X51 R3 overheating straight out of box

[tim bloggard]

Son decided to buy an Alienware gaming machine from Dell so expected it to run standard games at 1920x1080 without issues. First day I spent all day troubleshooting (unfortunately its the weekend so no dell support in Australia). I determined that the card a geforce 960 GTX is overheating (temps of GPU over 99 - 101 centigrade) when under load. Frame rates for games start at 40 fps but looks like the card is throttling performance as the temperature starts going over specification and we see single digit frame rates. Occasionally we lose signal connection with screen or it goes black. As its still under warranty I dont want to take the case apart although its probably as simple as a blocked fan. (the gpu fan says 100% but no rpm speed is showing. Anything else that could be causing the issues?

 

[SWAT_Glock]

Sounds like the GPU fan is either dead or something has it blocked. You can open the case to check it out without voiding the warranty.

 

[warren todd]

I have the same problem. Right out the Box would overheat and shut down at 105/106 degs. Trouble shooting and driver updates did nothing. GPU LC fan just doesn't spin up passed 1900 rpm in windows but in Bios test it works fine, tested up to 5600rpm. Took it in for repairs, it stopped the over heat but that LC fan still isnt spinning passed 2000 rpm and temps are hot at 83degs the LC fan just sits between 900 and 2000 rpm. Frustrating. Would love a fix for this issue!

Tim did you get yours sorted?

 

[SWAT_Glock]

I don't seem to have this issue with my R3. My CPU LC fan will go to 1200-1600 when I game but temps are still under 50C.

 

[warren todd]

I don't seem to have this issue with my R3. My CPU LC fan will go to 1200-1600 when I game but temps are still under 50C.

View attachment 1831

Darn, mine slightly oh the hotter side. Would prefer your temps!

 

[SWAT_Glock]

Ambient room temperatures is factor too. Mine is around 22c-23c right now.

 

[warren todd]

Ambient room temperatures is factor too. Mine is around 22c-23c right now.

A cosy 21.5 degs, lucky its winter I would hate to see how this runs in the summer! Well hope dell sort me out before then!

 

[SWAT_Glock]

I noticed very loose screws on my LC fan when I removed it to put the memory in. Perhaps your cpu block is loose? Any thoughts about re-pasting?

 

[EMINENT]

So I just got my R3 I7 6700k and 960 with 256/2tb hard drive and these are my temps with OC on and Alien control.

I've got it sitting between my 50" 4k Vizio and the wall and these are my temps. It seems kinda high to me with the water cooler working. Room temp about 78f.

Also, is PCI Fan the only manual control there is? Which sensor should I be concerned with? PCI or Power?

I'm not seeing the overclock reflected in System as it just lists 4.00 and also on Performance tab in Task Manager, it shows the same. Is this correct? I remember seeing the overclock reflected on my last custom desktop.

 

[tim bloggard]

The technical service people finally turned up after 1 week after numerous calls (supposed to be next day business service) and sure enough the fan of the Geforce 960 was blocked by a cable. (I had been instructed NOT to take the box apart otherwise I risked voiding the warranty.)
The technican took it apart replaced the card , "just in case", restarted. This time we could hear a fan rubbing on the cable. Best evidence of the actual problem. Took it apart again and all i can say is that he had problems putting humpty dumpty together.Finally restarted and temperatures no longer exceed 90 Centigrade with frame rates as expected.
I want to point out another issue that occurred. I asked the technician to put the PC through the Dell stress test for the video card (from their website) but every time we tried the PC locked up and required a hard reboot. Now I have tried that stress test before without issue when we were testing the unit on another day and no lockups. I researched the board and sure enough these Skylake boards are prone to CPU lock up when stressed. Downloaded one of the those free stress tests and the system is humming nicely again, no sign of lockups.
Personally, I still think that the X51 as designed is way too hot compared with an ugly big box with big fans and airflow and I don't see it having the longevity of an equivalent system in a cooler environment.

 

[sk.empyre]

The technical service people finally turned up after 1 week after numerous calls (supposed to be next day business service) and sure enough the fan of the Geforce 960 was blocked by a cable. (I had been instructed NOT to take the box apart otherwise I risked voiding the warranty.)
The technican took it apart replaced the card , "just in case", restarted. This time we could hear a fan rubbing on the cable. Best evidence of the actual problem. Took it apart again and all i can say is that he had problems putting humpty dumpty together.Finally restarted and temperatures no longer exceed 90 Centigrade with frame rates as expected.
I want to point out another issue that occurred. I asked the technician to put the PC through the Dell stress test for the video card (from their website) but every time we tried the PC locked up and required a hard reboot. Now I have tried that stress test before without issue when we were testing the unit on another day and no lockups. I researched the board and sure enough these Skylake boards are prone to CPU lock up when stressed. Downloaded one of the those free stress tests and the system is humming nicely again, no sign of lockups.
Personally, I still think that the X51 as designed is way too hot compared with an ugly big box with big fans and airflow and I don't see it having the longevity of an equivalent system in a cooler environment.

Glad you got your problem solved!

I think the X51 is perfectly fine. I have asked several Dell (Alienware) Techs if opening the case would in-fact void my warranty, each one said "No". However, I don't own an Alienware X51 (yet), but I assume that they would only tell you this with a problem of theirs..for example the cable rubbing against the GPU intake fan. I know there are several people here that could have walked you through your issue, I'm almost certain your GTX 960 was not faulty at all and the ONLY issue was the cable. However, if you aren't too familiar with working on PCs then it's understandable.

If anything ever happens with your X51 and you don't feel like dealing with a weeks worth of phone calls or chat attempts, come here again and I will be willing to help you. Just because it's an Alienware doesn't mean it isn't the same as any other PC (Besides Alien command center software).

Again, glad you got your problem solved!