Latitude E6400 Owner's Lounge

Alright, lets clear this up once and for all.
The Quadro NVS 160M has no heat problem. The CPU, GPU and motherboard northbridge chip (main processors for the motherboard) is put on reverse... aiming the heat on the metal base(which is also used as heatsink if you get the Quadro video card, from what I can see on posted pictures). This means pointing downwards.. so the palm rest area and keyboard won't be affected by heat (ok, I lied.. but you won't notice it.. that is what I wanted to say).

The heat management on this laptop is very good for a laptop. It's so good that I even overclocked significantly my Quadro, and still has no heat issues.

If you still wonder about overheating... well it's virtually impossible. The CPU and GPU (I don't know about the motherboard chipset), will slow down when it overheats too much. In the case of the Quadro GPU, I was able to, with the great help by overclocking it, reaching 100C, and I realized that the GPU performs one of the 2 operation depending on the situation:

1. Slow down to allow it to cool off.
2. Crash the drivers. Which will result in crashing your game (or 3D application). If you are under Vista/Win7, (NOT XP) then you will not face a BSOD... but instead, your 3D application will crash, screen flash, and Windows telling you that the drivers was successfully restarted)

Normally speaking (meaning, not doing the crazy thing of overclocking it), the GPU under load should reach ~70C range. Normally the GPU is at 47-50C. When going on battery, Nvidia PowerMizer technology kick's in, and de-overclock the GPU (meaning slow it down at the slowest speed possible, all by keeping Video and DVD playback, and Aero), and that will increase the battery life, and reduce heat even further. In such mode, there should be a loss of ~30min compared to the Intel X4500M HD video card.

The GPU should handle 90-95C for long period of time before getting damaged (and that is a safe value).

If you worry about future problems, get a longer warranty with your machine.
At Dell Canada, the shortest warranty offer is 3 years warranty, with a technician that comes at your place in case of anything goes wrong starting the next day, at the time you want. This should be a sign that the laptop won't break on you, as the technicians are not from Dell (well for me), but a contracted company that offer such service. And that is $$$ for Dell. BTW, the tech guy is very professional (being reasonable) in my area.

If you don't play games or run 3D application, then go with the Intel X4500HD. The Intel option is cooler (temp wise) processor, has the power to run Aero smoothly, play HD movies smoothly. And of course, DVD and video playback. It's actually equivalent to a Geforce Go 7300 if you want such comparison.

You are very welcome!

 

well, if you're not a gamer or even a 3d gamer nor built graphic extensive autocad, then i suggest you stick to integrated graphics card

 

That's quite wrong on my E6400. Normal temperature is around 60-65, load is around 85. Pushing it to the max goes to 93. Measured with Everest.

Note that this is all while undocked, and I actually raised the laptop to allow better airflow under it.

EDIT -- forgot to mention that I didn't do any kind of overclocking on my graphics card.

EDIT 2 -- see my next post on this page, it appears to have been a driver issue

 

man, E6400 9 cell battery is too weak, one of the latch is cracked already.
Just called DELL and will get my replacement already.
btw, the 9cell battery i have is revision A00, what revision do u guys have?

 

I've been using mine for 5-6 months, no cracks. Mine is A00.

 

On my e6400, temperatures (no overclock) are very similar with those mentioned by goodbytes.

 

You cannot really "aim" heat downwards - heated air has a natural tendency to rise, period.
The metal base plate does not contact the heatsinks, although it does get warm due to some heated air against it.
Instead, the heatsinks themselves conduct heat away from the chips, and get rid of it via the copper pipes leading to the fluted radiator fins next to the exhaust vents.
When needed, the fans aid the above process.

If you're talking about degrees C, that's unusually high; my Quadro 770M doesn't run that warm. I'd check the contact area between your GPU die & the heatsink, and reapply any thermal interface material as needed.

 

I don't think I should be doing that. First, Dell should do it in the factory. Second, I'm afraid I mess something up and end up screwed without a warranty. Note that I know how to do it, I have done it on my girlfriend's old HP zx5170. But this E6400 is still well under warranty.

EDIT -- Apparently, it was a driver issue. I was using driver 182.47 from www.laptopvideo2go.com. I have since downloaded the latest driver from Dell's site (A05 I believe) and temps are considerably lower. My GPU is at 55º, the CPUs are 47/49. This is with Everest. With HWmonitor I get GPU 58, CPUs 42/43.

Either way looks healthy to me, although you guys have still considerably lower temps. How can that be? And which program should I believe? Could the difference be just from the fact that I use the laptop docked?

 

my gpu (nvs 160m) sits at ~38-40 or so when idle -- cpus are ~32. granted i am running an e6500 which may dissipate heat better than the e6400, (note, these numbers are on battery -- passive cooling, and powermizer'd.

 

The E6500 does dissipate heat better than the E6400, because it has two separate cooling circuits for CPU and GPU. E6400 only has one. I'm fine with that, smaller laptop means stuff is more cramped.

I guess I might try running the lappy on battery to see how the temps go. By the way, what do you mean "powermizer'd"? I thought PowerMizer technology was built into the GPU, is it an external program?