G73 GPU high temp reduction

Hey all. Ive been doing some work on my g73-jh. i just repasted yesterday. So far i have gotten a temp drop of 100C to about 98C. i didnt use ICD which could be part of my problem, rather i used Dynex (i have a good friend who works at bestbuy and he gave me a new tube for free). i took apart my g73 using the vid and excellent guide posted on this site. i repasted with about a 5.5mm ball. i didnt spread it out other than the compression from the heatsink. i put it all back together without a hitch. any thoughts on this? should i re-do with ICD?

i am currently running a Mobility Radeon 5870 and im getting max GPU temps of about 98C. Id like this to be a bit lower but ive heard temps like this arent terrible. This is the max i have seen and when running Furmark for about 10 minutes this temp was reached (no cooling pad). this was using the 11.3 drivers. i have bios version 213 and the vBIOS is the official asus fix ones available from this site (no mods). i upgraded to the 11.5 drivers with no problems and am anxiously awaiting 11.6.

I use a cooling pad but what else is there i can do to drop temps? i know i can undervolt the GPU but i would like to keep my power if possible. any better aftermarket fans that could be installed to replace the stock ones? any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

-did you clean the vents properly when you opened it up?
-check to see if the ram temps are very high as you may need to replace the thermal tape too..
-when you disassembled did you check to make sure that the heatsink had proper contact with all the parts of the card..?

If all the above are ok then i'm sorry its probably because the dynex isnt that good and repaste with ICD which seems to be the most popular and effective..Also, a 5.5mm ball sounds like too much thus,creating a thicker layer which is less efficient(other members please verify this point for me as to whether i'm correct about 5.5mm being too much)

and i'm sorry the card cant be undervolted.. it can be underclocked though to reduce idle clocks but it'll only help with idle temps ..

and if you're thinking about a notebook cooler i suggest go for either the CM SF-19 or NZXT CryoLX as theyre the 2 most powerful but theyre also AC powered so not very portable

 

Everything above and:

Did you make sure that the fans are running? (Plugged in

If yes, you probably messed up the repasting (happens) or the heatsink isn't seated properly.

The paste shouldn't make such a huge difference, even if it was crappy paste. It seems you applied more than enough paste, but this shouldn't bring the temps up that far, most will just get spilled around the die.

 

Hi,

I just finished repasting my own G73 (stock paste since 03/2010)

It took a while, but everything seems fine now (just got left with one screw...)

Idle temps used to be ~75-80+ and now they are 54 for GPU, which is great! (cleaned a lo of dust from the wents too)

I changed CPU paste as well, but i wish i didnt, because my CPU temps were fine (idle ~45-50, and now they are ~40), not a big change, but i violated my warranty....) stupid me...

Havent tested max GPU temps yet, will do it some other day (want paste to "burn in" (as i read it somewhere ))

 

yeah i may have been a little generous on the paste b ut un the walkthrough it seemed to recommend between 5 to 7mm with very little changes in temp across all three. i made sure both fans are running. the rear right (the one closest to the gpu) clearly pushes more air than the rear left but i researched this and read it may be due to the engineering of the g73. i think i will most likely end up repasting and this time i will replace the pads/tape across the memory.

how can i check the temps on the memory? will GPU-Z work fine for this?

i blew out the entire laptop with compressed air during the repasting process. im sure the fans are both connected and that the airways arent blocked. looks like another noob repaste may be necessarly lol

any tips on the type of thermal tape to use on the memory?

 

No need to change the thermal pads on the vram as long as they're still intact. You can't see the temp on the vram, there's no sensor, and it doesn't really matter, they're not heating up as much as the die. As long as the ram is making proper contact with the pads there's no problem with them.

 

mmm, i changed all of them (even those small bits in the bottom....)
can anything get bad?...

and if i violated warranty on CPU, does it mean violated warranty on the whole laptop? (aarh.. why did i do it...)

 

Well, if the new pads are a bit thicker or less compressible, then there's probably a bigger gap between the die and the heatsink, which would explain the high temps.

No idea about the warranty. When I exchanged the CPU of a JW I simply removed it carefully and put it back.

 

If you are going to do a total repaste job then it is a good idea to change the pads, some people say no need and for the first couple of times I didn't bother and it made no difference but when you repaste a couple of times the pads can become soiled and marked and as soon as you get a fingerprint on them or they stretch they are useless.

One of the biggest differences for me was replacing the 1mm thermal pads with 0.5mm which allowed the heatsink to sit very flush over the 5870M upto that point I was seeing temps in the region of 85oC+. I only needed to apply 2-3mm max of ICD and the entire chip was covered because of the minimal clearance when I reseated the heatsink with thinner pads, as per my sig I never see above 80oC anymore and when it is cool I can run a full burn in test and my temps hang between 2oC of each other maxing at 78oC.

