Averaging 110 degrees under load?

My GPU is averaging about 110 degrees under load. The GPU fan only runs once every ten minutes or so for thirty seconds to a minute. While the GPU fan is running at maximum, the temperature drops to approximately 90 degrees.

Whenever the temperature is above 90 degrees I notice significant reductions in framerate, although the card itself does not downclock.

I asked Alienware about this and the reply said little more than the following:

Well I have the X36 bios installed, and to me at least, an average of 110 degrees under load in a cool room with peak temperatures of 119 degrees sounds like an overheating issue, but what do you guys think?

Note that this is with a spic and span interior and an Enermax Aeolus laptop cooler.

 

that is massive overheating right there. noticing any graphics errors?

 

No, but like I said the framerate drops by like 50% when it reaches those temps.

What's the deal with Alienware saying it's not overheating because they solved that problem?

I sent them pictures of the Rivatuner display and everything.

 

You could use a program to force the fan speeds to max.

 

Assuming you're measuring in *c, that's seriously overheating.
Now if you have it set to *f, that's just fine.

 

It is celsius.

I don't think you can on the 8800m GTX can you?

 

well have you told AW that your performance is dropping due to downclocking etc?

 

It isn't downclocking though. The core clock, shader clock and clock all stay maxed, it's just that the framerate bogs down.

 

Have you cleaned out the computer recently for dust and debris? You can use a can of compressed air and a vaccuum cleaner to get the job done.

 

Yup, cleaned the entire interior with compressed air, and carefully cleaned both fans with q-tips.

 

One more question, I think. Has this problem appeared before or after you flashed the BIOS? In the meantime I will look up some threads on the m15, but it looks like overheating is an inherent design flaw for this particular model.

 

It's always been present, I installed the bios to try and alleviate it.

 

Have you had this overheating problem ever since you got the m15x or only recently?

 

As far as I know it has been like this since I have had it.
I noticed the right side got pretty hot all the time while gaming, and games weren't performing as well as I thought they should.

I only installed Riva Tuner about a month ago though, but since that time it has been consistent.

 

Here's what happens when I am in Supreme Commander 1920x1200 high settings

This is doing absolutely nothing, with no AI, no mouse movement, in sandbox mode.

As you can see, it starts out at ~40 fps, but as the card gets hotter, the framerate decreases significantly until it's barely half that.

Then, once it's at that temperature, it pretty much stays there, with the crappy framerate, until the GPU fan decides to kick in. When it does kick in, the temp drops to about 90, the framerate goes back up, but the fan quickly turns itself off and the temp rises and the framerate falls.

I would say the fan runs at 5500 RMP a little less than 10% of the time while gaming, so 90% of the time the fan is running at ~2600 RPM, the temps are in the 110's and the framerates are in the toilet.

 

Could you try uninstalling Rivatuner? This fan activity (or lack of it) shouldn't happen, given that the X36 BIOS aims to resolve this issue ( as claimed in this thread, post #1)

Also, it is claimed in this thread that the problem has been resolved.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=284634

 

Doesn't make a difference.

 

Assuming that you are monitoring fan speeds with Thermofan, what are fans like when temps are on idle? Mine is clocked at 2573RPM with the Intel Integrated Graphics. It's strange that your GPU isn't downclocking or showing artifacts at such high temps. Max temps I get are 88-90C. Highest I ever hit was 93C on a warm day, and poor ventilation around the system. Sounds like it could be a defective GPU, if your fans are running as they are supposed to run. I'd call Roswell and get a replacement GPU.

 

The GPU fan operates at ~2600 RPM pretty much all the time.
It operates for brief periods at around 5500 RPM at extremely high temperatures.

If it ran at 5500 RPM all the time, like I think it is supposed to, I don't think I would be having any problems.

 

Maybe the heatsink poorly fitted ¿?

 

could well be. worth a shot.

 

Sounds like the Fan is not working like it supposed to. Try reseating the Fan cables and see if it helps. If it doesn't, call Roswell and get a new fan sent to you.

here's the instructions off of the support site for reseating the fan cables:

LINK

 

Yeah, I've done that with no success.

It seems to me that it wouldn't be a problem with the fan, because it does eventually run up at 5500 RPM, it just does it very late, and not enough.

It always triggers when the VGA skin temp in Thermofan reaches 84-85 degrees, of course by that time the core temperature is 110+ and has been for quite some time. Then the fan runs for a short period of time until the VGA skin temp reading in Thermofan decreases, and then the fan ramps down to 2600 RPM again. Meanwhile the core temperature is back up to 110+.

It does that consistently, but the fan shows no problems of running at the higher RPM, it just doesn't do it appropriately.

 

maybe AW needs to fix it.

