Robbo

Have you looked on the 2nd post of the 1st page?

To the dweller of Twin Peaks, Very Good! :-)

Yep, the usable life of the battery will decrease, possibly by a huge amount; for example, the battery might be unusable after a few months perhaps.

You had me worried, so I took the cover off the bottom of the laptop & ran Heaven benchmark on it on a loop. I was able to get underneath while it was running & feel how hot the heatsink was getting in various places. The entire heatsink area, both over the mosfets at the top of the card, and over the VRAM was really quiet hot to the touch. I could keep my finger on the heatsink for maybe half a second before I had to remove it. The heat seemed quite uniform over the heatsink, but I don't think it was getting up to 120 degC, because I don't think I would have been able to touch it for so long if that was the case. I think the 670MX runs a bit cooler than the 580M and 680M, so I think the mosfets don't get so hot on this card. I have covered that chip with pads, and when I felt the pads over that chip I could feel the heat, but it wasn't quite as hot as the metal heatsink to the touch (not surprising because metal feels hotter to the touch for any given temperature). But the pads felt hot enough, that I think they are drawing heat away from that chip that we've been talking about. I know it's not as effective as having the heatsink in direct contact with it, but I'm happy with it for now. If the card does fail though, then I'll just blame myself & learn from the mistake for next time I install a GPU! Also, it's a bit problematical to do that mod you described with the aluminium strip & pads because the ideal gap between the heatsink at that point is suitable for a 1mm pad. If I use an alu strip plus pads on either side too, then it will be too thick for level heatsink contact I think.

Ah, I see what you mean about the specifically sized Fujipoly pads. Do you mean you reduced the copper heatsink all the way back to expose the heat pipes directly to the GPU? When you ask about me using the mosfet AL strips, do you mean did I use that folded piece of aluminium with pads on that chip I was having difficulty covering? I haven't done that yet, I'm relying on my current 'botch' job! If the card fails, then you can just say 'told you so'! I may do that mod you suggested to me with the aluminium strip & pads another time.

Very good temperatures those seem! What kind of mod did you do?

Is the fan on that GPU kicking up? Any dust in the heatsink for that GPU? Can't think of anything else.

I had similar strange problems with my GTX 560M (the card I used to have installed), and I managed to solve the problem by reseating the GPU in the slot. So, it could just be down to a bad connection that might be solved by reseating.

Well, that's cool, looks like you've done all you can to improve the cooling performance.

Yep, the first port of call for cooling problems on a laptop that's been used for a few months is: check for dust blockages = use cans of compressed air to blow out dust bunnies!

Hi, you've got the same GPU as me, have you seen this thread already, to get more performance out of your card: http://forum.techinferno.com/general-notebook-discussions/1847-nvidia-kepler-vbios-mods-overclocking-editions-modified-clocks-voltage-tweaks.html This GPU just overclocks so well!

Which one are you looking for? Maybe if someone reads the post then they'll post it here for you.

Haha, yeah, that NOS system is a real cop out for them; they should have just supplied a power adapter with enough Watts in the first place, and for them to then have the cheek to advertise NOS as a plus point! Haha.

Maybe there's some credence to the turbulence theory I mentioned then! Does it lower the temperatures while at idle? My notebook cooler lowers the idle temperatures significantly, but I've never bothered comparing the difference during gaming.

Ah yes, GPU score as I had expected for those clocks! That's a good score! How do your temperatures look, stock voltage? - - - Updated - - - Nice temperatures! Regarding your clock speed reading differently to what you set, I've always seen this behaviour going all the way back to when I had my 8600M GT. It seems that GPU's can only go up in certain 'steps' of Mhz. In my experience it sets itself to the next lowest 'step' if you don't set the Mhz to the value of any given 'step'. (I'm surprised you've not noticed that before, you seem to have loads of experience with PC's - maybe I misunderstood what you were asking). I use GPUz sensor readings to see the actual Mhz it's set at.

slowly slowly catchy monkey approach! :-)

Ah I see, if all other users of the Y500 are having the same problem with the cooling, then you might just be limited by the poor design of the cooling as you say. Repasting is only going to give you a maximum of 5degC lower temperatures over a standard factory paste (if factory paste is applied properly), so it does seem that your options might be limited unfortunately.

Ooo, very nice! That's at stock voltage right? How do the temperatures look? What kind of 3DMark11 GPU score did you get? Sorry for all the quick fire questions! :-) EDIT: that is indeed stock GTX 680 performance you should be getting then. So about 9500 GPU score on 3DMark11?

Yep, it's happened to me before. Try removing the GPU & then reseating it. The procedure is outlined in Dells Manuals, I've attached it for you here. You don't need to remove the heatsink, you remove the fan & fan cable, and then just lift out the card & heatsink as one unit (after unscrewing the card from the computer). Follow the anti-static procedures, and all the other advice they give on 'before you start'. M17xR3 service manual.pdf

Praps the system is just right on the limit from a thermal perspective, and it's using the voltage (occasionally lowering it) to keep the temperatures under some kind of control, in which case the cooling pad & cooling system wouldn't be the determining factor for temperature - the voltage fluctuations would be the determining factor, which is what you mentioned. I know the 750M's put loads of voltage through the GPU's to get the high clocks, up to and above 1.1V I've seen in some cases. It does seem like any cooling pad is not going to help the situation greatly. Are the GPU's pasted up properly, did you try to re-paste them? Did you blow the dust out of the heat sinks & fans using a can of compressed air? Both of those things could help greatly. - - - Updated - - - I did find this on the internet when googling your cooling pad: http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/laptop/4443-thermaltake-massive-23-lx But it's still way better than not using any pad for sure! I think the OP should check for dust & GPU pasting as the culprit if he hasn't done already, I think that's the cause.

Wow, that's a lot of fans! I have a theory why it's not helping with the cooling, even though you've aligned the fans with the vents. (First off you've got them pushing the air at the bottom of the laptop, rather than pulling it away right!?) Just asking (said as more of a joke!), but I don't think it's that. My theory is that if you have 'high speed' turbulent air being directly aimed into the laptops intake fan, then I believe that will decrease the efficiency of the laptop intake fan, because the air will be too turbulent for the laptop fan to manipulate & 'use'. Very slightly analogous to trying to breathe if you stick your head out of the car window. I think you could benefit by a more indirect flow of air which is more linear (less turbulent) and is more just like a gentle positive air pressure to the bottom of the laptop. I use the Zalman NC2000 for my laptop, and it drops idle temperatures on the GPU by just short of 15degC. I definitely think the analogy of more is better is not working with your laptop cooler, the air is just too turbulent for the laptop intake fans to efficiently redirect through it's cooling fins. That's just my wild theory though. I'm not sure how you would test that theory though if you've only got that one type of laptop cooler there. You could try turning down the fan speeds to the absolute lowest perhaps, but still might be too turbulent. All just ideas! :-)

Hi, I'm really not up on UEFI, and if there are any different procedures required for flashing in that environment. For the record, I followed the flashing instructions signposted in the first post of this thread, and it worked perfectly for me, but I don't have UEFI.