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XPS M1330: give techs the possibility to upgrade/enhance cooling (by exchanging the thermal pads for officially tailored copper sheets)

460 points posted to XPS products, Laptops, Laptop Power by professa Jul 8

Dear Dell team,

I'm a (largely positive) owner of an XPS M1330 but I have to put it straight:

the cooling concept of the chipset and the GPU (geforce 8400M GS, in my case) is junk. Under load the GPU easily reaches 85 to 90 degrees celsius. I had a tech here lately to replace the motherboard of my M1330 (due to a fried / defective GPU!) who could have easily replaced the ineffective thermal pads with two copper sheets (which, in such a case, would have been provided by Dell and be specifically tailored to fit that notebook). The effectiveness of copper has already been proved by some people out there who have modded their M1330s with copper sheets by themselves (unfortunately loosing their warranty, so that's no option for me).

Is that possible, Dell providing such copper sheets to techs, for *OFFICIAL* replacement for the thermal pads, under warranty? These copper sheets can't be THAT expensive, compared to the significant number of fried GPUs out there.

Thanks for reading and considering my thoughts! :-)

Cheers, Michael

_ulli_
Jul 8		 I have the same problem! when i stress my GPU playing Counter-Strike:Source the GPU temperture goes up to 104 degree celsius (within a minute) an the GPU clocks down.. :/
Dell couldn't solve this problem.. they replaced the motherboard..the heatpipe twice.. at least they gave me a new m1330.. unfortunately i still have the same problem.. the copper-mod would solve my problem.. many users report positive things after they did it..
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=250129
penguinsa
Jul 8		 Copper sheeting can also be used for RF shielding- a Faraday shield. Doesn't have to be thick, AND can even have small holes.

1. Get some thin copper sheet, punch holes in it to give a "honeycomb" effect and reduce weight.
2. Put this inside the case, inside the moulded plastic.
3. Use assembly points (screws) to connect these together, PLUS a copper sheet to the heatsink.

Result: better shielding, improved heat dissipation. Probably a stronger case, too. You can leave a section behind the LCD unshielded, and place WiFi / GPS antennas there. With the rest of the machine shielded, reducind background noise, they may even have improved performance.
jeopardy
Jul 9		 Presumably this would still need some Thermal Paste? When the tech. replaced my M1330 motherboard he didn't put any fresh paste on. I am running HOT.
professa
Jul 9		 @jeopardy: Sure, the tech would have to use thermal paste on both sides of the copper sheet, interfacing with the GPU itself and the heatpipe. I'm pretty sure though that this setup is still significantly more efficient in heat transfer than these weird rubber pads...
darkcond0
Jul 9		 This would be like a dream come true if implemented. My m1330's gpu regularly heats up past 90 Celsius now. I don't have time to get the motherboard replaced either since I'm extremely busy with work and need the laptop, and even if the motherboard is replaced I'm sure the problem would remain since the cooling is the same..
professa
Jul 10		 Oh, BTW: since I'm located in Germany, I would love this feature/idea to be implemented (if at all) world-wide, not only in NORAM or AMER ;-)
professa
Jul 10		 @darkcond0: In my case, replacing the motherboard took a mere 30 - 45 minutes (the Dell tech, and a darn good one I have to say!, came directly to my office place). So the replacement itself is pretty quick, what's more irritating the period of sitting around with a half-dead motherboard UNTIL the tech comes around ;-)
bawl
Jul 27		 I'm strongly considering buying a XPS 1330, just bought one for my wife, and for the first time I'm actually considering ditching the Thinkpad X61s (after being on the TP X-wagon since X20) and going with Dell.

But one of the strongest deterrents is the fact that the GPU isn't properly cooled. I've read a lot about the copper mod, and actually seen it performed and work with a friend of mine.
It just can't be right that such a simple operation (IF you know what you're doing) could be the thing that voids your warranty. It simply must be cheaper to replace the termalpad with a copper-plate, rather than changing the motherboard every 6-12 months.

I sincerely hope that Dell will take this to heart and make this minimal adjustment.
redrubberpenguin
Jul 28		 This is a great idea. In the long run, this could save Dell a bit of money too. Some people have their m1330's motherboards replaced 3 or 4 times, but with this simple addition, m1330's would only have to be fixed ONCE.
 
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