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The M14x Temperature Debate


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I, like many of you, have the Core i7 2630QM processor in my M14X. This series of processor has been known to run very hot. According to the manufacturer, this processor series can handle temps up to 120°C and the bios is coded to shut down at 100°C to provide a "cushion" of safety.

For most processors, these temperatures are too high so it has caused many users to freak out when they monitor their CPU and see temps as high as 99°C. But, apparently, this processor series was built to handle these high temps.

For me, during gaming with Turbo Boost disabled for my CPU and without overclocking my GPU, the max temps I get while gaming are ~80°C for the CPU and ~70°C for the GPU. However, with Turbo Boost enabled and overclocking the GPU to 750/1500/1000, I get max CPU temps of 95°C with good ventilation and up at 99°C when sitting on my lap and GPU temps at ~75°C. I use nVidia system tools with HWinfo for overclocking and monitoring. I do not use a cooler and I haven't repasted my CPU or modified my system in any way. Even at my highest temps I have not experienced any throttling, freezing, or shut downs to to high CPU temps even at 99°C. Additionally, I have not experienced any damage to my system or the surrounding chassis due to these allegedly high temperatures.

Let's find out what's normal. Please post your data for max temperatures while gaming.

Guidelines for Posting

  • Post your max CPU and GPU temps while gaming.
  • Remember to include whether you're overclocking or using Turbo Boost and what settings you're using.
  • Include whether you're using a laptop cooler or have done a repaste or other system modification.
  • If you've experienced any system shut downs, throttling, or damage to your system due to high temps, please include details.
  • Only post information if you're using an M14X with one of the i7 2600 line of processors!

Hopefully, once we collectively compare all of our data, we will see that the high temperatures are normal and not causing any real damage so that we can stop worrying and run Turbo Boost and overclock comfortably and safely. If we do find that high temperatures are indeed causing damage, we can find out what the real limits are and take the necessary steps to keep our CPU at safe temperatures.

Edited by KristoferNathan
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Very useful thread.

  • Post your max CPU and GPU temps while gaming.
  • 83 and 66

  • Remember to include whether you're overclocking or using Turbo Boost and what settings you're using.
  • GPU OC 750/1050, Proc. Turbo boost YES, Bios settings processor 55-56-99

  • Include whether you're using a laptop cooler or have done a repaste or other system modification.
  • Laptop cooler NO, re-pasted 3 months ago with IC7 both CPU and GPU

  • If you've experienced any system shut downs, throttling, or damage to your system due to high temps, please include details.
  • Never

  • Only post information if you're using an M14X with one of the i7 2600 line of processors!
  • 2630QM

Peace

Edited by c69k
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Kris - My results. (These fluctuate slightly depending on game/benchmark and percentage of utilization).

*Its important to note that I repasted my m14x at the END of May, 6 months ago. I am a big believer in re-pasting twice each year so I am due! I use Shin Etsu and have signed up to try the diamond.

System: I7-2630QM, Nvidia 555mGT, 4gb ram-stock, 2x60+64gb SSD drives, 720p screen, bios is a01 stock.

My results (These results were taken while sitting on the belkin lap-pad WITHOUT the extra fan being enabled)

Normal - My GPU at normal clocks (no oc) and 99-100 percent utilization is 69-71c.

Overclock - My GPU at 750/1000 (my standard OC) and 99-100 percent utilization is 74c-75c.

Normal - My CPU at normal clocks (non turbo) at 100 percent utilization is 82-84c.

Normal - My CPU at normal clocks (turbo enabled) at 100 percent utilization is 96c. (highest I was able to hit)

Overclock - My CPU at overclock (turbo enabled with increased turbo settings) at 100 percent utilization exceeds 100c.

Its my verdict that i need to spend an evening very soon replacing the paste on my machine. Its due. I hope these help you out. I can tell you right now that if you both OC the GPU and increase the Turbo settings on CPU you will most likely exceed the 100c threshold in demanding games. The thermal protection should reduce the cpu settings immediately if its reached as it does on mine. A game to try is Crysis 2. Witcher 2 is another one. These push the system very hard. I used the latest beta drivers from nvidia to test.

Please understand since the CPU and GPU both sit no the same thermal copper plate that when you OC either one it increases the temp on the other. I am going to perform some more tests later to see if I can add some more value.

Thanks,

StevenX

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Damage, no damage. The cpu will throttle if it gets too hot. My gpu (i think) starts to throttle at 78c but I need to test more. I could be mistaken. so please don't take that as fact until I can prove it.

Thanks! The system is made to be pushed. So I have no worries about actual system damage. Each component is well within allowed working specs.

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  • 8 months later...

