8920G (nvidia 9650m gs) overheating?

Hi, it seems like the 9650M GS is rapidly overheating if I play games - idle temps are around 65-70, but then it goes up to 100-110 very quickly. I tried some different drivers, and now I have underclocked the card from 625/800 mhz (core/mem) to 440/600, but it only helps somewhat.

Is there anything else I can try? Maybe it's a driver issue?

thanks

 

110 degrees C is very dangerous. At that point, the clock may even downclock itself to prevent damage.

How old is your 8920? What are you using to measure temperatures? Make sure you keep the vents clear of dust bunnies, as that can drastically increase your temperatures. Also, raising the back of your laptop an inch or so (use erasers, books, etc) can help decrease temperatures as well.

If you continue to get high temperatures, you should invest in a good cooling pad as well.

 

I'm using rivatuner to measure temps - i also monitored clock speeds but it doesn't look like it downclocks at all, which was quite surprising. The laptop isn't too old, i bought it summer '08.

I had a a look at the vents but they're quite clean...I don't think it has been doing this always, that's why i was hoping it's a driver thing. I'm using 185.66 now.

 

Hmm. You could try rolling back on the graphics driver, to see if that changes anything.

 

Well I rolled back to 175.61 drivers, and now it "only" goes up to 100 C, still pretty bad, and underclocking only gets it down to about 95 C.

What else can I try?

 

Install the latest official nvidia notebook drivers (179.48) which you can obtain from http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_notebook_winvista_179.48_beta.html

If it has only started getting hot recently, it is likely due to a build up of dust. You won't see the extent of the dust build up just by looking at the vents, try opening up the bottom cover and have a look, and clean it out with some compressed air. If that still doesn't solve it, report back here

Also you mentioned that it doesn't downclock when idle. This is probably because powermizer is disabled. I think you can reenable it in Nvidia Control Panel, if not try using powermizer switch: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273276

 

I have installed the 179.48 drivers, but temps still go up to ~100C. However I did prop up the back of the laptop by about 1-2 cm and idle temps are a good 5 C lower (about 62 C) now.

ProjectD: It does downclock when idle (I do have powermizer on), it just doesn't downclock automatically even at 110C, which is quite odd.

I'm really hoping it's the dust issue, but didn't get the chance to open up the laptop yet. Will hope to do it later today, and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

I have had the exact same problem with mine 6920g, it went to ~95 C when gaming, and then it just shutdown. But it was just dust in the vent that did it. Hope this helps

 

Thanks a lot guys - I opened it up and even though there was no visible dust I blew inside a few times and things are fine now. Idle temps at 50 C going up to 80C while gaming now. Easy fix!

Kim: same thing, would just shut down randomly, but mine went to 110 C

 

glad to here that, dust is a killer to a laptop xD