Normal Temp. Gaming on M17?

I bought a M17 back in November. It has not given me any problems since I received it, however I always had a question. The GPU tends to get pretty hot when I run my games, usually ranging between 84c (World of Warcraft maxed on 1900x1200) all the way up to 89c (Dawn of War 2 High on 1900x1200). Is this normal?

I generally play my laptop directly on my lap, but have a cooler under it (NZXT CRYO LX, usb hook-up). I've seen a couple post where people are in the mid-70c with better thermal paste. If that is the case, I'll invest in some. What should I be expecting for temps on my rig (Temp in my house is generally 77degrees)?

2.53ghz P9400 Core2
Crossfire ATI 3870
1900x1200 display
4 gigs of ram

 

84°C is nothing to worry about. past 90°C is the "critical" mark.

 

Those temperatures are normal for this notebook; I got the same temperatures with my review unit.

Thermal paste like Arctic Silver 5 can take off up to 5*C or so, but I have found that in notebooks the results are not as good as in desktops. So, a few degrees at most. I personally would not worry about it. Just make sure you clean out your vents with compressed air every once in a while (see the cooling guide).

 

I get the same temps as well so it's all good lol

 

My GPU's distinct 7-8 degrees in between, is it normal?

 

not distinct sorry i mean
differ.. Sorry for english.. i'm doing my best :|

 

My GPUS differ aswell..however not 7-8 degrees..mostly 1-3..

 

You can use my temps for reference. I changed all thermal paste to arctic silver cpu/gpu/gpu and I have the Antec notebook cooler 200 ( http://www.antec.com/usa/productDetails.php?lan=us&id=75019#).

This is what I recorded after roughly 60 minutes of continuous play of Left 4 Dead at maxed setting/resolution except for AA.



Oyeah, my M17 has the same settings as yours -- 2.53, dual hd 3870, 4 gigs 1066mhz

 

wow..thats pretty good..i get that only when its just booted up lol :X......

Do you void warrenty when you change thermal paste?

btw can you make your pic as a link? its a bit big

 

WoW that's impressive ... I can't belive the AW "solution" is that bad? Do you made your fans go full speed all the time? Or do you realy don't need fans ad high speed?

Greetings
Julian

 

For me, I don't think I voided my warranty -- but that is because I HAD to open my laptop up and replace my main GPU myself (and in the process reapply thermal paste) since it originally had been damaged due to tape. Also, I had to of course check my CPU to make sure there wasn't any tape on it either.

 

I don't think so because AW explains how to chance the GPU (and so the heating system) on their hp. But I am not sure! I think sb had the problem with "wrong" (don't know how to explain^^) termalpads and than he phoned AW and they said he should take a look at the heeting system and than he found the "problem". May be because the was on the phone he didn't void the warenty ... I think you should phone rosewell

Greetings
Julian

 

I haven't tweaked any fan settings and the driver is the default drivers that came with the laptop (balanced setting + vertical refresh always on). My notebook cooler is really good because the huge fan pushes air directly into the vents. Because the Antec fan is so large, it spins at a relatively low RPM while maintaing the same cubic feet/minute of air as other coolers. I have the setting for the notebook cooler on high (only 2 settings low and high), and it is barely audible.

I don't think the alienware thermal paste is necessarily bad, but from my experiences with building desktops (this is first experience for me with notebooks), having TOO much thermal paste can be nearly as ineffective as having too little. When you look at the amount of thermal paste used by alienware, it seems like a huge glob of tooth paste -- when I applied arctic silver, I used 1 single stream of paste equal the the length of the cpu/gpu contact point.

 

What do you meen with "balanced settings (energy options?) and "verticak refresh" (the fps limit eqal to the "max fps rate" of the LCD?) ...

If you don't mind would you pleas play some time with the M17 put on a flat ground and don't use the "extra cooler" to make it better comparable

THX!

Greetings
Julian

 

For power settings I use High Performance mode but for ATI's catalyst control center 3D standard settings, I use "balanced" (between quality and top performance). The only option I changed is vertical refresh so the framerate matches lcd frequency (60fps max).

When I have time I'll try playing around for 1-2 hours with same settings but without the laptop cooler on my desk and see what the max temperature goes to

 

Ok I set everything to "performance" ... but this shouldn't chance the generated heat, does it? The vertical refresh thing can! Because the GPU will not run every time at it's limit - I guess.^^

THX a lot!

Greetings
Julian

 

Where to change the vertical refresh to a default setting?

 

What do you mean with "default"? You can select in CCC "default" but when you only want to chance this you can go to "3D" and than "all" and than "wait for vertikal refresh" ... I use "off, if not selected by application" (I have the german version so may be the "names" are only "close to my suggestion"

Greetings
Julian