An interesting RMA case about maintenance

Hi guys, I got this G73JH in for RMA, and I thought I would like to share:

The unit was sent in for erratic trackpad, and broken keyboard, plus loud fans and general overheating. As any good PC gamer knows, game rigs need regular maintenance, especially the cooling system. In this case, the system's cooling was as follows:

CPU temps under OCCT 4.0:

Core 0: 87C
Core 1: 91C
Core 2: 89C
Core 3: 88C

And his GPU:

(Display / MemIO / Shaders)

76C / 83C / 76.5 Idle temps
90.5C / 105.5C / 98C load Furmark (GPU throttled at peak temp)

Also noted his BIOS was on 209, and vBIOS was stock, and on stock drivers

So I updated both, and installed a bunch of driver updates, including INF, RST and Catalyst (12.01 Preview) I then followed by blowing out the vents.

58C / 65C / 58C Idle GPU
83.5C / 105.0C / 94.5C GPU load (no throttle)

66C / 69C / 68C / 68C CPU load OCCT 4.0 (after vents cleaned)

As you can see, what a dramatic change on the CPU. GPU still needs a little work, but at least the idle temps are better. So I did an ICD24 repaste, and got:

53.5C / 53.0C / 50.0C Idle temps
77.5C / 80.0C / 77.0C Furmark load temps

Needless to say, this gent's machine no longer seizes or shuts down while gaming.

A simple thing like vent cleaning every month can keep a fine tuned machine staying that way.

 

Oh wow, that a great story...

That reminds me, I need to get the repaste done.. at some point...

 

Chastity, speaking of interesting stories this does sound a little familiar....
But what I really want to say is thank you because you are an outstanding technical problem solver and without any hesitation I commend the "over the top" client resolution skills that you provide to your employer, AsusTek Computer. Coming from a businessman who has over thirty years of experience running service corporations, I want to commend you on your outstanding performance and I truly hope you are awarded daily with the acknowledgement, recognition and last but not least, the fair remuneration you deserve from your employers at Asus Corporation. People like you are very rare and extremely hard to come by and quite often overlooked in the Service Industry. You my friend definitely deserve a promotion for all the extra work you do to satisfy your customers. Someone overseas should take notice and promote you to Asus Service Operations Manager. We thank you and we salute you!

 

Chastity - this may seem like a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway:

What is the best way for someone to clean out the vents without possibly having access to all of the tools you do?

Do I need to open the case or what?

thx

 

Turn off the machine, remove the battery, remove the back plate with a screw driver, then use a can of air to blow out the large vents on the back.

 

My sneaky trick is to:

1) Take out battery
2) Remove the 4 larger screws and 2 small ones holding the hinge-plate
3) Remove hinge-plate
4) Slip the small red hose down the middle of each fan about 2 inches, and blow

this should send the air into the fan chamber and blow out from behind

Case: 1651736

 

thanks..will try it out.

 

Chastity -once more with a "stupid" question -

what/where exactly is the "hinge-plate?"

I turned my laptop over and nothing "screamed" that it was the hinge plate. I googled it and could find no real pictures...

thx

 

The hinge plate is the plate behind the screen, it is located on the top of the laptop, not on the bottom. It is literally what is says, the plate covering the screen hinges. There is a total of 6 screws holding it in place.

 

thx. Will try this when I get home

 

Finally got around to doing this earlier today...still took a while to realize what 6 screws you were all talking about (figured out the 2 small one's easily,but the other 4 took a bit since it wasnt clear removing them would "free" the hinge).

Anyway.....after removing everything - cleaning went well and I hope this helps keep my laptop cooler.

thx to you all