Alienware 17 R3 paste job

Hello all-

1st time posting here and figured I'd take the opportunity to share my experience re-pasting my 17 r3 (6700hq, 980m).  This is my 3rd Alienware (also owned an Area-51m and M17xR3) and I've always liked using their products.  I also re-pasted those laptops as well after years of use.

After owning my current r3 for over a year and it dropping off warranty, I finally decided I was tired of my high CPU temps while gaming.  I use a cooling pad and it helps a bit... but it was still throttling under CPU intense games.  After doing some research, I learned that re-pasting this laptop would not be as easy as previous gen Alienware.  You basically have to tear the whole thing down.  Not a big deal as I've taken apart laptops before, but definitely not what I was used to owning Alienware machines.  After tearing down the machine... this is what I found...

After cleaning off that over abundance of crummy paste and applying some Thermal Grizzly, CPU temps dropped 30C!  Never gets over low 70's while gaming now.  Before I was anywhere from 95-103C.  GPU temps only dropped a few degrees, but as you can see in the pictures the paste was applied a bit better to the GPU.  If any r3 owners are suffering from the same thermal issues I was, I definitely recommend taking the time to do a re-paste.

On a related note, I have helped re-build/repair tons of laptops and desktops.  This is definitely one of the worst paste jobs I've seen (especially considering this was a $2000 laptop).  If this is going to be the norm from Dell, I can't say I'll be buying a 4th Alienware.  For the hardware you get in these machines and the way they are stressed in gaming and other applications, a poor paste job can be a huge bottleneck.  Also, if they are going to use poor quality paste and even poorer application methods, they should make the machines easier to re-paste...