Alienware m18 Disassembly & Repaste

[@boneybone8123]

Damn! Some people say they shoulda added subwoofer to this thing but my God that chassis is filled to the brim! Not enough space for anything without shrinking the battery. Also, that is hell a lot of work for a repaste! Not only it's cumbersome, it's risky for so many reasons. Not a novice thing. Good job!

[@cs.studios]

I wish they did what they offered before. They had an option before where you chose smaller battery and got an extra HDD slot or you get a bigger battery. Would have been nice to see that with this and a sub

[@kevinboles3885]

The statement about not using alcohol to remove Element 31 is definitely correct. It is buried in the Alienware X17's documentation, and VERY VERY few people know about this . . . including KZbinrs and even technical support staffers.

[@kevinboles3885]

I think the key to recognize on the 1st benchmark after applying the thermal pads is that the difference between the hottest and coldest P cores reduced. MUCH more importantly is that the standard deviation of all P cores was WAY lower - i.e. MOST of the P cores were now at or near 100deg when the hotest core was there. Also, when you went to a bigger undervold, the #5 core was no longer your hottest - it was #7.

[@cs.studios]

After a few days I hit 37k cb r23 score. Ptm7950 has a small deviation between cores and performance went up

[@kevinboles3885]

@@cs.studios that is just insane!!

[@thescottishcyclist4640]

Yup.. nail polish remover all the way for liquid metal based compounds.

[@FredericSenegas]

Many thanks for this great video! Clearly repasting the m18 is more challenging than the past Alienware laptops that I owned. By the way, I have been following your posts and other videos about the performance of your m18 and I believe that Element 31 was applied more or less properly on your m18. Your Cinebench and Time Spy score were already outstanding before the repaste. On my side I was stuck at 28k at Cinebench and 16k for the CPU score at Time Spy. And MogRules had 26k in Cinebench before repaste. Since you have better temperatures after repaste maybe that will give you more opportunities for a few extra tweaks and reaching higher scores.

[@cs.studios]

The element 31 performs very well but I had a hotspot on mine. Now my cpu in general is running hotter but is actually throttling less and performing better

[@AgentFitz-y3u]

If you found out that bechmarks are much lower and runs hotter than usual, especially fresh out of the box, there is a huge possiblity that those barriers that protected element 31 leak on motherboard wasn't installed properlly. You can just repaste with regular thermal paste and remove those barriers, you probably got better results, sigh dell's quality control...

[@lilynneoma3543]

Hello, I wouldn't know if you'd like to sell your M18 at this time. I'm in need of a tough graphics machine like this or the A-51m, but I can't afford a new box.

[@MrYorch3]

Sir, thank very much for this kind of content, is the only video on KZbin, and its very helpful, thanks again, have a nice day

[@g-nice_pimp]

last time i bought an AW, it had massive core differentials due to the tripod heatsink. I was upgraded to a newer laptop which still had the same issues. Now 5 years later, it seems like they still haven't made progress on the cooling side and made it harder for enthousiast to repaste their machine. A shame you still need to open up a brand new machine and put on new paste. But as long as people tollerate the broken laptops from factory, they newer will be pushed to fix their mess

[@cs.studios]

They’re getting wrecked on reddit about temps and I’ve also told them so they at least know there’s some issue

[@c.alcantara9490]

@@cs.studios But Dell not listen to you !

[@Zer0Passenger]

@@cs.studios Dell and many other companies like Asus do not listen to costumers at all!

[@kismetcapitan]

thank you for these detailed instructions; I was able to disassemble my M18 R2 for the first time ever with little experience with electronics with no hiccups at all. Cleaning Element 31 indeed isn't easy; it spawns little liquid metal balls which you have to carefully chase down and remove. For a paste that contains liquid metal however, I don't understand why the performance was so mid. I applied Conductonaut liquid metal and my CPU temps are a consistent 15 degrees celsius lower, with the fans running at lower speeds and I no longer experience random stuttering with my overclock settings. Pure liquid metal really is the only way to go in my opinion.

[@tomgjonaj9965]

I hate flipped motherboards. Made it a pain to repaste liquid metal on the X17 R2. My current laptop, the new GT77 Titan, is very easy to work with

[@cs.studios]

I was quite surprised how easy it was to repaste. If I wasn’t recording the video I can probably do it all in 30 min

[@XenonG]

Even better if they use automotive phase change TIM, lasts for 10 to 20 years depending on which grade they go for.

