M17X R3 - GPU Temperature Sensor Incorrect (Very Low)

Hey all, I'm hoping someone else here has had experience with this issue and can offer some advice.

The other night I was playing a game and I noticed that my GPU temp was above 80C and rising, and the fans didn't sound like they were all the way spun up. I stopped and grabbed HWInfo so I could take a look at the temp sensor values.

The "COMPAL EC" "GPU" temperature value is what the system seems to use to control the fans, at least for the GPU side. It looks like this value is somehow off in my laptop. For example, my actual GPU temps may be around 72C, but the COMPAL EC GPU sensor will read 55-60C.

Obviously, this is a big issue since my GPU will get very hot before the fans kick in. I've been temporarily using HWInfo to control my fans, but that is not ideal since I can only throttle based off the GPU temp or the CPU temp and not both.

Anyone have any advice, other than to call Dell and have them replace whatever has that thermal sensor in it (assuming it is the GPU, but I guess it could be on the mainboard)?

Thanks,

 

That value is what the mobo uses to detect what temp the card is, and cool the card accordingly. The other values are the actual thermal sensors on the card itself, and the laptop doesn't use those at all. There will always be a big discretion between the two values as the inside of the GPU die gets much warmer than what the temp sensor on the mobo can see.

 

Well then what changed? Previously, my system spun up the fans appropriately and I maintained GPU temps under 100% load in the low 70's C. Now, the fans don't really go beyond about half speed until I'm way hotter than I want to be, well into the 80's C.

The fans aren't broken, since I can use HWInfo to force them to 100% and it's as it was before. Something seems to have changed (on it's own mind you) in the hardware or software that either monitors the temps or that contr