@Jispe007 sometimes chips do run hot but I would have expected you to have seen a better decrease in temps personally at least to around 90-95oC so I recommend when you have some time to just try again and maybe try a recommended TIM like ICD MX or I hear some quite amazing things about new types of Shin Etsu but I have no reason to move away from ICD when it has proved so rewarding, I have not heard of the compound you used so I cannot comment but it does not seem too effective if you have repasted correctly.

Think about picking up some thinner pads 0.5mm and as high conductivity as you can im using 7.0w/mk which work very well for me. If you going to do a job properly its always good to replace everything in my eyes. Saves you having to go back and correct it later.

The letter of the law says: 'Removing the CPU heatsink and breaking the seal yourself will void your warranty'

Correct me if im wrong but dont companies normally check these with a special light to see if they have been tampered with?. The CPU normally does not see a major decrease in temps anyway by repasting so if your within warranty just stick to the GPU.

Mine came with a 6 month warranty. I ripped the CPU warranty sticker off the next day of purchasing it.

1. I will never allow an RMA tech to touch my laptop, neither should you it will come back with a thick layer of dirt and scratches.
2. Repasting will probably prevent the need for an RMA anyway.
3. The JH is a hard boiled egg, you should be ok, if they even bothered to check it anyway.

The smaller pads 1cm rectangles etc you have changed just cover the memory controllers people have been known to not even bother and seen no difference but personally as long as you put them back you will be fine.

 

Good to hear

And as for that CPU sticker, I first tried gently removing it, but it ripped faster than wet toilet paper (those stickers are probably supposed to do this )

 

Honestly dont worry about it if you have repasted and everything is working correctly and you have better temps you dont need to open it back up again anyway.

I know a warranty is there for a reason but I just dont like not having my lappy and I hate to think someone else is touching it and not caring about its condition haha if something goes wrong come on here and we will fix it for ya cheap, quick and we respect its condition as well

 

Thanks, but hopefully it will last another 2 years just fine as it lasted this 1 already (it always had high temps, but shutdown today during a game was a sign

 

What compound did you use? I notice you mention burning it in if it is a compound such as arctic silver it will take around 200 hours to cure but if it is ICD you can stress straight away because once you have applied it then its set.

 

You won't see a huge difference with AS5 after applying and after 200 hours, maybe 2-3°C, max.

 

I know this I was referring to his post on the other page about waiting before burning in.

 

It was ICD7, and i read some time ago that i needed to wait a bit, but as you said just now, i dont need to do it with ICD7

Anyway, gonna test max temps tomorrow (probably gonna be better than "shutdown" )

 

Whoever told you that should be shot. Get stressing!!

If you have the time can you take a log of your temps using Hwinfo and post them here and then do weekly logs of idle and under extreme burn with your ambient temperature if you can fella.

 

Cure time for ICD7 is 10 minutes, so go ahead and OC away.

 

OK

Well i did 10min furmark run. Previously i wouldnt be able to do it, because after 1min i would get 110 C

Now, after 4mins i got 71, after 5mins jumping 71-72, after 8min stayed at 72. AWESOME! Never thought that my furmark temps can be lower than the idle ones i had previously (75+)

Whats the best way to stress CPU?

 

Is that with Extreme burn in and post fx on? If so woah very nice. Use Hwinfo sensors to check the temps across the board.

For the CPU you want Prime 95 options -> Torture test.

 

^ Prime95 for cpu..

and those gpu temps are very nice!

Edit: dallers beat me to it..!

 

When others beat me to it I normally just try and beat them by quoting a better program. Please feel free to quote better than Prime 95

Edit: Ohhh and OCCT. Phew I nearly got caught out haha

 

That can be about average for a furmark run on a hot card. Several (15+) members have the same temps, I've got a post about it somewhere.

 

here...

Highly Accelerated Life Test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CHESS model checker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the 2nd one's a bit more practical but i wish i had chambers to put the g73 through the 1st one.. i bet it'd come out unscathed..

 

Yes, both were ticked (13 fps
And hwinfo showed same result

Ran that second burn test in prime, all 8 threads were 100%, straight after temps jumped to ~70-72, and after 5 minutes they were 71-74. Is this good? (Im not sure how high they were before repasting, but i dont think they ever went over 80...). So is 71-74 normal, or did i put too little paste on it? (which i might have because i ran out... (i was testing too much to see how it looks after, so was cleaning and reaplying several times...)

P.S. Idle GPU now ~58, CPU ~50, guessing all good?

 

^
yup, that's one fine repaste!