[@kenhew4641]

@@Bassettman2012 good dad. Wish I had a dad who'd buy me an msi titan 😆but he bought me a 486dx2 when I was 12 and till today 30 years later I still remember that fondly because it was my first ever computer and he actually worked an extra job just to get the money to buy me that, cos he said he knows nothing about computers, but he thinks computers would be important in the future so he wanted to make sure I don't get left out. And now I'm a 3D and architectural visualizer and it all started with that beige box with a chunky crt monitor that he bought me 30 years ago😊

[@antrinh9088]

Always love your passion with Alienware since Area51m 😅, I used to own Area51m myself too but sold it due to 2 power bricks. And I didn’t go with m18 this time because of the weight and cooling issue…

[@cs.studios]

I like the area-51m in that you can use 1 power brick for everyday use. CPU runs 100% but gpu runs like at 40-50%. I ended up with a eurocom 780w power adapter so I can carry 1 brick. I also have multiple attachment wires for different laptops but it is expensive. Gotta watch their ebay for sales

[@OWNORDISOWN]

Thanks for the hard work and posting this. If only they didn't have an inverted motherboard I am sure the temperatures would be better. CBR23 will make most systems break a sweat, how are the gaming temperatures after the repaste?

[@cs.studios]

In the last of us part 1 cpu is around 89-90c with balance mode fans. I guess that’s better than 95-100c lol. I’m sure if I do ultra performance fans it’ll be a bit less. Just lifting up the laptop a bit from the desk alone decreases temps to 81-82c

[@nunya3163]

@@cs.studios Wow, that is a huge drop from propping it up. Would love to know how low a cooling pad with fans could get it.

[@freemaysin5088]

In my experience with ALL Alienware laptops since the introduction of the M15 R *X* series laptops, and X series, copper shims are needed to get proper mounting pressure for active cooling gains. I did have an X14 that I worked on last year, that liquid metal cured without any shims.

[@kevinboles3885]

I have wondered about this for my X17 R1 with 11980HK. It has a 21 deg gap when the first core hits 100. Stabilized, I have 2 cores right at 100, and every other core is below 90 with most in the mid to low 80s! Do you have any links or other info you could provide to help me with shimming my own mounts? Thanks in advance if you can help!

[@boneybone8123]

Can you give some info about the shimming please.

[@brettweltz8135]

You gotta remember that phase change material needs a break-in period. it’s not gonna immediately be better on the first cycle. It’s going to take anywhere from 10 all the way up to 25 cycles before you’ll notice an improvement.

[@GurSingh117]

Thanx a ton man.... I would love see the update if you do decide to order a new paste but regardless great video and truly helpful. Now I am more comfortable opening mine up when it will arrive, but I might not do a repaste because of not much of an impact as it showed in your case. Cheers brother.

[@cs.studios]

My newer ptm7950 was delayed otherwise I would have used that. Will wait to see at least 3-4 others results first but my performance actually increased

[@GurSingh117]

I'll be eagerly waiting for all the update videos that you will make.

[@CarnivorePriest]

Thank you for the video - I am about to do the same process except replacing with liquid metal. I may document everything and show a thermal comparison before/after.

[@Zfast4y0u]

5:40 they make those fan blades nowdays so its impossible for you to clean em once they get dirty... i used to clean my old alienware m18 once a week or once in a two weeks, cause blades get dusty, in this new model, well you can forget that.

[@Paradigmfusion]

great teardown, however that stuff isnt Element 13 thermal compound, that was just standard thermal paste. Element 13 is similar to Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut and looks like liquid metal.

[@cs.studios]

It’s not standard thermal paste. It’s a mixture of thermal paste and Liquid Metal. I’ve used pure Liquid Metal before, this shiny particles are Liquid Metal

[@mkgriff1492]

Been doing some research on PTM7950. I would have heated it up with a hairdryer to get out any bubbles and allow the material to be crushed down more evenly reapplying the heatsink. That's just my 2 cents but I'm old school and always go for thick quality paste and evently coat the cpu. But I deal with a lot of AIOs.

[@VazgShah79]

Thank You very much for this detailed review. As far As I have heard about this models, there would be vapor chamber combined with cooling system, but I couldn't see any vapor chamber during disassembling. Can You explain?

[@cs.studios]

It is there. You should be able to see it when heatsink is flipped. It isn’t large

[@Arc3eee]

Can you tell us what size will be better to order for the thermal pad for the CPU and GPU re application? The size options available are 30*30mm, 40*40, 80*40 and 80*80mm I kinda think 80*40 should be enough for both the CPU and GPU but your opinion on the matter will be much appreciated

[@cs.studios]

37k cb r23: i.imgur.com/QayY6dH.png Next: I wonder if I should add a sub into the m18 like I experimented with a 2nd one in one of my m18x years ago... lol: www.nbrchive.net/xfa/alienware-18-and-m18x.1092/MSI%20GT72S%20Subwoofer%20Installation%20%5BM18xR2%5D/images/storyImages/Y4k4Sr6.jpg Element 31 is actually a good performing TIM. The problem is, it isn't applied properly from factory otherwise performance can be very good. Here I replaced with ptm7950 phase change pads. Interestingly, the overall temps on all cores went up, however, my performance increased, and the cpu does not throttle as bad as it did before. I may re-paste one more time when my fresh ptm7950 comes in since this one seems not as good as when I first bought it

[@graelstream2353]

it would be nice if dell actually sells it too hehe but I also recently ordered the PTM7950 as well as some fuji poly thermalpads.