 

I am confused with the photos that were attached on page 1?
Riva is showing 91C but thermo fan is only showing 64C in the 1st, riva: 102C & thermo 84C in the second one.
Try using hwmonitor and tell us what the max temp is, one of the program is giving a false reading.

 

It's thermofan that is reading wrong, but I'm not sure if it is actually reading wrong, or just reading something else.

I think it is because the Thermofan reading is the skin temp, while the other HW monitors use the internal core temp. Note that the VGA Internal Temp on the thermofan image is set to 0. I don't know why it isn't reading right, but it stays at 0 the whole time. I believe that the VGA Internal Temp should be the same as the thermofan, GPU-Z, etc. core temperature readings, but Thermofan just won't read it.

 

If you haven't, call the Roswell Group. (866) 767-8355 -- 9am-6pm EST. If nothing else, it will be easier to get questions answered without constantly being put on hold.

Assuming it's under warranty, I'd see if you can get them to send you all three parts at once (Fan, Heatsink, and GPU). They'll certainly bill you for them temporarily, but that way you may try each part individually without playing a non-stop waiting game with AW's shipping department.

 

The X36 bios has a coupe of errors in it, note the stuck 80C system temp, thermo fan has been known to have errors in it readings as well.

I would still check with HW monitor from CPUID because that is what most of us use around here so comparing to the temps would be easier.

What version of riva are you using, also what is the name of the plug-in you have running for the temps?

 

I don't know of any plug-in I am using for the temps. I just use the hardware monitoring wizard in Rivatuner.

In this image we have, left to right, HW Monitor, Rivatuner, GPU-Z and thermofan.

Thermofan is the odd one out.

 

Ok, so it is Thermo that is reading wrong.
Dose it feel uber hot, when under load?
It seems that some thing is bad with in the notebook, call AW or preferably roswell crew.
If your warranty is up or you bought your m15x not from AW then I would suggest changing the thermal compound/grease.

 

Hmm, I just got an email that Alienware wants to ship me a thermal module.

Does anyone know how easy those are to install and whether that could be the problem in my case?

And yeah, under load the entire right side of the computer gets very hot.

 

Step by step instruction from AW.

 

That looks finicky.

 

So is "thermal module" a fancy way of saying heatsink or fan?

The right side getting hot was something I read in many reviews of the m15x, but have yet to experience myself. I played L4D for almost three hours straight in an admittedly warm room over the weekend, and the area to the right of the touchpad never elevated past "warm to the touch".

If thermal module means heatsink, you may need to purchase thermal paste. Does anyone know if AW is kind enough to include this? Other than that, you should remove the old thermal compound before applying the new. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are a great way to do this with rubbing alcohol as they are much like a wet sanding surface that will also polish the GPU creating the smoothest possibly point of contact for the new heatsink.

 

@TwoBall -- yeah, a thermal module is a heatsink

The right side of my m15x gets warm when I game at temps of 80-88C. I can't imagine how hot it is at at 100C.

 

i can my fianc hits 110 c on a intergrated graphics chip i was speechless and it burnsssssss lol. its a hp tx1000

 

Whoa. That's some crazy junk there...lol

 

i got a screen shot some where .... i dont have it on here its on her laptop but it was a nvidia 6150 intergrated chip... i set it to high performance and it shot up like crazy

 

thats the gpu i had in my last laptop, last winter the handyman for my apartment could not get my radiator's working right. So I would just play CSS to stay warm

 

lol....

...Relaxing by the warm glow of my graphics card.... nice!

 

I got a package from AW last week, thinking it was the thermal module they were sending, open the package and find a graphics card bracket.

Call them up, get them to look into it, for some reason they didn't bother to send the thermal module. So they said then they would send one...
The thermal module finally arrived today.

I replace the thermal module and (surprisingly enough) my problem is unresolved.

Should I try and get a new fan out of them? A new video card? I just don't know what will fix this problem.

I am certain the problem is that the GPU fan is not running at a high enough speed. Other users have noted that, with the X36 bios upgrade, their GPU fan runs all the time at maximum RPM.

Mine doesn't. It runs at 2600 RPM 99% of the time, only turning on to 5500 RPM when the card has been baking at 110 degrees for ten to fifteen minutes already.

I am worried that these high temperatures may have caused damage to the card itself that will shorten its lifespan, should I be trying to get a new video card from them?

This is all very frustrating.

I am afraid to play games on my gaming laptop.

 

I'd go for a new card and new heatsink/fan.

 

You did put on the thermal paste correctly?

 

The thermal module arrived from AW with the paste pre-applied (if a bit thick). I cleaned the baked on paste from the GPU and installed the module according to the AW instructions.