  • Post your max CPU and GPU temps while gaming.
  • 96 and 85

  • Remember to include whether you're overclocking or using Turbo Boost and what settings you're using.
  • Proc. Turbo boost YES, Bios settings processor 55-56-99

  • Include whether you're using a laptop cooler or have done a repaste or other system modification.

  • If you've experienced any system shut downs, throttling, or damage to your system due to high temps, please include details.
  • Never

  • Only post information if you're using an M14X with one of the i7 2600 line of processors!
  • 2630QM

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  • Post your max CPU and GPU temps while gaming.
  • 89 C and 65 C at 25 C ambient temperature / 96 C and 68 C last week at 37 C ambient temperature

  • Remember to include whether you're overclocking or using Turbo Boost and what settings you're using.
  • Stock Clocks, Turbo boost ON, Bios settings processor 55-56-99

  • Include whether you're using a laptop cooler or have done a repaste or other system modification.
  • repasted with MX-4 1 month ago, backside lifted by 3 cm

  • If you've experienced any system shut downs, throttling, or damage to your system due to high temps, please include details.
  • GPU throttling starts at around 85 C CPU temps - i know its weird

  • Only post information if you're using an M14X with one of the i7 2600 line of processors!
  • 2760qm

As you can see ambient temperature and humidity too maybe is very important. It should also be a point in this list.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I have disabled Turbo and I top at 80 even after a repaste job with Artic Silver 5. I notice basically no drop in frames.

So yeah that chip obviously runs hot for all of you. Your post supports the original posters theory that despite high temps they can continue to work on without a hitch. This is probably true for any of these modern processors. They tend to take 105c before killing Themselves

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I have disabled Turbo Boost and the CPU temp never reach 95*c like before

Thats good, Turbo Boost really adds a lot of heat and the only reason is under turboboost 1/2/4core turbo boost are much higher than base speed and tends to run hotter since some can be a few hundred mhz higher. Its not even really as much the mhz as the voltage level that gets applied at full turbo boost be it for 1/2/4core.

A better way than disabling turboboost would be if you guys can use throttle stop or xtu to lower you turbo watt limits. Disabling short term watt limit and just using long term watt limit will help.

Say you stock limit is 45watts and its overheating with turbo on. You disable turbo and say your max speed is 500mhz lower since theres no turbo at all (hypothetical). Leaving turbo on and lowering the watt limit will always yield a higher speed that still doesnt over heat. Simply lower the watt limit tp where under the loads you guys are experiencing the cpu starts to drop cpu mhz to a level higher than no turbo but lower than stock handling. Or if you guys cant control your watts just for lowering puposes then just as easily dropping just a multi or two down from max limit with turbo boost on would be better than the hypothetical 500mhz you may drop in my example by disabling turbo boost. It really wouldnt take anybody more than a minute to find what speed they can handle and limit the cpu to that all the time either as i have mentioned by lowering watt limits or limiting the max multiplier with Throttle Stop. Finding your max will certainly always outperform the same cpu with the turbo disabled.

Now before anyone says but is the turbo boost even important... No but there is undeniable performance the turbo boost speed ranges add over the base speed of the last three gen intel cpus which include turbo boost.

Using XM gives me this impression... you may not be able to add speed like an XM but given the tools available for your cpus Bios, Intel XTU, Throttle Stop you should be able to downclock them to the capabilities of your cooling. Disabling turbo boost is an option, its not necessary.

Give it a try guys :)

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How can i disable the short power limit duration in this setting? And what shall i set the other numbers to?

Override Turbo settings

Allows you to override CPU turbo mode settings.

Long Duration Power Limit

Allows you to set the turbo mode power limit 1 value in watts.

Long Duration Time Window

Allows you to set the turbo mode time 1 value in seconds.

Short Duration Power Limit

Allows you to enable or disable short duration power limit.

Short Duration Time Window

I have no clue what numbers for what setting may be correct and im afraid to change numbers i dont know what they will do.

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How can i disable the short power limit duration in this setting? And what shall i set the other numbers to?

Override Turbo settings

Allows you to override CPU turbo mode settings.

Long Duration Power Limit

Allows you to set the turbo mode power limit 1 value in watts.

Long Duration Time Window

Allows you to set the turbo mode time 1 value in seconds.

Short Duration Power Limit

Allows you to enable or disable short duration power limit.

Short Duration Time Window

I have no clue what numbers for what setting may be correct and im afraid to change numbers i dont know what they will do.

@mw86 Sry to quote myself but please could you tell us what numbers will disable the short duration limit? And what else can we set it to for lowering the TDP / heat?

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@mw86 Sry to quote myself but please could you tell us what numbers will disable the short duration limit? And what else can we set it to for lowering the TDP / heat?

