Fighting the heat in notebooks

[killerii]

Hello ive seen a few people asking about heat and i thought i would chime in and say a few ways to keep down the heat!

there are a few ways you go about this with out opening the computer, for those who arent to sure about taking a screwdriver to their laptop it may help you.

in saying that, if your fans are dirty then this will not help you at all.

 

I TAKE NO RESPOSIBILITY TO ANY DAMAGE HARDWARE! ANY CHANGES YOU MAKE ARE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

 

 

INCREASING THE FAN SPEED

to control your fans use this

http://www.hwinfo.com/download64.html

this is a free program that alot of people use on various computers. it work on alienwares well but im yet to test ROG and MSI with it.

 

 

its pretty simple to use

install it and get to this page and click on the sensors button

 

 

then on the next screen click the small fan icon at the bottom

 

unless you want to manually adjust your fan between each time you play click customer auto and you can edit it from there

 

 

UNDERCLOCKING

download and install NV tools it can manage fan speeds too but its not always 100% in laptops

 

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-system-tools-6.08-driver.html

on the left hand side, under the performance tab, select device settings

 

 

now just slide it back in small steps until you are comfortable with the temps. remember that if your computer blue screens it DOES NOT mean your computer has been damaged. it is simply a way for the computer to avoid damage.

adjust the slider in intervals of about 15mhz to be safe and click apply each time. 

start on the core clock and finish on the memory. Every now and again it is good to check on your progress to see how far you need to go. (more on this later)

 

MSI after burner is a good one too

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html

 

 

again the fan control is a bit hit and miss with it but it can control your clock speed. ass per the program above keep going untill you hit a STABLE setting you want.

 

 

TESTING

 

here we will look at the new GPU temps after the tune.

MSI Kombustor is a great way to test your heat. 

 

http://www.geeks3d.com/20150710/msi-kombustor-v3-5-2-64-bit-v2-6-0-32-bit-download-gpu-stress-test-benchmark/

 

click on stability and watch the temps. if you see any artefacts stop the test and increase the mhz by 15mhz each

 

fur mark is the one that i use to test the heat of my alienware

 

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

 

aim for about 70-75*C.

 

hope this helps you a bit.

 

 

 

PS avoid EVGA's tuning tool on alienware i have heard it can brick your LCD!

 

CLEANING THE FANS

Just for the sake of it ill give you a few tips on cleaning your laptops fans out.

 

assuming you already know the basics of using a screwdriver to open a laptop ill cover a few things to help you.

REMEMBER, IF YOU REMOVE THE HEATSINK YOU WILL NEED NEW THERMAL PASTE!

 

compressed air is a great way to remove dust and id recommend having a can of it over a compressor. The reason being is that some compressors can fill with a bit of water and can spray it directly into the computer.

you can spray the air into the vents and while it wont really "clean" it it may open enough room for air to pass out. i DO NOT recomend this however.

 

after opening up the computer and removing the fan take a paint brush and clean the entire fan, get as much of the dust out as you physically can. 

you can use toothbrushes too if you dont have anything else.

 

make sure you clean the grill behind the fan too as that is where the dust usually builds up.

 

removing this dust and hair is the most important part of this clean up.

 

 

now on to thermal paste.

remove all the old thermal paste from the heat sink and the CPU with a dry cloth then, use isopropyl alcohol to clean the rest.

some people seem to think that more is better but this is completely not true! if you put a large amount of thermal paste on the heatsink you will actuall have hotter temps.

this is due to either:

A ) the heatsink is not geting enough connectivity to the GPU as the layer of thermal paste is too thick

B ) too much of it creates small pockets of air, these air pockets become super hot and that causes more heat on the GPU

 

the correct amount is roughly the size of a pea

 

 

even that is boarderline too much.

 

Dont spread it around instead place your heat sink over it as even as possible and screw it down in a X pattern for an even spread.

 

really hope this helps you and good luck!

 

Edited February 18, 2016 by killerii
Added tags so more people can use this information

[Grubee]

Thanks!

HwInfo worked great for me after new thermal paste and giving the fans a clean

[killerii]

2 hours ago, Grubee said:

Thanks!

HwInfo worked great for me after new thermal paste and giving the fans a clean

GREAT! I'm glad you found it useful

[Freakel_Sneak]

Help full thank you, how often do you dissemble to clean?

[killerii]

i do it every 6-8 months or so, but if you live in a dusty area you may need to do it more often.

Just in case you didn't already know don't place your laptop on the bed or carpet as it not only clogs the vents but it sucks up dust.

[cavkic]

I did this the other day on an M17x R3. Repasted the CPU and GPU with no problems whatsoever. 

