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    Fan noise/activity? - advice for 1st time AW owner please?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by steviejones133, Jul 9, 2010.

  1. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Hi folks....

    This may be yet another "easy question" for you guys to answer for me.

    As a 1st time owner, and a novice gamer just wondered how the fans work whilst gaming on my laptop - have never gamed on a high end laptop with crossfire before and i DO know that the fans kick in to cool the machine down under heavy load.

    What i did notice after loading "Portal" from my newly created Steam account, is that when i start to play it, the fans kick in more or less immediately and are fairly constant.

    Do the fans kick in "straight away" when playing any game?
     
    steviejones133, Jul 9, 2010
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  2. Mickbt26

    Mickbt26 Notebook Evangelist

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    On my R1 M17x the fans all run constantly anyway albeit very slow and whisper quiet, They only gain speed and get noisier when the GPU reaches a certain temperature (65C + on mine)
     
    Mickbt26, Jul 9, 2010
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  3. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Well, when i launch "Portal" , the speed and noise increase almost straight away...maybe 5-10 seconds after the gameis launched.

    Dont know about the temps at which they kick in but the laptop has normally been on and running (not gaming) for a while so i assume the temps are up at a normal level, then when i start the game, they get that bit higher and the fans kick in???
     
    steviejones133, Jul 9, 2010
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  4. ID4

    ID4 Notebook Guru

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    Its normal in most of valves' source based games that the fans rev up pretty quick. Besides, in Portal, the main menu is ontop of a map that is beeing rendered in realtime, so dont worry.
     
    ID4, Jul 9, 2010
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  5. FalconMachV

    FalconMachV Notebook Evangelist

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    It depends the game, and the ambient temperature of room. GPU.Z-0.4.3 is a free download and is fun to monitor your GPU temperatures. Keep in mind that unless you have air conditioning and good supply/return air the heat of the room will increase quickly from the heat output of computer.
     
    FalconMachV, Jul 9, 2010
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  6. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Thanks guys, just wasnt sure about fan activity and whats normal and what isnt. No , i dont have air con and its been pretty warm over here in the UK (unusual lol) so i guess its fine.

    I have yet to load/install any other games but i have bought a few including :

    Crysis
    Crysis Warhead
    Batman Arkham Asylum
    Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl
    Metro 2033
    Empire: Total War - Special Forces Edition

    Thats it so far but I bought Crysis to see how well it would perform as a benchmark as i kinda know its a game that all others are compared to.

    Would be good to hear of any input on how i would or should expect the above games to fair on my system.

    Thanks again for the input. :D
     
    steviejones133, Jul 9, 2010
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