Override Turbo settings

Allows you to override CPU turbo mode settings.

Long Duration Power Limit

Allows you to set the turbo mode power limit 1 value in watts.

Set this to the number of watts you want. So a 45watt cpu can show 50something watt max ive seen some of you set it. Set this to 45 test and if overheat set 42 overheat set 40 still try 38 until overheat is gone under max turbo boost in games which is what this is all for. Ignore synthetic tests like IBt, Prime95 and such since it doesnt show what your max speed is under a lighter load like gaming which can sometimes as the results above support show higher temps then the synthetic tests since the cpu likely throttled down some due to power draw and design.

Long Duration Time Window

Allows you to set the turbo mode time 1 value in seconds.

Doesnt matter set to max limit because when short is disabled this value gets ignored

Short Duration Power Limit

Allows you to enable or disable short duration power limit.

Set this to disabled

Short Duration Time Window

Set to 0 but uneeded since the value will disappear when short limit is disabled

Feel free to do a @ mention of me if you still need help buddy. Go ahead and post what you end up using so other users here can see if it curbs their heat without losing the entire turbo boost range. Likely its effected as follows, single core turbo uneffected then, dual core ranges maybe just a tad lower and quad range turbo boost lowered the most by this but not as far as disabling would. Looking forward to your results.

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Oh my gosh guys, i own a Medion X7811 which has also a Core i7 2630QM.... a few months ago i had the problem that the CORE temps keeps on getting higher than 100C since i changed the original thermal paste in some artic cooling MX2 .... now the core temps are at extreme usage with max 90C .... :)

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Override Turbo settings

Allows you to override CPU turbo mode settings.

Long Duration Power Limit

Allows you to set the turbo mode power limit 1 value in watts.

Set this to the number of watts you want. So a 45watt cpu can show 50something watt max ive seen some of you set it. Set this to 45 test and if overheat set 42 overheat set 40 still try 38 until overheat is gone under max turbo boost in games which is what this is all for. Ignore synthetic tests like IBt, Prime95 and such since it doesnt show what your max speed is under a lighter load like gaming which can sometimes as the results above support show higher temps then the synthetic tests since the cpu likely throttled down some due to power draw and design.

Long Duration Time Window

Allows you to set the turbo mode time 1 value in seconds.

Doesnt matter set to max limit because when short is disabled this value gets ignored

Short Duration Power Limit

Allows you to enable or disable short duration power limit.

Set this to disabled

Short Duration Time Window

Set to 0 but uneeded since the value will disappear when short limit is disabled

Feel free to do a @ mention of me if you still need help buddy. Go ahead and post what you end up using so other users here can see if it curbs their heat without using entire turbo boost range. Likely its effected as follows, single core turbo uneffected then, dual core rangs maybe just a tad lower and quad range turbo boost lowered the most by this but not as far as disabling would. Looking forward to your results.

Thanks for the detailed explanation thats all i was looking for in this thread!

I will test the settings as you advised them tomorrow when i got some time for testing and will post the results here now its very late where i live.

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Thanks for the detailed explanation thats all i was looking for in this thread!

I will test the settings as you advised them tomorrow when i got some time for testing and will post the results here now its very late where i live.

Great thanks for such kind comments and post. I hope it allows you to get the most out of your Alien. I am actually looking forward to seeing your results. Best of luck. Thanks again for such kind compliments here and on the reputation comment.

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Here are my results:

post-3311-14494993620052_thumb.jpg

CPU Overclocking enabled no setting changed. 45 Watt Long Duration Power Limit.

post-3311-14494993620541_thumb.jpg

CPU Overclocking enabled. 35 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / Short Duration Power Limit disabled.

post-3311-14494993620845_thumb.jpg

CPU Overclocking enabled. 30 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / Short Duration Power Limit disabled.

post-3311-14494993621131_thumb.jpg

CPU Overclocking enabled. 10 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / Short Duration Power Limit disabled.

As you can it has no influence on anything at all. Any idea why that can be @mw86?

My suggestion is the settings are only for Overclocking but Downclocking doesnt work at all.

post-3311-14494993620222_thumb.jpg

post-3311-14494993620389_thumb.jpg

post-3311-144949936207_thumb.jpg

post-3311-14494993620977_thumb.jpg

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Here are my results:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4939[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]4938[/ATTACH]

CPU Overclocking enabled no setting changed. 45 Watt Long Duration Power Limit.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4940[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]4941[/ATTACH]

CPU Overclocking enabled. 35 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / Short Duration Power Limit disabled.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4942[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]4943[/ATTACH]

CPU Overclocking enabled. 30 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / Short Duration Power Limit disabled.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4944[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]4945[/ATTACH]

CPU Overclocking enabled. 10 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / Short Duration Power Limit disabled.

