HWinfo64 fan control issues/help and system overheating (6990m)

Hello on my system I have recently noticed that my GPU temps (6990m) have reached high levels of (81-83 degrees celsius), usually occurs only a few minutes after starting skyrim or another game (like call of pripyat), and it stays at this level regardless of whether I game for 10 minutes or 30 minutes.

what further worries me is that under gpu-z it tells me that my fan maximum speed during gaming is only at around 500-600 rpm, and I know that it can go up to the 2000's or higher so I tried the fan applet with hwinfo64, however I am finding it to be very unstable, basically comp shut downs or freezing (it is this way whether I disable or enable compal EC support). I was wondering if anyone knew how to use this fan applet or how to stabilize it and any other suggestions for fan speed improvement?

I dont really see any gunk on the outside of my laptop blocking my vents so would I need to open it up and clean? I do plan to reapply thermal paste (probably pk-1) and thermal pads (fujipoly), but still want to know how to improve fan performance and use hwinfo64. any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

I would recommend checking to see if you have the most current version of BIOS for your computer. Also, although 80 degrees celcius seems to be a little on the high side, it is within tolerance I believe. You can clean the fans by simply aiming canned air into your vent and carefully cleaning.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

thanks for the recomendation, I will check the bios and see if there is improvment, also shouldn't I use pressured air at an angle when shooting it into the vents, because shooting directly into it might push dust in there?

 

For more information on using HWiNFO with Alienware systems, check out this link: Alienware Fan Control.

It's important to use the latest version of HWiNFO and to set up a good fan control table. Using COMPAL EC shouldn't be a problem since you have an ATI card.

 

after updating the bios and playing skyrim for sometime (10-12 min) temps were around 79-80 celsius so there was some drop, however earlier when I tried to use hwinfo64 fan control it went up to 91 degrees for sometime! But I probably did not use it right, and so will check out that link. Also gpu-z fan reader does not seem reliable it said 0 rpm, when I clearly could hear fan and feel much air coming out, anyways thanks.

 

There may be 2 read-outs for the fan speed. You should be taking the one under COMPAL EC as the correct reading; not the fan speed under the GPU values as that value is a read-out from the sensor on the card which is incorrect.

For custom fan control, you need to open the fan control window by clicking the small fan icon on the sensor window (at the bottom between "Logging Start" and "Reset Min/Max"). When the fan control window shows up, click on "Custom Auto" for Fan1; a new window will pop up. Use the drop down menus to select a sensor and reading (probably your GPU for sensor and GPU temperature for reading). Then in the "Temp-Fan Lookup Table" you can set custom fan speeds for different temperatures. The maximum fan speed is about 4000RPM +/- 200RPM. A good place to start is something like this:

Temp----Target Fan Speed
0----0
40----2000
50----2500
60----3000
70----4000
80----4000

Make sure you leave Fan2 inactive. Having both enabled will cause conflicts and may cause the fans to stop spinning all together.

 

It is weird though my fan dialogue screen has "fan 1&2," "fan 2," and "fan 3" options, but no single "fan 1 " choice selection. I can only do custom for 1&2 but not one alone

 

Just set the fan control for Fan1 and not for Fan2. You can't control the fans independently. Setting the fan control for Fan1 will control both CPU and GPU fans.
Make sure it says "Inactive" under "Custom Auto" for Fan2. If it says active click "System Auto".

 

thanks for the info, unfortunately it is not helping at all, in fact since I set up hwinfo64 fan app my temp is around the same when logging (around 80-81 cesius), and for some reason gpu-z says my temps have went to 90 celsius. Maybe I should try and set the sensor option to "Compal EC"? But anyways tommorrow I will clean out my vents, hopefully that is it.

 

Are the fans spinning up? If the fans are going full blast (which they should if your temps are upwards of 80/90) and your temps aren't going down there may be something wrong with your heat sinks. You either have a build up of dust in the fan or heat sink fins which you'll need to clean out or the heat sink itself has gone bad. You may want to re-paste as well. Use the service manual in my sig for reference to take the machine apart.

 

my 5870 highest temp was 106 (sometimes forced shutdown) and goes down to 86 tops after cleaning and repasting.
idle was 75 and now idle is 65.

all in celcius.

latest bios and driver usually fix the fan issues. or just use the latest official one.

 

Thanks will try cleaning in hopes of lower temps, I might even just order new heatsink or fan from dell themselves or 3rd party site. and fans were spinning but between 70 degrees and 80 degrees it felt like the same rpm and air flow out (I used your rpm for temperature recommendations and made my own modifications to it).

Yeah will try repasting and using new thermal pads for vram. I already updated bios, and dell has not done anything in terms of driver (except for the 7970m drivers on m17xr4 page, they work as an update for 6990m also), maybe I should try AMD 12.6/12.7?

 

Here is an article for troubleshooting overheating in laptops.
You can always try repasting as some of the other members state, but still unless it does not get over 90C you should not be worried, that's just a laptop under heavy load

 

okay will be sure to check that out, yeah but still i would like to get it cooler, previously I think it was runing at a max of 75 celsius under heavy load.

 

I have pretty much the same problem - my GPU gets to 95 degrees in no time and then it shuts down.

I have no idea what should I do, I have tried to adjust fan speed, but all i can achieve is that the process takes like 5 minutes instead of 1 or 2.

I'm wandering if should I call dell support as there is clearly something wrong with my laptop (as I bought it like 6 months ago)

 

this is very nice to hear coming from Dell representative...

and i was worried about my 6970's reaching 79 degrees on the shaders (other sensor max out at 74 degrees)

thanks!!!

 

do you have the 6990m card? I found out that they run very hot, especially older ones up t0 86-88 celsius under heavy load, like running stress tests or high detail dx11 games, but 95 is definetly too much. one thing you could do is repasting your gpu, using new thermal paste (pk-1) and thermal pads, there are guides and info around this forum with regards to this.

also if fans are running full blast and it is not helping the temperature, problem may be with your gpu heatsink (heatsink should transfer heat from your card and blow it out of system with the fan), you may need to order a new one from dell (but make sure it is the right item number heatsink, as different graphics cards use different heatsinks).

Nvidia Optimus & Alienware Laptop video cards - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

this is an excellent post which gives item numbers for many heatsink and video cards, for different alienware models.

Also if you are still under warranty you should try and call dellthey can diagnose any hardware issues and you may get some help there.

 

Well, I have found that If I use HWInfo I can make my card stable even under very heavy load and by putting back edge of my laptop up, but if I use standard settings of the fans my card can reach 95 degrees in like 2 minutes. On Monday I'm going to call Dell support as it's clearly something wrong here.