6970 Temps not Normal?

Looking around and reading, seems like my temps might be pretty high. While playing Counter Strike Source at native res settings pretty much maxed out, my GPU gets up to 75/76 degrees Celsius.

Idling, it looks to be around 60 to 63 degrees Celsius.

 

thats not all that high....definetly nothing to be worried about....sure you could probally get lower with a repaste, but the danger levels dont start till you get over 100

 

Those temperatures are about right if you're using v-sync with that title. Its not the highest temperature the card is capable of running at since it won't try harder after achieving 60 fps.

You can re-paste if you want but I don't expect the difference to be too great; I'd imagine that the fans will simply just not work as hard after a successful re-paste. Still, if you have the finesse and available time, its not a bad idea to re-paste.

If for some reason you really really want to see lower temps, I hear people have had success in using hwinfo32 to force the fans to work harder to bring temps down or even use a cooling pad. Either of those routes will add noise of course.

 

You know, I agree that those temps are nothing to worry about much, but I AM noticing that my idle GPU temps are about 10 degrees hotter than they first were with my machine, just 2 weeks ago. Seems odd... But yeah. they are 63 now. Seemed to hover around 52 2 weeks ago.

 

Please consider the environment temp.

 

The one thing to keep in mind here guys is Dell/AW's paste and pad jobs suck. Not to be negative but the one thing they haven't learned to do any better is a quality paste/pad application to keep temps down, there's way too much of it and it's low quality. Most of the 6970's idle in the mid 50's to low 60's and max out at the 70-80's range(in game, furmark is a different story). Those temps are nothing to worry about but they could be a lot better. So long as you don't break the 80's mark in daily usage you should be just fine If you want to do a repaste I posted a guide on here that will show you how to do it and Inap has an excellent guide as well. Keep in mind both guides are for different cards but the idea is the same and the only thing that should change is the location and thickness of the pads.

 

Mine's around 50something to 60something. When gaming, it maxes out at like 70something, but never 80. It hasn't gotten that hot yet though, so we'll see how it is in June/July lolz.

 

I agree with them dude. Those temps are just fine. A repaste maybe would really give you the temps that you want. But those temps are just normal. Those GPU's are really built for those temps.

 

Thanks for the re-assurance. I wasn't too worried, just wanted to make sure it wasn't out of the norm. I am thinking about repasting, but haven't summoned the guts to do it yet. If I do, Ill be following Dangerclose's step by step guide.

 

Dane, is your guide for the 460? I read through that one but could not remember.

 

Your welcome. Im sure that the repaste procedure will be pretty much the same for the 460m and the 6970m.

 

If I or others repaste the 6970M, can we get away with it without replacing the thermal pads that go on the memory chips?

 

I wonder this too. To me a repaste is no biggie, but a repad seems like a pain.

 

Your temps are fine. Just be sure that the laptop has good free-airflow access (intakes are not obstructed). You'd be amazed at what increased free-airflow will do for temps. I used to use a logitech alto stand which propped up the laptop. My temps were in the same range under load as folks with coolers.

No, you do not need to mess with the pads. Your call.

Reference this post for the 6970 -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/569484-m17x-r3-6970m-re-pasting-video-guide.html

If you move forward with using aftermarket thermal compound, be sure to take your time. If you botch the job, its on you

Ask q's if you are unsure.

 

BB, should I be using a cooler? I have one, Antec but it is not large enough to cover the bottom of the R3.

 

Just having good airflow at the bottom of your laptop should be fine. But if you still want one. I suggest the CM SF-19, It worked perfectly for me. Check it out. It even matches the lightings of our M17x R3.

 

If you live in a place that gets hot/stuffy during the summertime, then a cooler might be a good idea, or even a room fan. Otherwise, just prop it up with something like an old textbook

Also, how's the replacement?