As you can it has no influence on anything at all. Any idea why that can be @mw86?

My suggestion is the settings are only for Overclocking but Downclocking doesnt work at all.

Okay I see your results and if the controls worked the watts shown in subsequent drops of watts whould have showed a lower max. Its as you say not applying as you had same max watts shown in each hwinfo screenshot.

So now we look into if a method of control watts will actually control watts. This time try bios but enable both watt limits set both to max time duration it lets you and set both watt limits to the samre value. Perhaps on nonXm when short limit is disabled long limit isnt configurable in bios to where it uses it.

If that yields same results can you load the last version of intel XtU which may be 2.1if i remember and attempt the same and test. I know XTU was working for others since on M14x since there was that whole guide on overclocking It hosted here its in PdF form. I see the dilemma as long as we can find something thats correctly changing it this will still work.

Im hoping the first suggestion does it... Using both short watt limit and long watt limit enabled.

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Please follow Raymosrunnerx's guide at this link to his guide on M14x R1 overclocking. http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m14x/1532-%5Bguide%5D-alienware-overclocking-overvolting.html#post18899

Can you check out whole guide and see if perhaps something in that may help. The guide is for R1 but some of the menus and some of the function could be similar.

Once you get watts lowered youll see clear drops in the max watts in hwinfo after a run plus you should see some kf the max frequency you saw before cut off a bit more early but still above non turbo base speed. These systems are finicky but if we can manage the controls to work you should attain your goal.

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I tried to set Short and Long Duration Power Limit on default max of the Short Duration Power Limit. This has no effect also as you can see in my screen. Somehow its not possible to change anything even you can see the options. :(

The Guide doesnt help me since the changes seem to work with M14x R1. Im clueless what to do now. I guess it just dont work and i have to stick to disabling Turbo as only way to decrease temps.

post-3311-14494993621453_thumb.jpg

CPU Overclocking enabled. 56 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / 56 Watt Short Duration Power Limit enabled.

post-3311-14494993621283_thumb.jpg

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I tried to set Short and Long Duration Power Limit on default max of the Short Duration Power Limit. This has no effect also as you can see in my screen. Somehow its not possible to change anything even you can see the options. :(

The Guide doesnt help me since the changes seem to work with M14x R1. Im clueless what to do now. I guess it just dont work and i have to stick to disabling Turbo as only way to decrease temps.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4946[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]4947[/ATTACH]

CPU Overclocking enabled. 56 Watt Long Duration Power Limit / 56 Watt Short Duration Power Limit enabled.

Do you have primary plane in your bios under advanced settings. That is equal to amperage limit. If you want to try, stock is 97amp and primary plane is divisible by 8 to give you amos. So stock is 97*8=stock primary plane (it may say 0 which is same as setting as default) so stock is 776.

If you set this really low like 200 does your cpu ramp up the same?

Forgive me for asking did you set the limits to lower values together not just 56watts? Anither thing is what did you attempt. Were you using bios only in a combo of bios and intel XTU, have you tried XTU. @Widezu has overclocked non xm maybe he can shed some light as these non xm arent completely locked.

Bios may need to have a larger or smaller value set or stock and adjust from XTU its hard to say. I hope Widezu can shed some light on this. Ivy should be adjustable as Sandy was on non xm. Strange R1handles so different than R2.

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Do you have primary plane in your bios under advanced settings. That is equal to amperage limit. If you want to try, stock is 97amp and primary plane is divisible by 8 to give you amos. So stock is 97*8=stock primary plane (it may say 0 which is same as setting as default) so stock is 776.

If you set this really low like 200 does your cpu ramp up the same?

Forgive me for asking did you set the limits to lower values together not just 56watts? Anither thing is what did you attempt. Were you using bios only in a combo of bios and intel XTU, have you tried XTU. @Widezu has overclocked non xm maybe he can shed some light as these non xm arent completely locked.

Bios may need to have a larger or smaller value set or stock and adjust from XTU its hard to say. I hope Widezu can shed some light on this. Ivy should be adjustable as Sandy was on non xm. Strange R1handles so different than R2.

Hey sry for the delay. I gave up on lowering the Watts on the R2. There is no amperage control in the advanced BIOS options. I disabled short duration and changed long duration in my tests. Seems no change in these settings do anything at all. About XTU im not going to try this since i only wanted to do it by BIOS options. Thanks for all the attempts @mw86 but i guess if not someone genius can manage to lower it by some trick in the BIOS it wont work at all.

Too bad this would have been another way to lower the temps.

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