KristoferNathan

Steve this is great. Maybe you can give us a guide on repasting with pictures so some of us less confident users can feel better about going in and repasting.

Thanks for the results guys! Steve, have you experienced any throttling, shut downs, freezing, or damage to the system during those high temps?

Done, thanks Steve. I look forward to your results.

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.

I'm glad Steve posted this thread. Up until now, many of us were under the impression that Turbo didn't make a significant difference in gaming. I've tested this now with all my games and, while most games don't show a major difference, some games appear to be quite CPU dependent and have significant increases in FPS with Turbo on. I don't know if it's because I have a newer M14x or what but I haven't had any temperature issues either. The highest has been 92 degrees Celsius and, according to Intel, this is a safe temperature. I researched the M14x before I purchased it and came across lots of complaints about the Turbo function so I disabled it when I first unboxed the laptop. This is the first time I've used the Turbo function and, after these results, I think I'll be leaving it on. I haven't tested how it affects battery life with regular usage though so that may be a reason to disable it again.

This is good stuff Steve. Thanks for the post. Most of us were under the impression that CPU didn't have a big enough impact on game performance but 10 FPS is a big deal! I've kept my turbo boost turned off since the first day. I'm going to turn my turbo on, keep it stock with all cores utilized and see if there is such a difference in other games. Keep up the good work!

No problem. Looking forward to your results on Skyrim.

Check it out. http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-285.79-beta-driver.html?nvidiaupdate=1

I still consider doing this but until I'm actually presented with a situation where it's necessary I'm going to stick with A05. So far, everywhere I've wanted to play games has an outlet. I'm usually on campus if I'm away from home or at a friends house.

Even as an advanced user I decided not to flash to the old bios as this voids the warranty I paid extra for. If I were you, I would just accept that there is limited performance on battery. After you accept it, you'll realize that it isn't that big of a deal.

Yeah, I don't know why people are saying it has anything to do with refresh rate. The newer bios limits the voltage which in turn limits the clock speed. The only way to resolve this is to flash it to an older bios or a modified version of the newer bios.

The new bios limits the voltage of the GPU when on battery. This also limits the clock speed significantly. It allows for longer play time but much less FPS in most games. The only way around this is to flash to the old bios.

I discovered it's the bios. In the newer bios it limits the voltage on the GPU when on battery. I could flash to battery to resolve the issue but I think I'll just leave it how it is. I would probably get less than an hours worth of gaming on battery anyway. Ah well. Thanks for your help though mw.

I noticed that, when on battery, my m14x will not allow the nVidia GPU to surpass 202.5/405 mhz when I normally run it at 750/1500. Any ideas on how to disable this? I've tried toggling the advanced power settings with no luck. At this rate, I get very low FPS in all of my games. I've also noticed the GPU voltage also changes from .862 V to .812 V when on battery.

There is a video with Rift but there is not a video with M14x playing WoW yet. Once mine comes in the mail I'll make one for you if you haven't received your M14x yet! (Unless someone else wants to go ahead and do it)