[@chewbakaats]

that would certainly be a baller move lol

[@scottburgessmedia]

Overall temps went up probs because the heat was evenly distributed vs your hotspot before, right?

[@BlackThunderRC]

Biggest tell to have seen if it was any better would be the power draw. If it’s able to draw more power and dissipate it then it’s better. No matter what you will always have a couple of hot cores. And remove the barriers. They can sometimes cause uneven contact. Had to do that on my x17 r2.

[@cs.studios]

Yes power consumption went up the roof and it’s performing better now even better than when I made the video

[@smeff099]

thank you for this. my understanding is you need to heat cycle the thermal pads a few times. any updates since you put the pads in? im about to do this myself.

[@cs.studios]

Temps have been great still. Better than factory for sure

[@smeff099]

@@cs.studios sweet!

[@NoName-zf6nr]

Thank you so much! Does removing the fans for proper cleaning require first disassembling the motherboard?

[@cs.studios]

From what I can see no they should come out without disassembling the mb

[@sorianeff765]

You make it look so easy, yet I haven't the courage to repaste my M15R5. This inverted motherboard makes the process unnecessarily complicated 😢

[@アラト-q8w]

I have a question. 1・At 15:10, do you apply thermal paste on top of the CPU and put thermal pad on top of it? 2・Will replacing the thermal pad void the DELL warranty? I'm watching with Google's translation function, but I don't quite understand the translation, so I asked a question.

[@cs.studios]

At 15:10 I applied PTM7950 not thermal paste. You can either install that or thermal paste but not both. Dell does not recommend replacing factory Liquid Metal but as long as you do not damage anything, it should be fine

[@hook86]

Dell's warrant is actual garbage anyway. I've been getting the constant run around with getting them to actually fix my laptop since it runs at 100C CPU temp constantly.

[@Dualz22]

What about to put some liquid metal, can you do some tests of temeperatures?

[@cs.studios]

Someone else did Liquid Metal on the forums and it performed better than stock and ptm7950 but of course you are taking the risk of Liquid Metal leaking onto somewhere

[@mt1885]

Hi CS Studios can you link the tools and thermal paste you use? GREAT video!

[@cs.studios]

For ptm7950: www.ebuy7.com/amp/honeywell-7950-phase-change-thermal-pad-notebook-computer-phase-change-silicone-grease-cpu-thermal-paste-pad-patch-material-1.html and for tools: amzn.to/3GN8JR0

[@TheBaconAgent212]

Hi thanks for the vid How is the ptm7950 compared to carbonaut

[@cs.studios]

Way better, I use it on all my laptops now

[@scottburgessmedia]

Woah, still thermal throttling? How on earth did the SCAR18 manage to do it then :|

[@cs.studios]

I don’t think the scar 18 is scoring 37k in cb r23 probably because they limit the cpu power unlike AW. There are a few others who have repasted and theirs doesn’t throttle anymore

[@svenstephan8631]

@CS Studios do you think it would make sense to change the other thermal pads? What thickness do they have? Thank you

[@cs.studios]

I personally didn’t change them. I saw they were making good contact so I left them alone. You will want to buy 0.5mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 3mm and 4mm pads. It’s best to do trial and error with pads on your own system if you decide to change them all

[@MrScary-207]

It looked as though there was a felt/mesh like dust filter inside, on the top honeycomb intake holes (beside the power button). I wonder if removing that would improve airflow...

[@cs.studios]

Interesting, I may have to take a look when I disassemble again

[@MrScary-207]

8:52

[@nunya3163]

Thank you for this awesome video. I am looking for a new laptop now, and the M18 is on my short list, with the thermals and paste being one of my main concerns.

[@cs.studios]

It’s been awhile since I bought mine so they may have improved the assembly process since then

[@wtdlife9554]

Hello, thank you for your video. By the way, do you also get a better temperature on the CPU during gaming after you repaste?

[@cs.studios]

Yes gaming temps are much better

[@irinaseng9348]

Thank you so much! Where can I buy that sleeve for the m18?

[@cs.studios]

It was on the AW website maybe it is sold out right now

[@elyancordero8374]

what kind of thermal paste did you use? why not use liquid metal? What bios version you on? Did you undervolt on windows or thru bios? could you share your unlocked bios please? do you know the thermal pad sizes? btw youve earned a new subscriber I would have used liquid metal and baked the liquid metal into the heatsink then reapplied a second coat you probably would have saw a 10-20c decrease in temps without undervolt

[@cs.studios]

Honeywell PTM7950 phase change pad. I don’t like liquid metal as it has caused me issues before. Ptm7950 works well and provides even contact. I’m on latest 1.6.0 bios and UV using xtu at the end of the video. There’s no unlocked bios, you can use ru.efi to enable UV but with bios 1.6.0 you can already UV now. The thermal pads I used stock ones.

