This is just an FYI...
I installed the 163.44 drivers for Vista on my 1710 and I had major overheating problems after that. After about 5-10 minutes of gameplay (HL2: EP1) my sistem would turn off due to overheating. I downloaded I8KFANGUI to monitor the temps and turn the fans on a little sooner than the Dell presets. After monitoring the temps I realized that there was a pretty major problem. But the drivers increased my FPS by a significant amount so I didn't want to uninstall the drivers and go back to the VERY old Dell supported drivers. Dell's drivers are terrible and anything passed Doom 3 plays like arse.
My temps with the 163.44 drivers during gameplay would hover around 97 degrees C - the highest I saw was 104C!! But the average was mostly just shy of 100C and my system would issue a critical shutdown quite often. So...here's what I did:
Tools/Supplies:
Set of Jewelers Screwdrivers
Can of Compressed Air (Had an extra bottle in my office but probably costs about $2.00)
Tube of Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound ($19.95)
91% Rubbing Alcohol ($0.99 at any drug store)
Paper Towels
6-Pack of Beer (optional)
Use the documentation found here to disassemble your notebook:
http://support.dell....en/SM/index.htm
There is a lot to it, but it's actually pretty simple to do if you have a little hardware experience (which I'm sure most of you do - don't all gamers?) BE CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE ANY SCREWS!!
What you need to do is remove the heatsink from the CPU and graphics card (GPU). After you've removed them, use the compressed air and clean off the fins on the heatsinks really well and blow off the fans. The CPU is the one to the left of the chassis and was pretty easy to get to. (note: when removing the heatsink assembly's try not to touch the copper as the oils from your hands will slightly damage the copper finish. I doubt it would make much of a difference but hey, if it saves you 1 degree, follow the advice since it all adds up. After you remove the CPU heatsink, clean off the old thermal compound with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol (go easy on the alcohol). The co-processor has a little purple thermal pad - remove that. Spread the Arctic Silver across the top of the CPU but don't use too much - you don't want it oozing all over the CPU as that's counterproductive to the goal. On the co-processor (the one to the right of the CPU) use a little more because you want the Arctic Silver to replace the purple pad which has a little thickness to it. Now you're done with the CPU....on to the GPU.
The graphics card is actually attached to the heatsink assembly and it's a little scary taking it apart because it feels like the two shouldn't separate. But they do so rest assured. Unscrew EVERY screw on it! They don't come all the way out but you can tell when they are fully unscrewed (that should make sense while you're doing it). Using your fingers and thumbs, pull them apart - it takes a little finger muscle because the original thermal compound 'glues' the two together. Not really, but it feels like it. After you have the graphics card separated from the heatsink assembly, clean off all the old compound and apply your AS5 compound. When putting the card/HS back together, leave the thinker purple pads in place, but you can replace the thinner ones with AS5 (I did).
Put it all back together and happy hunting!
After this mod, my GPU peak temp is 81 degrees C and CPU is 56C - and that's under heavy load. HUGE difference! I actually had a cooling pad before the AS5 mod and even with the cooling pad my PC would do a critical shutdown - though not as often. But this temp savings was accomplished with the AS5 and heatsink cleaning only. I hope this helps some of you out!!!
