Dell G7 – 7500 (2020) – Starting & Fixes

Hello, I am not a technician but someone who is careful with laptops. So I would like to share my experience of Dell G7 – 7500. The main reason I bought this laptop is it was originally listed at $2,293.478 and I managed to get it at $1,767.75. This is the amount after applying tax, so I find it very attractive, considering it has 4K UHD, Core i7 10750H, 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 2070 Max Q, 4 Zone RGB Keyboard, RGB Light Bar, 6 Cell Whr Battery, and Wifi 6. Originally, I wanted to buy Omen but they rejected my order and withheld my money during the discount period, and their customer support was unresponsive so I ended up coming to Dell. If I have to compare, I think G7 is superior to Omen in everything except HEAT. So back to topic. The first thing I did when I got the laptop was removing Mcafee. It is such a bad antivirus software and I knew it from past experience that it would flag wrong exe files and has conflicts with other softwares. I have no idea why they forced me to buy the 12-year subscription but I removed it. I would have liked it if it were Malwarebytes which works good together with Windows Defender. But duh! Moving on, I downloaded Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery and did a clean install, choosing Windows Home instead of factory's Windows Core, because I feel that Home has bigger file size and it seems to be more recently updated. I admit I got stuck at final part of System Configuration in the SupportAssist but force-restart solved my issue. Then, I downloaded Dell Drivers using both SupportAssist and SupportAssist OS Recovery. I also updated everything in Windows Update, including Windows 10 – version 20H2, and updated Bios 1.5.0. Additionally, I went to Dell's Drivers website and installed missing drivers. Then I manually installed Dell Power Manager, Intel Dynamic Tuning Driver, Intel Management Engine Components, and all the Chipset Drivers. Using safe boot, I changed RAID to AHCI in Bios. While I am at it, I changed Fan Settings to Cool, Battery Setting to Custom with Start 90% and End 95%, and turned off Turbo Mode in Bios. After restarting, I am back at normal windows. I added min/max power management and set its value to 99% instead of 100%. I did install Alienware Command Centre once to change my RGB display and uninstalled it afterwards because thermal setting was loading forever and I found no use for the software itself. I heard from other users: - Bios 1.5.0 causes overheat - Alienware Command Centre causes overheat. I also heard conflicting opinions: - Bios 1.5.0 (2020) is good because it contains all the fixes - Alienware Command Centre is good because it can set maximum fanspeed. My reason for updating and keeping Bios 1.5.0 is I feel doing so results in less system vulnerability. I do think they applied thermal fixes because this Bios was uploaded in 2020 and should be different than 2019 one. As for Alienware Command Centre, the thermal setting was loading forever and I would rather keep less bloatwares. So about the temperatures. Good thing about Dell G7 is fan noise is very low even when it is at maximum performance so I like using Cool mode which provides maximum fan without overriding default settings. Before doing any of these, my temperature was 52C to 57C and it kept climbing. After using all of these, my temperature was 42C to 44C for 30 minutes, then it climbed to 52C, 55C, and finally 57C. ^ During both stages, my computer used two books to keep the vents open. Meaning, if you put the laptop on your lap or cushion, the temperature would have risen more! But that was the limit of what I could do. So I just went outside and bought $14 Thermaltake Fan. I had an option to buy Coolmaster's Duo Fans but I didn't because I thought airflow was weak. Moreover, Duo Fans cool down left and right areas. But G7's heat comes from centre topmost area. That's why I took Thermal Take because that single big fan covers that area. After using this for an hour, my temperature is 43C to 45C, which I find it good! I plan to use this in airconditioned room in the future to further lower temperature. My dad suggested using dry ice under external fan to lower the temperature even more, which I will try. As for Thermal Paste and Thermal Pad, I want to use them but for now maybe 3 months, I won't replace or add them. As for Undervolting, I want to do it but I don't want to roll back Bios. There is a method to reverse engineer Bios and forcibly change values to allow undervolting. However, I am no technician and afraid to do that. So I will keep as it is for now. Hope you guys have fun setting Dell G7. It is a good laptop if you can get past thermal issues. Oh, I am fine with turning off turbo mode because I am a content creator who is also poor so I want my laptop to be cool when I am working and also make it last as long as possible. Of course, I do hope Dell update their Bios and legally allow us Undervolting so that I can lower my temperature further. But that is a fantasy for now. Thanks for reading.