[@TheBaconAgent212]

Did the ptm 7950 fix the one core that was higher than the rest Are all the cores even in temps now

[@cs.studios]

Yes. The power consumption/clock speeds went up after ptm7950 along with performance. All cores are all close together in temps now

[@Iratos]

Are these contact point's from the cooler to CPU and GPU are made of aluminum or nickelized copper? Looking like brushed aluminum to me

[@cs.studios]

The contact parts are copper, aluminum does not do well with Liquid Metal

[@Iratos]

@@cs.studiosOkay thanks! So i can apply liquid metal to tame this beast

[@Paul_Magro]

Does anyone know what laptop case that is, I can't find any protection cases for my m18. Please help

[@cs.studios]

It’s the official horizon 18 laptop sleeve. Idk why I can’t find it on dells website anymore

[@s__c__o]

Nice vid, what sleeve is that? An official M18 case? (not available on Dell website now.)

[@cs.studios]

Yes it should be back in stock this month

[@tomek373]

How long did it take for your laptop to start after doing this ? I just did it and my keyboard lights up but that’s about it and it keep going on and off while screen stays black. I don’t know what the issue is 😓

[@cs.studios]

It took like 10 whole minutes, it’s a bit scary at first but it should eventually boot

[@aaronprice8563]

Somewhat off topic but im very curious, what were your settings for cinebench? I cant seem to score over 28k on my best single run. This is for the same laptop, Alianware m18 r1.

[@cs.studios]

Stock settings, just have the 10 min loop turned off

[@aaronprice8563]

@@cs.studios thank you for getting back to me!

[@nathangraegin1850]

Is it possible to put this motherboard inside the area 51m? I have the big boy desktop replacement one

[@cs.studios]

No its completely different

[@nathangraegin1850]

@@cs.studios is that due to the shape?

[@eyuparslan7104]

inverted motherboard? this is nightmare! mine hasn't arrived yet but I think I already regret it by the way thank you. great job

[@rayanbrahim2690]

do you still regret it?

[@CoachT-gr1wo]

Do you like your Alienware M18? Im thinking in buying one but have doubts now

[@eyuparslan7104]

@@CoachT-gr1wo yes i do. i was. it'a great machine. I had to sell it but I miss it. The one I used to have is the 4080 model. I recommend this and above

[@eyuparslan7104]

@@rayanbrahim2690 no.

[@BHAVYA254]

bhai panni kyu laga di CPU pe? Alienware walo ne Liquid metal diya tha to uska koi reason hi hoga na?

[@cs.studios]

Jeh Liquid Metal cho gi aa tera laptop mar ji na. Uska reason ptm7950 bhar te aa. Performance bi similar aa

[@Anton433]

can you make video how you undervolt it? brother says that in XTU its blocked option idk he own m18 13900hx 4080 and temperatures are crazy in hot miami

[@cs.studios]

I think on the latest bios you can now undervolt in aw command center. I do have a video on how to unlock undervolt and use throttlestop to undervolt as well

[@sosphone4649]

what is the best gaming laptop?? please let me know..

[@cs.studios]

As of today probably the new MSI Titan 18” laptop

[@gonger03]

Any idea if Dell has taken note about the core issue? Is there any official response from Alienware about it?

[@cs.studios]

As far as I know, no official response yet.

[@jamesteh3485]

What types of NVME SSD do dell give you? gen 3 or gen 4? what is the read/write speed of the ssd. thanks

[@cs.studios]

Gen 4 7gb/s R 5gb/s W

[@jamesteh3485]

@@cs.studios thanks

[@ukrainianguy9204]

Hello, how did you removed Undervolt Protection i XTU program ? Thank you.

[@cs.studios]

I’ll make a video this weekend on the process for all laptops

[@ukrainianguy9204]

@@cs.studios Weekend is over my friend , where is video ? 😁

[@diogomachado2743]

Can i repaste my alienware with any liquid metal, like the conductonaut ?

[@cs.studios]

Yes

[@Goldenlawlz]

Where did you get the case from? I would love to get the same one.

[@cs.studios]

AW official site but it might be out of stock

[@MrSidemzuga]

thanks for the video! can u send me the link for the laptop sleeve?

[@cs.studios]

For some reason Alienware doesn’t sell it anymore idk why

[@ThrillComplex]

Where do you order your PTM 7950 thermal pads from? I've been trying to find a reliable seller.

[@cs.studios]

Ebuy7 , I should have put a link in the description

[@AgentFitz-y3u]

Hi, I got few questions about this laptop and M16 because they share the same BIOS, I just got this laptop less than 2 weeks and I found out that cinebench R23 was running around only near 29000 score, mine cpu is 13900HX, no matter how hard I tried, still not yet exceed 30000 scores on R23, is that because newest bios? mine was 1.14.1 which is the newest one.

