with twin Noctua NF-12 PWM static pressure fans, though Noctua fans are pricey.

Hi, I just installed h80i, replacing my 2 years old alienware aurora r4 cooling system

Thanks to Darkpool with help!!!
 and credits to him, I am posting some pictures of where all the cables should go

SATA power connect

The "3 pin" cable connects to cpu fan

H80i fans - these are very simple.

USB connector located at the bottom of motherboard (took me a little time to plug in because of the space limited)

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All above are for a standard Aurora R4, not the MXL one or whatever the case is.

I suggest you installed the pump unit first before you installed the last fan,

this standard case has a tight space to work with

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Everything works perfect with the plugs, and download the corsair links on product page,

so you can controls these fans.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/hydro-series-h80i-high-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler

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Again, thanks to Darkpool

hope this helps people with same overheating problems in the future

i.imgur.com/DDVvspMh.jpg

I also experienced the overheating issue on my R4, and my cooling system was clogged as well. I also installed a Corsair H80i and followed the excellent photo guide in this thread. The Corsair system has a 5-year guarantee.

The screws included with it weren't long enough for the back of the case, so I bought a pack of four #6-32 x 1-1/2" screws for a dollar. It also took me a while to figure out the Y-cable has protective caps on the ends that need to be removed. As a newbie, it also took me a moment to realize where the SATA is. It's toward the front of the case (your right-hand side when looking in), with multiple connections on the colorful strand and some of them already in use on the top right. The installation did not require removing the motherboard. It is tougher to screw on than the standard cooling system because the fan between the case and the radiator doesn't have threading for the screws, only the radiator does. Still doable alone with some fuss and contortion.

On first boot-up it was loud, and some of the lights on the case didn't work. On second boot-up it worked fine. Command Center shows CPU Pump as Failed, System Fan as 0%, and the new cooling system seems to be tracked as CPU Fan.

My Aurora R3 is hitting 85-95c when idle. I just ordered a tube of Arctic Silver 5 and will wait until it arrives so I can check for blockage. However, I am thinking maybe I should replace it in the near future. I've read on this thread that many people replaced the cooling with an H80i, but were all R4. Does anyone know if I can install an H80i for the R3?

Sure enough, I have the same issue as everyone. Arctic Silver 5 came in, so I pulled the water cooling and found the same gunk others have. Cleaned the gunk off, put the AS5 on and now running mid 40s idle and 70c max load. It's so quiet, I can hear my chair squeak.