485M cooling issues on P170HM

[Squal 0]

Hi all,

 

First of all, sorry to drop by and start with my problems but I am indeed in need of your advice.

I have read these forums for several years now but never took the time to sign up and join in the conversations (not that I had much to say though, apart from a big "Thank you!" for the tips and knowledge I grab here and around).

 

I have a P170HM with a GTX 485M which is overheating quite a lot. I've managed up until now but it just seems to get worse and worse.

I've followed most of the Hardware mods I could do on my P170HM (including sealing the air leaks with tape, cutting the plastic cover over the GPU to increase the airflow and applying some Tuniq2 thermal paste).

The card runs around 60°C on idle (which is already an improvement from before) and immediatly goes to 90°C and over when I run a game that requires some resources (e.g. Diablo III, Eve Online), recently it goes over 100°C after no more than a few minutes which causes the laptop to shutdown.

From your experience, does it sound like the card is faulty and changing for, say, a 680m would fix my problem? Or do you think the problem is due to the cooling system and going for another GPU wouldn't change a thing?

 

Thanks in advance,

Simon

[Khenglish 1154]

Your die contact is terrible and is the sole reason for your temperature issues. Your GPU should instantly jump 2-4C when starting up a game, not 30C.

 

How are you applying the paste? Clevo laptops do not have enough die pressure to do a dot or line method. You need to spread the paste out thin before applying the heatsink.

[Squal 0]

Ergh... ok I did apply my paste on line, I tried to put some pressure to make sure that it spread when I put back the heatsink. I gained a few degrees right after applying it though.

I wanted to try the mod that required to had washers to tighten the heatsink screws but I don't have the additional ring tabs under the main metal tabs so I couldn't do that...

 

I will buy some new thermal paste and try reapplying it.

Which method do you suggest to spread it? Because all I can think about is the "card method", but from what I know it's not the best way to avoid air bubbles...

Thank for your answer!

Edited January 21, 2016 by Squal

[Khenglish 1154]

Really the only way to avoid air bubbles is a line or dot method, but those require high die pressure. Using a card is probably the best you can do. I usually smear the paste all over the die with my finger wrapped in plastic wrap, then level it off with a card.

[Squal 0]

Ok I'll let you know how it goes once I receive the paste.

Thanks!

[Squal 0]

You were right, the previous thermal paste's spread was terrible.

I put some Gelid GC Extreme and spread it before applying the heatsink on it, this time.

It's better but not a huge gain, the temperature rises a bit more gradually and does not get high enough to bring any shutdown but it still gets up to 96°C.

Anyways, thanks for your advice, it fixed my main issue (the shutdown)! I'm still wondering why it runs that hot though. :/

[Khenglish 1154]

That's still too hot. I installed a 485m in a friend's P150HM with liquid meta, flashed a 17% overclock, and it would top out at 77C. With GC extreme you should be less than that at stock clocks.

 

The temperature should only jump a few degrees when going from idle to load. If it's jumping more then the paste job is still bad. Also the 485m die is a weird shape and your heatsink may be tilting. You can add some washers between the screws and the heatsink to increase pressure. When doing this be sure to tighten all 4 screws gradually all at once to avoid chipping the gpu die.

 

If the temperature does jump only a little like it should but still gets hot over time, then there is a problem with airflow in the system.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Khenglish

[Doki 3]

from my experience the GTX485M in my p170hm ran about 87 - 90° maximum. does your fan speed up to 100%?

 

i upgraded to gtx680M. temp is about 70-80 max even with +100MHz OC.

 

//EDIT: can you pls post links to the hardwaremods you made? thanks

Edited January 29, 2016 by Doki

[Squal 0]

So I applied the thermal paste yet again and ran a Stress Test on Kombustor.

The temperature rises gradually, starting around 50°C, reaching 75°C after 1 minute and 93°C after 5 minutes (which is when the fans reach full speed).

It seems to stabilize at 93-94°C this time.