[@cs.studios]

It might be the new bios, check temps as well. Background processes can also reduce score

[@duruozgur]

why did you chose to use ptm over liquid metal? just because it is safe or cooling performance? i started using ptm over liquid metal as well but ptm is underperforming especially when im doing daily stuff with my pc. i mean when my pc is operating cool, ptm cant get enough heat to change its form to liquid and pc starts spinning fans like crazy. but when i start a game or something, after 5 mins, it operates nearly as cool as when it was on liquid metal.

[@cs.studios]

Safe and because I wanted to try ptm7950

[@rza7474]

1) How long is the lifespan of element 31 thermal paste? 2) If element 31 leaks, will it damage the motherboard?

[@cs.studios]

1) sorry no idea since it’s not pure Liquid Metal 2) yes

[@jeffnewbill8163]

What case is that at the beginning of the video?

[@cs.studios]

Alienware Horizon 18-Inch Laptop Sleeve , can’t seem to find a link anymore

[@__mad_sailor__4311]

Good job! That Alienware is my dream:))) but I think before Dell in m18 used Liquid Metal

[@300aniruddh]

So, I have an unusual question - I was planning to buy this, but I have seen this screen in a demo unit, and it is very unexcitingly dim. So, does anyone know of a better 18 inch screen (miniLED or OLED) that I can replace the OEM LCD 300 nits screen with?

[@cs.studios]

Wait until ces 2024 when m18 R2 will be announced

[@farrukh3150]

are you sure there's gonna be R2 this year? I havent seen any announcements so far@@cs.studios

[@mohammedimran4891]

Kirakk and Superb 😈👍

[@A.Omar90]

Good Job. Does your wattage drop while Gaming for a couple of seconds?? And how did you enable undervolt in intel Xtu ? mine says undervolt protection enabled Btw 64gb Ram only work 5200 Mhz 32gb work on 5600mhz

[@cs.studios]

I haven’t noticed that but will keep a close eye on it. m18 specifically supports 64gb 5600mhz ram and 32gb 5800mhz ram. Toms hardware has a i9 13980hx and 32gb 5800mhz ram config. I saw all the options hidden in bios, the laptop needs a bios to show the hidden ram timing and OC page

[@A.Omar90]

@@cs.studios I have the M16 with 4090. while Gaming Every 3 - 4 min the CPU wattage drop to 30W for like 3 seconds. That Pattern is in every single Game.

[@elyancordero8374]

@@cs.studios could you please share that bios?

[@eljefe051]

What sleeve is that ? I'm looking for one for my m18

[@cs.studios]

The official m18 sleeve but idk why AW doesn’t list it on their website anymore

[@wukamlong7954]

Guys, be very careful if your antenna cable is stuck. (I forced a little and ended up breaking the pin 😢)

[@djcornel5010]

Where’s the cmos battery?🤔

[@TraceguyRune]

Is the M16 R1 disassembly the same?

[@cs.studios]

Yes should be almost the same

[@alltheworldiameverything5421]

i really want this laptop to be perfect, its so beautiful. if alienware gives you more control over the rgb effects(i dont care about rgb) & improves cooling, lastly, support PD charging this laptop would be perfect.

[@cs.studios]

If AW made an X18 version of this laptop but with the full performance cpu and proper audio , I would be happy to

[@atfjulio]

Hey man I did exactly what you did. But now, my laptop turns on but the screen is black and it does a restart loop. Its been 10 minutes and its been doing the same. What could be the issue in my case?

[@cs.studios]

Try removing ram and resetting cmos and see if that helps

[@dr.hermannrodriguezcastill3589]

Friend, thank you very much for the videos you have made. I am currently going to switch from my Area 51m R1, to the Alienware M18. I honestly wasn't sure about it, but your videos helped me choose. One last question would be if the M18 has 4 slots for ram memory or only 2. Grettings from Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.

[@cs.studios]

It has 2 slots for RAM. As of right now I am running 64GB (2x32GB) RAM. Once 96GB (2x48GB) sticks become available I will upgrade

[@dr.hermannrodriguezcastill3589]

@@cs.studios I come from an Area-5m R1, before I had the 17 R4 and before that the M18x and the M11x. For this 2023 I expected something different from the Area 51m, I even wait 4 years to upgrade to a new laptop but I already bought this M18 R1, but with a very bad taste in my mouth, in reality I almost didn't want to buy it and I was about to betray myself buying a Razer but couldn't. It bothers me that Alienware does nonsensical things like not putting lights on the touchpad, or putting the SD card reader on the back and instead the ethernet port on the side. The worst is it feel like im not upgrading nothing since is a exterior copy of the Area 51m.

[@savalan934]

@@cs.studios does M18 r1 support 96 gb ?

[@Lorta21]

What sleeve fits that M18?

[@cs.studios]

I used the official one

[@PotatoMan3.0]

I want to buy m18 (7845hx + rtx 4080), but I have a question. Please tell me if you play for a long time (2-3 hours) on this laptop, does the keyboard feel hot? I hate, when it burns my fingers👐))

[@cs.studios]

For me it seems cool enough. Most of the heat is in the back or bottom

[@tysage1473]

No heat at the keyboard at the bottom

[@smilingskull7827]

Tells us to beware of liquid metal all while standing next to a vase of water.

