M17x R3 GPU throttling with GT660 and GT680

Hi everyone.
I've had a problem with my old GT660m (replaced the 580m 2 years ago) and my newly bought GT680m.
Everytime I launch a more demanding game the GPU temp ramps up to 89°C in 2-3 seconds, then the GPU throttles and goes into P8 mode, temp goes down to 76°C and it changes back into P0, and the circle repeats itself continuosly.
So far I:
Tried using a laptop cooling pad with fans.
exchanged the 660m for a 680m
reapplied thermal paste and renewed thermal pads on both CPU and GPU
Took it apart and cleaned it thoroughly (especially the fans)
measured the temperature with an external digital thermometer (while the sensor was showing 89° the ext. thermometer was showing 39°C max

Could it be that the sensor is broken? And if so, how do I disable the GPU throttling? I've read through several threads that talk about flashing the bios, but I've got the A12 version, and Dell only offer A8 and A12 for download.

Setup:
A12 BIOS
i7-2760QM @ 2.2GHz
GT 680m
8G Ram
Win 7 Home Premium

 

Hi, I'd say you did something wrong . I've helped with a bunch of 680m upgrades and that card usually runs super cool. I doubt a sensor problem.

First, did you get a new heatsink or did the existing one have three heat pipes? The 660m is a lower wattage card so needs less cooling and will probably have a two pipe heatsink.

Did you get a new x-bracket with the 680m or reuse the old one?

Did you find a pad layout for the 680m or just copy the 660m?

If you put the pads wrong then you can cause the core to not contact properly. If you open it up almost all the paste should have been squeezed out leaving just a thin film.

If you can, get the correct heatsink from dell (680m heatsink for the R4). This comes with the pads and paste pre-applied so you just screw it together. Easy and no figuring out what pad goes where.

If the temp is so quickly increasing then poor core contact is more likely. The padded components usually take 30 seconds or so to overheat.

good luck

 

The existing heatsink (back from the 580m) had 3 pipes, so I used that one. I'll try to find a 680m R4 heatsink then.
Thanks for the help.

 

NP .
At least the heatsink design is ruled out. The 580m one (I had an R3 as well) will work but just needs applying correctly for a 680m. Don't bother with a 680m heatsink from anywhere else other that Dell since the advantage of pads and paste will probably not be there. The paste Dell use is a semi-hard material designed to soften under compression (they also claim 'phase changing Err??). Using this they can ship with it pre-applied.

I wondered if this would be as good as 'real' paste so I tried it and it worked great out-the-box.

If you can't get one then separate the card and heatsink and take pictures. Hopefully I can spot the problem .

Good luck

Oh yeah, was the x-bracket on the 680m when you got it?

 

No, the x-bracket was from the 580/660. Could that be the culprit, too?

 

I believe so. The height of the posts is critical to the thickness of the core. One from a thicker card may not provide enough pressure.
EDIT: Thinking about it this alone will not be the cause of your super quick overheat. It's more likely to cause temp 'creep' where it gets hot over a long period but still worth trying to track one down.

 

I might have found one advertised as "new, unused original from dell", including the x-bracket. Seller is unavailable until the 3rd next month, I'll ask if it comes with the pads. If not, I think I'll still buy, but then I'd need help with the thickness and placing of the pads. Thermal paste is no problem, though.

 

Sounds good. If it is unused from Dell then the pads will be in-place. Placing is not a problem, I have pictures, but the thicknesses might need checking - ie dry assembling and checking for dents.

This is my 680m as received from Dell:

 

The seller confirmed that it has the thermal pads, I'll be posting the results in 1-2 weeks, depending on the shipping speed (from UK to Germany).
Thanks again for your help.

 

Great, should be easy to assemble but make sure you clean off the surfaces with alcohol as they need to be clean and grease free. I use medical swabs for injection sites. Available at any chemist supplies. Cheap and convenient .

 

All the pads were in place, new x bracket fit perfectly, temps are now max 60°C when running 3D games.
Thanks for your help, mickyD.

 

You're welcome.

Good to hear . Now you can game and not worry about burning your card. I was impressed with the way it arrived ready to go without any need to verify anything .

PS Now you have excellent temps hit me up if you want to get some more out of it

 

Well, at first everything ran smoothly, but the problem appeared again.

Here is a picture of the heatsink.

 

Oops, that is an AMD heatsink. The GPU core is at 45 degrees to an NV so you are only contacting around 50%. You can make it fit but you have to remove the black tape as well as clean up to apply new paste. This is my 680m as it arrived from dell for pad positions. Note the thick strip along one edge. This is the voltage regulators and they do get very hot so need to make contact. You can double up on pads if needed without a problem.

Another problem is the x-bracket. AMD use larger screws and the x-bracket may not apply the same pressure. If you asked for a 680m heatsink then the seller should fix this for you.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news - it shouldn't be this hard - but stuff happens

 

Alrighty then, I removed the black tape, cleaned the square throroughly, placed the thermal pads like they are marked in the other, older 680m thread on this board and in your image and replaced the thermal paste for the umpteenth time. So far games are working without problems, and the temperature is 50-60 under load. If I stumble across an original heat sink for that model I will buy it, but this seems to work mid-term. Thank you alot (for the third time).

 

That's great, at last! I'm sure you are good to go now, and have plenty of headroom should you need it in future . I've not seen better temps so no need to bother finding another HS .