 

+1 well proven. I will check them out

Yes, have to say you have come off rather well but do check your temps over the board using GPU-z or Hwinfo because its also good to make sure the MEM-IO, Shader and DISP-IO are all covered by your fantastic new Diode temp

Your CPU is the same if not better than mine which is heartbreaking for me although I am overclocking. If you do have the time to complete weekly logs it would be a great help post them on the link I quoted earlier if you can. Just a screenshot of Hwinfo sensors at idle and under extreme burn in would be perfect.

 

I'll try and upload my temps

Btw, after doing furmark test, my idle GPU temps went from ~55 to ~59, is it just my paranoia or is it normal? (CPU increased by couple degrees too..)

And also, i probably shoudve said that im using a cooling pad ::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions ::: (not that it ever helped, but a great place to store extra HDD )

 

Temps might be up and down when stress testing once you leave it to settle it should even out, remember that ambient temps make a big difference also so once the board is heated up it can take time to go back to normal idle temps.

I use the 3000U Zalman they are great coolers even though I mainly use mine because I have my laptop on my bed.

 

Just tried 20min of BFBC2 - all GPU temps ~77. Dont know why furmark didnt go as high, but probably first time on new paste was the best.

Tried furmark now, same settings as 2h ago, and this time after 2mins it got to 83, and after 3min stayed at 85....

Any idea why first furmark burn was so much better?

 

Hey all! well i just ran another 45 min furmark test today. the ambient temp is pretty cool, similar to the first ambient temps. Today after 45 minutes i am getting an absolute max of 75C thru furmark and 80C with GPU-Z. Is it possible the burn-in period for the paste hadnt completed when i ran the tests a couple of days ago? ill test again later on to see what the temps are

 

It is not impossible just unlikely something must have settled down once you let it cool and then heated the compound back up again maybe but even so the most important part are your temps now

 

well looks like i got a bit excited turns out i was running furmark not on the high performance laptop setting rather the entertainment setting temps are still downt though to about 93C and the idle temps are around 57C to 60C. ill keep the tests going but im hoping to pick up some ICD7 this weekend

 

Oh yes sorry I assumed you are using ICD but you are using a stock version of compound so it most likely is still curing. 93oC at full burn is not the end of the world mind and well within the maximum temps. You may see better results with ICD but remember full burn is full burn for a reason few games will push the load to 100%.

 

Awesome. well im just happy to see slight improvement lol i used to have one of the g73's that would shut off after 2 min of furmark. after some much needed driver updates and repasting and now 93C.... not too bad. Still i hope to use ICD7. and ill plan on replacing pads this time too. i know i need the .5mm pads but any other info regarding to pads? would a store like Fry's electronics or Bestbuy carry it or do i need to special order? tnx

 

As mentioned you dont need to replace the pads if your ones have not been damaged stretched or soiled ie fingerprints on them, just make sure they have not moved and cover the Vram properly. If you want to get new ones just pick them up from ebay for like a tenner for good ones.

ICDiamond is the way to go.

 

what are these pads called exactly? i cant seem to find any of them online. maybe im just not looking hard enough? and i think replacing would be a good idea. i know it came partially off i just made sure it was covering the vram. i dont think it will survive another repaste. thanks!

how do these look? will they do the job?
EK Waterblocks Thermal PAD BIG 0.5 mm Thickness
thanks again

 

mmmm, i will probably look stupid now, but i used normal ICD7 on vram... is it bad? (I removed those old pads, and applied ICD7 on every part on the GPU that had those pads (small chips too))

Is it ok, or should i have used those pads in the link above?...

 

It can be done, people have done it, do I recommend doing it on the JH? No. Why? Because the heatsink for the G73 is not flat or even or well made.

As long as the heatsink is flush on the Vram and all modules are conducting with the heatsink then your ok. The Pads just makes sure that full contact is made as they mould around the modules when pressed into a flat surface. If you are worried get new pads remove the heatsink clean the entire area with alcoholic swab and reapply the pads and compound again.

 

Yea, i probably shouldve checked what will i find under the heatsink once removed.. didnt expect to see those pads there (first time doing this )

But i think i put anough paste on every module that had paste on it, so i should be ok... (any way to check vram temps etc just in case?)


And also... was it ok for me to use perfume instead of vodka on qtips when removing paste? (im assuming it worked fine, cause my laptop is still working )


P.S. Previously i never took any attention to PCH temperature, because it wasnt the highest (dont remember what it used to be...)
But now as my GPU and CPU are idling quite low, PCH temperature is at 59, which is the highest of them all. Is it ok? And what is it?

P.P.S. S.M.A.R.T. is 37, which i assume is ok (but what is it - SSD, HDD?)

 

I have a Asus g73 and my temps went up to 93 degrees as well after a repaste. Never 94. Always 93.

How is your 3Dmark11 score?