[@cs.studios]

I’m not Linus, the vase didn’t fall, I did try to move it a bit further away for the video.

[@Red-co5yv]

very detailed. i loved it

[@MogRules01]

Nice video bud ! Yeah, the E31 wipes off pretty easy, I found it easier then IC Diamond haha. Glad this improved your scores yet again :) it's really unfortunate that we need to do this, but at least we know it can be fixed. I still can't figure out what the difference is between mine and yours, as I am still locked out of undervolting in XTU, for whatever reason.

[@cs.studios]

Try resetting bios defaults and switch awcc to custom profile then open xtu

[@NoSmileification]

Sounds like it didn't work out in this case, must have done a good job at the factory. I think this also just shows me that the i9-13980hx is a better option for this laptop with better thermals and better undervolting.

[@cs.studios]

Actually it did work out kinda. So my temps were still high but that was because the cpu was now boosting much higher. I can score 37k Cb r23 now

[@NoSmileification]

@cs.studios Ah fair enough, as long as your happy with it! Seems like a huge pain to repaste on these things though. Probably more worth it for folks after the warranty is up in my opinion.

[@c.alcantara9490]

You have better thermal with 13980HX ?

[@graelstream2353]

Nice video! BTW I think its the pads thats the issue, maybe try getting some better thermal pads. Plus im kinda curious why at stock, the m16 out performs the m18 in terms of benchmark. The m16 by other tech youtubers seems to handle the heat better than the m18. Gizmo and OwnOrDisown also has a underperforming m18 while the m16 they bought performs better.

[@cs.studios]

I don’t know of any m16 performing better than my m18 at stock (see my m18 review video) but I do know many m16 came with awcc v5 whereas m18 only came with awcc v6. With some bios updates the m18 is performing well. We just need dell to apply element 31 better

[@graelstream2353]

@@cs.studios Gizmo tech's, Own or Disown as well as one small youtube channel has a underwhelming m18 bud. I got the m16 because it was the only thing available back in feb when my brother was about to go home to our place. Anywho I hope someone makes a repaste guide for the m16 as well. BTW whats your reasoning behind using intel xtu over throttlestop? I havent used xtu but Im waiting for a guide on how to optimize the m16. Its still in the box haha. NIce vid! keep it up!

[@cs.studios]

No offense to anyone but everyone with a underperforming m18 could have fixed most of their performance (besides throttling/UV). I stayed on bios 1.2.0 until 1.6.0 came out and was already scoring 33k cb. I spent over a month with my laptop before even posting a review video. My friend got his laptop super early and I saw why some people were having issues right away. If you play with awcc you will see which profiles cause performance problems. Running balanced or custom alone fixed many issues. His laptop was performing similar to everyone else too and I got him to 32k CB in a couple of hours (no UV/still throttling and this was before most had a m18). Again this goes back to m16 coming with the older awcc v5 vs m18 coming with v6. V6 introduced bugs and slowly AW is improving the software/bios. The last thing now is to improve the element 31 application and this will make the performance/thermals perfect.

[@cs.studios]

I used XTU because throttlestop kept making my cpu run at a super low clock speed when I UV. I normally use TS but this time went with XTU. I was on bios 1.2.0 and unlocked UV in 1.2.0 before 1.5.2 existed so I had to rely on XTU to UV at the time and decided to keep it

[@cs.studios]

Oh btw repaste for m16 should be like 95% similar to m18. Just checked the service manual, using this guide should allow you to do it to a m16 as well! 😉

[@vinishshetty8055]

What if I told you an Alienware M18 R2 with i9 14900hx CPU and Nvidia Geforce Rtx 4090 GPU can be had at just 1600 dollars or less depending on your luck, All you need to do is buy a replacement motherboard for the M18 R2 which costs 800-900 dollar which comes with the CPU and GPU soldered and daughterboard with ports for dollar 25 if you need, You could buy the Heatsink assembly along with fans for 60 dollars, imho the M18 R1 Heatsink assembly(you are using in the video) should also fit. Power supply cables for 40 dollars, Calculate the power requirements and buy a power adaptor rated for 300-360 watts (You should be able to buy used dell power adaptors for 100-150) for 200 dollars, Take some measurements using a Vernier caliper using CAD design a case for the Frankenstein monster, Upload your design on PCB way and Install the assembled Motherboard and Heatsink assembly in the case, If you plan it well You could also design some space for a BluRay Writer which you could connect using the PCIe M2 3.0 to SATA 6 to the the motherboard. You would now have a slim PC with tremendous power to run whatever you want and backup data on MDisc, Rough cost would be 900+25+60+40+200+300.