 

Whilst the laptop isn't any cooler while idle it's noticably more silent, and cooler under load.

[killerii]

On 3/18/2016 at 5:29 PM, cavkic said:

I did this the other day on an M17x R3. Repasted the CPU and GPU with no problems whatsoever. 

 

Whilst the laptop isn't any cooler while idle it's noticably more silent, and cooler under load.

easier airflow, at least it wasnt for nothing haha

 

[L8show]

Thanks OP.  Going to mess around with settings later as the fans have been kicking on more. 

Anyone know about undervolting the graphics card in a y500/750m.

[killerii]

5 minutes ago, L8show said:

Thanks OP.  Going to mess around with settings later as the fans have been kicking on more. 

Anyone know about undervolting the graphics card in a y500/750m.

becareful with undervolting too, you can still damage.

try MSI after burning and enable unofficial overclocking and see if you cant undervolt with that

OR

use nvidia tools

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.06.html

and you can undervolt in there. remember to take it easy and slowly k?

[aldarxt]

Thanks for that fan info killerii, but thats alot of dust, I started using vent filters on my laptops and cleaning the fan has been alot less in dust and frequency. My Alienware M18x 18.4 hasn`t run hot at all but my Asus G51Jx can heat up a cold cup of coffee in a 1/2 an hour.

[danger007]

@Mr. Fox

Instead of creating new topic, will continue the topic about heat.  I have a 680m that I want to properly get thermal pads and paste for.  It seems the top 2 choices for the GPU Thermal Paste (TIM) is Artic Mx-4 and Gelid GC Extreme (saw IC Diamond 7 but also saw warnings with use).  I know the difference between the two is minimal +/- 1-3 C (I don't plan on any massive overlock, I might bump up the clocks by 50mhz at most if at all) however I am sure the generic stuff included with the card wasn't really great.

 

I saw that @killerii shows just putting a pea size drop on the CPU, but does that apply to the GPU.  I don't remember whose video I watched (want to say Eurocom but could be wrong) where they show dragging the tip so you apply a thin line down the middle of the GPU.  Which is right, a pea or a thin line?

 

Finally the pads is what has me worried.  I have seen mentioned pads needed range from .5, 1 and 2mm (as mentioned or hinted to in all the various post here on techinferno.  Obviously by looking at the card itself you can see the memory is very low, so I would assume 2mm on those, .5 on the highest parts (those odd colored squares with the little chips in between) and 2mm on the outside edge of the card.  I see that the FujiPoly is majorly expensive.  I have "sticky" fingers as I had issues with putting the pads on.  So I wasted some pads.  So I am have seen Laird, 3M as options for pads, any others advised (I saw the instructions for putting actual heatsinks on each part, but that is probably beyond my capabilities at this time (parts so small compared to laptop).

 

My 680m, running the Uningine Valley Benchmark with:

AWM17x R4, with original 3pipe 100w Heat Sink and proper x bracket

DX11

High Quality

Tesselation Normal

Stereo/MultiMon - disabled

AA off

Full screen with system resolution (system is 1920x1080 I would think).

I got a score 1011, min/max 7.5/90.9, fps 40.1 the card hit 66c and no higher (please note it is MSI 4gb in a AW M17x R4 and it has only been in the system for a week - so I know the thermal paste and pads aren't  at their peak efficiency yet).

 

Any advice would be of great help.

Edited August 20, 2016 by danger007
add model info

[killerii]

be careful with this vent lifters that may keep the dust out but they them selves are also a restriction

10 hours ago, danger007 said:

 

I saw that @killerii shows just putting a pea size drop on the CPU, but does that apply to the GPU.  I don't remember whose video I watched (want to say Eurocom but could be wrong) where they show dragging the tip so you apply a thin line down the middle of the GPU.  Which is right, a pea or a thin line?

 

 

either is fine. the idea behind it is that you don't smear it around on the surface creating pockets of air that become an issue with heat transfer efficiency. the pockets of air become super heated and hold that heat between the processor. the line or the pea is likely a similar amount just on an angle.

also its not a case of more is better when your talking about thermal paste.

[danger007]

I knew that but I wanted to make sure the other method showing a line of thermal paste was correct since I followed that for my initial pasting (I didn't order the pricey thermal paste until I knew the GPU would work in my Aw M17x R4 (I know it should but didn't want to spend it on the paste that can't be returned).

 

In regards to cover, that is true.  I know I asked Coolermaster since I have their HAF-X case about adding better dust filters to the outside, but they said the point of the HAF is High Air Flow, you just have to clean the grills more often and putting things on the back would reduce the flow of heat out of the case.

Edited August 21, 2016 by danger007
added something