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Alienware Overheating?

post #1 of 12
2/1/08 at 3:40am
Thread Starter 
I am considering purchasing an Alienware laptop however my friends tell me that they overheat. Is it a major problem? I want to be able to leave it on for days in a row if I have to. Are they really notorious for overheating? Any other problems I should be aware of? They seem to be the top of the line powerhouse notebooks.
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post #2 of 12
2/1/08 at 12:10pm
Keep in mind that these systems have more powerful components than say, mom & pop (less powerful) office systems with slower processors and integrated video chipsets to which most people are used to. Thus, they generate some more heat and feel warmer.

One of the main higher heat generators on a mobile system is the dedicated graphics card. Since this is an additional component on systems made to handle heavy 3D graphics you will notice it kicking in when gaming or running an application that uses 3D graphics.

That and the faster processors on these, the faster the processor the more heat it will produce, do not worry about the extra heat, it is normal.

Of course, if you suspect that the system is overheating beyond its acceptable levels you can give AW a call and ask them, they will determine if the system is functioning within the normal heat levels.

When I upgraded my laptop from one with an Nvidia 8400 to one with an Nvidia 8600 I definitely felt that it was a bit warmer because of the higher video card but nothing to worry about.

All companies have had their share of bad systems here and there. If there is a problem AW will look into it.
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post #3 of 12
2/1/08 at 12:20pm
The overheating problems from what I remember were with the old Pentium 4 desktop CPUs. The Intel Code 2 Duos run much cooler than that.
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post #4 of 12
2/1/08 at 3:37pm
I've got a P4 desktop chip and it hasn't overheated on me yet. Keep the fans cleaned, and keep the laptop on a smooth surface and you're good to go. Core 2 Duos shouldn't give you any problems at all, like Steve says.
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post #5 of 12
2/1/08 at 9:37pm
i havent had a single problem with my laptops from alienware overheating... as long as you keep the fans clear and clean them out on occasion you shouldnt have any problems... alienware designs their laptops to have good air flow and cooling to keep the parts from overheating....
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post #6 of 12
2/3/08 at 10:42am
I have 2 aw laptops. I have had no problems. I give them a good cleaning once a month. Booth runing strong. Be 2 years in march 08.
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post #7 of 12
2/4/08 at 1:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nucklearknight View Post
I am considering purchasing an Alienware laptop however my friends tell me that they overheat. Is it a major problem? I want to be able to leave it on for days in a row if I have to. Are they really notorious for overheating? Any other problems I should be aware of? They seem to be the top of the line powerhouse notebooks.
The m15x chassis, which is designed from the bottom up by AW engineers have a really good cooling system.
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post #8 of 12
2/7/08 at 4:54pm
I've got 2 Alienware systems - one a desktop and the other a laptop. I've bench marked them both. They are very similar in performance. The P4 desktop sounded like a helicopter when I was gaming. My laptop with its T7400 Core 2 Duo is almost silent when gaming. I have opened up my lappy, cleaned the heat transfer compund off the CPU & GPU and applied Artic Silver in its place. I overclock my X1800 GPU and to date I haven't had any overheating issues.

I understand Alienware has put more input into thier new "M" systems than preiously possible now that they have Dell behind them. I would imagine these new systems will be excellent performers.

I've also watercooled the desktop to quiet it down to acceptable levels
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post #9 of 12
2/12/08 at 4:43pm
Up until this weekend, I've never had an issue with overheating on my m5500. I managed to screw around with my system and put Vista on it after upgrading the RAM. Intead of installing Vista over the top of XP, I went the route of FDISK'ing the entire system. Well, after several attempts at installing Vista on it, I got it to load. The fan is on constantly, and I have had the system shut itself off due to overheating. I just installed a temperature monitor program as well as a fan adjuster last night and will see how it goes today.
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post #10 of 12
2/12/08 at 6:00pm
Good luck with it, mb. bios update maybe could help, just my two cents.
Vista runs pretty stable on mines with SP1 installed and 3 gigs of RAM.
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post #11 of 12
2/12/08 at 9:40pm
Make sure you've got the bios update for vista if there is one for the platform, and make sure you've got the chipset, mobo and cpu driver for Vista.
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post #12 of 12
2/15/08 at 7:24pm

SP1 is out for Vista??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartan-117 View Post
Good luck with it, mb. bios update maybe could help, just my two cents.
Vista runs pretty stable on mines with SP1 installed and 3 gigs of RAM.
Hmm I guess it is. So that is what those updates ot my lappys were
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