[@cs.studios]

It’s not going to be a “Alienware m18” if the chassis is completely different. I did do something similar a long time ago by building a Alienware m11x r3 by buying all the parts separately on AliExpress but if I were to do that with the m18 I’d want to find the chassis on eBay as well

[@MrMadness574]

Any idea if the AMD versions have this issue? Also is intel usually better than AMD?

[@cs.studios]

AMD also heats up but they seem to do better. Personally I prefer the Intel one

[@anthonbakkalian2352]

@TravisPNWCan you please share your temperatures with us in the future once you receive your laptop and the Cinebench R23 score as well please. When will you receive the AMD version M18 ?

[@anthonbakkalian2352]

@TravisPNW Perfect thank you so much in advance!

[@DRAWKCABLLA]

what software is allowing you to see the individual threads and performance?

[@cs.studios]

I think you’re referring to cinebench r23

[@sametkucuk7305]

this is silly i mean this laptop supposed to be replace desktop ones so these should be easy to repaste why they do such a thing like this also i wonder razer blade 18 good or this one ? (i9-4090 settings)

[@cs.studios]

The razer blade 18 will have less performance from what I’ve seen. They all run hot so get the one you like the most. The performance difference between them all isn’t significant enough to make a difference in 99% of tasks

[@sametkucuk7305]

@@cs.studios hm ok thanks for answer oh by the way lot of youtubers say always bad something about dell and his brand alienware and i dont get it why i mean this brand in my country people respect because his service quality build quality (some models) but every youtubers say something bad about alienware or dell i wonder why ? i mean i love dell brand and i bet if i buy gaming laptop proabbly buy alienware and these kind a claims make me wonder.

[@Fheral360]

Where can I get ptm 7958?

[@cs.studios]

Ebuy7

[@Fheral360]

@@cs.studios Thanks man!

[@earthshaker1982]

Thanks for the video man. Thinking of buying one, myself. P.S. If I may give you an advice. If you already remove the cooling system, always take the fans of and clean the dust between fans and radiotor. That dust produces even more overheating than bad thermal paste finger print. P.S.S. Can the fans be removed without lifting and turning over the mainboard ?

[@cs.studios]

The laptop was essentially new so there shouldn’t be much dust. I haven’t tried removing the fans by themselves but it looks like they should come out without full disassembly

[@alexandrgarlock4075]

I wish I could understand why Alienware feels the need to not give us access to the cpu and gpu. Just annoying.

[@cs.studios]

I heard on the new m16 the setup is directly underneath now. If only they do the same for m18

[@TheOneOEightDrAgon]

Sup brother, make a video on how to Undervolted the CPU.

[@karl_desert4859]

what spec have this m18 ??? vga ?

[@cs.studios]

i9 13900hx 64gb ram, RTX 4090, qhd display

[@derekhatake]

how comfortable are you with a laptop that operates at 100c

[@cs.studios]

You mean how often I run cinebench r23 to make the cpu hit 100c? Gaming temps are 80c or less now after repaste and a couple of thermal cycles. Gpu temps are even lower

[@wtdlife9554]

@@cs.studios Do you mean that although the temperature will reach 100c when you run Cinebench, it is only around 80c when you are gaming?

[@teddym2808]

Just lower the multiplier by a couple hundred megahertz and problem solved without losing too much performance.

[@元安陈]

Helpful! So damn good.

[@randomguy3034]

I still think the Area 51M R2 is the greatest laptop they ever made. Even before a repaste my 10900k rarely ever thermal throttled. Its 2080S was on par with a desktop 2080 at 200 watts. Its a shame they lied to the R1 and R2 adopters. Fool me twice, I suppose.

[@cs.studios]

I personally prefer my R1 because it has 4 RAM slots for 128gb. But yeah they were the beasts after like 5 years of nothing amazing. The m18 R1 is the closest we’ve gotten since the Area-51m days.

[@WillianMai]

temperatures have not gone lower because those laptops are set to use more processing power until they reach the temperature limits set by the processor registers (there's a T_OFFSET register if I am not mistaken which tells max temp before shutdown mechanism triggered and some other registers which tells which temperature should it be maintained) Intel sets this to 100C by default. So it will try to always increase the clock registers up to reaching 100C. So you just improved your processor performance.. its clock will be running faster for longer time before power limiting to keep temps to 100C. If you want to lower temps, I found (but did not test) this video which should be helpful to anyone trying to lower. But I don't know if performance will be similar. Please share your comments if you try this. Later come back to this comment and let us know. This is the video: How to COOL the Alienware m18 and m16 - EASILY kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3qmo5uer8l1i6c

[@cs.studios]

Yes I know, I realized that too and updated the CB R23 in the pinned comment of 37k score. In games the temps are much better. With undervolt the temps are in check

[@__mad_sailor__4311]

I have X17 r1 with 3080 gpu 4k and 11800 cpu, i use Liquid Metal. My temperature dropped to 75 degrees in Cyberpunk 4k high setting. But you must upgrade your heatsink. it is necessary to apply a nickel-plated coating to avoid the reaction of liquid metal with copper. In my service guys do this. so I'm lucky. In general, I think element 31 is complete crap. you can’t buy it, you can’t get it, then you have to worry about the temperatures yourself

[@cs.studios]

From my experience on the m18 the element 31 isn’t bad but isn’t applied well

[@tehshzz]

Liquid metal doesnt react with copper, it reacts with aluminum. Its gallium based.