 

As for the hardware mods I made, I followed this article:

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/4073-hardware-mod-clevo-p150p170-cooling-system-solutions-here/

 

I put aluminium tape to seal air leaks (but had to remove some of it to reapply the paste so I will have to redo it when I get my hands on some aluminium tape), and I cut the plastic shell to increase the airflow over the GPU fan.

See the photos attached (sorry for the lack of light).

I couldn't do the "washer fix" since I don't have those additionnal ring tabs that are supposed to be under the main metal tabs on opposite corners of the GPU heatsink.

 

I also have a HAVIT HV-F2056 cooling pad.

[Khenglish 1154]

Oh, 94C in kombustor. What do normal games reach?

[Squal 0]

I played Diablo III for 20-25 minutes and went up to 97°C, according to HWMonitor. :/

[Guest]

On 1/29/2016 at 3:17 AM, Squal said:

I played Diablo III for 20-25 minutes and went up to 97°C, according to HWMonitor. :/

 

 

 

Ah man I remember those cards running hot like lava...

I have just made a GTX485M undervolt Mod for you. Grab it from the vBIOS section in the forth post and flash it with the NVFLASH Toolkit:

 

 

Try the 0.85v version first and see if it's stable, otherwise use the 0.89v Mod.

 

ENJOY the cooler temps!

[Squal 0]

Oh thanks a lot Prema, I will try it right away!

 

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't had much time those days, but since my card is still running super hot, I just checked in case there was some new answer in here, so I'm very happy to see yours. ^^

I'll get right back at you to tell you the results.

 

Edit: On the 0.85v version, the drivers crashed right away when I tried to launch a game and, on the 0.89v version, it crashed after a few minutes, preceded by a freeze and artifacts displayed (after going up to 93°C). :'(

Still thank you for trying!

Edited March 9, 2016 by Squal

[Squal 0]

Ok so my laptop started shutting down again due to the high temp, so I'm considering upgrading the GPU.

Since I can't really afford a 680m, I was wondering if this 675m would be compatible:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/NVIDIA-GTX675M-DDR5-2GB-Video-Card-N13E-GS1-A1-f-DELL-ALIENWARE-M17X-R4-M18X-CA-/262330927653

 

Thanks in advance.

[Khenglish 1154]

That card will work, but its not much better than your 485m. The 675mx and 670mx will work too, but they may need modified or older vBIOS. The 7970m works if you can find a Clevo v1.2 version of it. Performance from the 7970m matches the 680m.

[Squal 0]

Thank you for your answer Khenglish. As for the 7970m, wouldn't I need a different heatsink since it's an ATI card?

 

Edit: I actually found this offer for a 680m that is quite affordable:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-680M-GTX680M-GDDR5-2GB-Video-Graphics-Card-for-Dell-Alienware-M17X-M18X-R1/32415850801.html

Would this one work?

Thanks in advance.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Squal

[Khenglish 1154]

I'm not sure if Dell 680m cards can work in an HM series clevo or not. I think there's a good chance it would, but I don't know for sure.

[aduy 10]

I was able to score a 680m for about $200, so far im happy with it, except in fallout 4 it has some triangle issues, and the screen blacks out when I close the lid. other than that its nice fast and cool.

[sirana 67]

On 13.3.2016 at 5:24 AM, Squal said:

Ok so my laptop started shutting down again due to the high temp, so I'm considering upgrading the GPU.

Since I can't really afford a 680m, I was wondering if this 675m would be compatible:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/NVIDIA-GTX675M-DDR5-2GB-Video-Card-N13E-GS1-A1-f-DELL-ALIENWARE-M17X-R4-M18X-CA-/262330927653

 

Thanks in advance.

Hey, did you end up fixing your temp problems? With the new or old card? I'm asking because I have the same issue with my Dell K5000M (and I did paste twice and clean the fans. Maybe the heatsink doesnt fit tightly enough? had a 680M before that is quite the same card, heatpads are unchanged.