Concerned about my GPU temps on my Asus G73JH

Since I don't seem to get straight on answers in bigger threads or more generic topics, I'll make this specific.

I'm worried about my temps.

These are example of temps playing on stock drivers from Asus utility disc while playing Borderlands. Borderlands is my most taxing game, so I shudder to think how it will react to more intensive games like Crysis. Games that I play aren't too graphic intensive, at least I don't believe they are. TF2, L4D2, SC2, WC3, D2, Expecting D3, and just picked up on Borderlands a couple of days ago. Really only am playing SC2 and Borderlands at the moment. With SC2, it'll hit 96C max.



I'm hitting 97C in a good average climate. Room temperature is 21C.

Do I have reason to believe that it might be misplaced heatsink, bad thermal paste, etc.?

My idle temps hover around the low 60s.

I usually play on a wood desk, but I tried to switch to other surfaces and more open areas, no difference, I still peaked at 97C (odd that it hits there as a max).

Any help here? And i'm going to run some benchmarks to see how hot it gets and it scores.

I'd also like to mention that I keep reading on how people say these fans are quiet, but I can hear them all the time. Normally it doesn't bother me, as I had one of the loudest desktops ever, but when given the expectation that it would be quiet, I can't help but notice the fans. If anyone can compare, my Lenovo T500 was hardly audible under stress and usually the fans were low/off so I didn't hear them at all. How is it quiet to you guys? Do you have to put your head down on the laptop to hear it (as I did before with my T500) or can you hear it normally from maybe 2-3 feet away?

 

I understand that you didn't exactly say this, but it's unrealistic to expect quite when the laptop is at full load. So, you must be talking about the sound of the fans at idle. It would help to know what GPU-Z says the fans are doing at idle. For example, if the fan speed is 100 percent and the laptop is at idle, that would be something to be concerned about. Since the fans don't spin completely down, you are always going to hear something. At least I do and at idle it's a light blow.

Your concerns about heat are based on the TSS1 (GPU MemIO). I think you should be more concerned about TSS0 (GPU DispIO) and TSS2 (GPU Shader). The GPU MemIO usually gets hotter, up to 110 °C before the laptop shuts down to protect itself. So you are nowhere near the max. You mentioned benchmarking, keep in mind that FurMark reads only one sensor (TSS1) and that will make it seem that the GPU is running entirely too hot.

Oh BTW, your application has been accepted and welcome to the 95 °C club.

 

Relieves me a bit I suppose.

Here are the benchmark results.



As for the fan, it said it was running at 30% the whol time in GPU-Z. Max and current both showed 30%... odd.

 

I don't think GPU-Z can read the fan speed properly.

 

What does then?

 

Wow. I'm running SC2 in windowed mode in the background with aero and I hit those same temps again. It was just appalling to see that.

I want to note that running borderlands, my fan stays at 30% and never went up to 100%. I was appalled with how SC2 did push it to go 100%... yet temps were the same or higher for Borderlands.

 

So I updated to 10.5 ati drivers, no luck, I GSOD on borderlands with striped lines this time! Yay!

So I was referred to updating to 10.1 provided by Asus in this post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6294358-post48.html

I did it, but the catalyst version says 10.4 in the CCC, not really sure how these numberings work.

Anyway, went to try borderlands, no GSOD after 2 hours. Good. A better pleasant surprise is that according to GPU-Z, I only reached max temps around high 70s (has like 4 versions of temperatures), which is pretty much 20C off my original temps. Much better.

Then I ran SC2. In both 10.5 and 10.1, it's reaching pretty high temps but not as high as before. But, although i'm not sure how it was during stock drivers, these high temps are just from me idling SC2 in the background (I play in windowed mode). Right now i'm typing and SC2 is just sitting in the main channel thing, the temps have been slowly increasing, at the moment its 95C, and I expect it to hit maybe 97C. This is TSS1 I believe, the MemIO. In GPU-z It's GPU Temp #2. GPU Temp #1 is at 80C. GPU temp #3 is at 89.5C. They are still increasing there even though the fan kicked into 100% just a few moments ago.

Hopefully this is a problem on SC2's side for not being retail and optimized yet...

Also FYI, I have opened a window in my room and it's letting plenty of cold air in.

 

I have had this quiet versus not so quiet idea too for a while and I thought my laptop was broken but after a month or so I realized that the fans run the same for everyone. Which means that some people just hear better then other people.

If you have a good hearing you will hear the right fan but you will also hear the 2 harddisks in the front of the laptop. So whisper quiet this laptop is not

 

I disagree. I have excellent hearing- time and again I hear things that coworkers or friends do not. I always score really well on hearing tests. My laptop is EXTREMELY silent.

Don't forget that your power profile has an impact. I have mine set as passive cooling being a priority on most schemes, and that means the fans run less and run quieter.

There's a trend to dismiss anyone who DOESN'T complain about their G73 as being either someone trying to stir up trouble, a fanboy, a liar or an idiot. I am none of these and don't have a loud laptop. Given, "loud" is subjective but I'd love to have a listen to someone else's "loud" G73.

 

Ambient temps play a big role in both temps and noise.

I was encoding 2 Disney DVD's at work the other night and it was silent the whole time with the cpu at 100% load for like 5 hours. (overclocked to 1.7ghz to boot) but my office at work was like 68F

I encoded 2 more DVD's at home the next day and the fans were on and audible, way more air coming out the back but my room was 75F+

At work seriously there was no noise at all and I thought my fans were not working because there was almost no airflow.

Even when I was at home though I consider the noise very quiet, way better than other high performance notebooks I have used. Only the W90 could compete.

 

I was considering getting a notebook cooler to help with my temp problems but reading that it can cause damage to the notebook with such high temps makes me just want to RMA it.

How long does it usually take to get a replacement/fixed notebook? Also do they wipe the drive/s?

I mean other than the temp problems everything else works fine. I hate to think that I'm risking getting a crappier replacement with new problems. It really is very annoying to not even be guaranteed an issue free replacement.

 

Why not get a good cooler?

 

Sorry, that first line in my original post is confusing. Meant to say that after reading that high temps can damage the notebook led me to think that I should RMA instead.

Especially considering others are getting load temps similar to my idle temps might mean something is wrong.

Will trying to reapply some thermal paste or making sure the heatsink is properly applied to the GPU void warranty?

Edit: lol never mind, I just watched a disassemble video for the G73 and it's just too risky. At least for me. And there is a seal that once broken would void warranty and I wouldn't be able to access the heatsink without breaking the seal.

Going to try a notebook cooler and hope for the best months from now! Watch my notebook die right when warranty runs out.