[@caercadarn-9899]

Why don't you just undervolt it to get better CPU temps?

[@cs.studios]

UV was not enough. With repaste and UV performance is now very good

[@HSR_Freak]

Just don't say that the heatsink base is not copper:/ I am considering this model but I want to use liquid metal to get rid of the problem with high processor temperatures. Ahhhh

[@MrKobernyk89]

I can't understand where is (giant) Vapor Chamber

[@cs.studios]

On top of gpu /cpu die area

[@MrKobernyk89]

@@cs.studios is it really giant, as they say, or smaller than the Razers..

[@williamhogan9376]

Good Job!

[@NonDiscoverable8273]

Hey by the way did you put this up on eBay?

[@cs.studios]

Nope I still have it

[@NonDiscoverable8273]

I saw a posting of this on eBay for a 1k so someone saw this I think and put it for sale

[@Vandiekins]

I feel like element 31 is just thermal paste. i got the x16 and 100c while gaming on a laptop with 4 fans is just not acceptable. blade 16 with 2 fans gets better thermals

[@cs.studios]

It’s definitely a mixture with liquid metal. As someone who has used LM on older laptops I definitely saw the LM inside. It’s the shiny silver particles you can see.

[@teddym2808]

Blade has WAY lower power limits, it limits the CPU to 40 watts when GPU is loaded. Alienware allow CPU to run unrestricted. You are a noob, obviously. Check your Clock speeds and cpu wattage doing the exact same thing when Alienware is 100 degree and Razer is say 85. You will see precisely what I mean. If you want to match it properly, limit X16 to same wattage showing on Razer. That said, doesn't Razer 16 have HX cpu and X16 have HK? The razer is dealing with a much more powerful cpu in theory but the power limits are very low.

[@Vandiekins]

@@teddym2808 Clearly you are the noob here. Dumping 80w while gaming has 0 performance impact than running it with 40w. The razer does better power management and alienware running cpu at full wattage when not needed, its just to make people like you leave dumb comments like the one you left.

[@ragheedeleyan429]

Just bought this laptop and I have noticed that the CPU rise to 95 or 97 degrees, now I did expect this since I know that Alienware is a heavy gaming machine but I came to the conclusion that this Laptop has a paste problem from the manufacturer. So I would appreciate it if you could confirm this because I really don't want to play around the CPU and the motherboard in general, better to bring one of them Dell tech dudes to my home and do the job. Could you or anyone confirm if this is true?

[@cs.studios]

Yes it’s better to have them fix it

[@armyboi707]

Where did you get the sleeve? I been searching for mine

[@cs.studios]

It’s the AW horizon 18 sleeve. Idk why it’s not on the website anymore

[@iuliandavid2353]

Don’t get mad at me, but you have nothing to do with this profession. When I saw that you recommended holding the power button for 10 seconds to discharge any residual voltage, I understood that you don't know the electronic principles behind the power and standby functions. What you and others like you need to understand is that the power-on of a laptop is done by a KBC (Keyboard Controller) which is essentially a microcontroller working in tandem with the BIOS. Its role is to initiate the power-on sequence for all the voltage rails in the laptop (to power them on) and provide power to the CPU, NorthBridge, peripherals, etc. This microcontroller is powered by two standby voltages, 5V and 3.3V, which are continuously supplied by the laptop’s battery, even when the laptop is off. What you should know is that when you remove the battery (not the BIOS battery), the standby voltages (5V and 3.3V) disappear, which causes the microcontroller to lose power. As a result, it won’t initiate the power-on sequence. That power button connects directly to this chip (KBC controller). Since it no longer has standby voltages, pressing it for 7 hours instead of 10 seconds won’t discharge any residual voltage at all. The power-on sequence occurs by shorting a 3.3V voltage to ground - that’s the power-on voltage, not the standby voltage. If the standby voltage is missing, so is the power-on voltage when you press the power button for 10 seconds. It bothers me that people who know nothing about electronics talk nonsense and do things they don’t understand - things that if an expert saw them, they’d laugh out loud. Take the time to learn, get informed, and then give proper advice

[@Jason-lu3rl]

Theres onlyu one real way to get your CPU temps lower than a 100 degrees with an alienware and thats to disable turbo boost. You lose performance but you get a big temperature difference. For most this trade off is worth it but if you have a good environment and cooling pad that is decent 100 degrees under full load with these should be fine with stock settings.

[@tysage1473]

How do you turn off bosst

[@kaleoalfa9448]

Are you selling this board on eBay?

[@cs.studios]

No

[@dxd2153]

ty so much，help me so much。