M1530 CPU and GPU undervolting: how so ?

Hi,

My laptop is overheating and I would like to fix that - I think it it due to the 8600M GPU. I have got the latest BIOS (A12).
- Dust is not the cause here, as I have already opened and cleaned the laptop.
- If possible I would like to avoid unmounting everything and reapply thermal paste because I know it will be a chore, I risk damaging parts, and it is not even guaranteed to yeld good results
- I have a notebook cooler. However I have noticed that it does not blow air inside the laptop from below, it sucks air from above (from the laptop, if you prefer). Isn't this bad airflow, considering the M1530 pulls air from below and pushes it at the back of the laptop ? (I am not sure, but I may be able to have the notebook cooler fans rotate the other ways by unmounting it...)
- I have installed MSI Afterburner and downclocked the GPU. I think it does helps a little bit, but for a much greater effect I would like to downvolt (and downclock if needed) both the CPU and GPU as much as possible to decrease heat. I don't care if I lose 20% performance as long as everything heats less and performance is more stable (the GPU reaches temperatures as high as 90°C while gaming and I do not want the laptop to die on me).

Does anyone know what my options are for downclocking and downvolting the CPU and GPU ? (the latest official BIOS, A12, offers no option to do that -v-). MSI Afterburner 4.2.0 GPU downclocking seems to work, but voltage settings won't.

Thank you.

 

1) Well... what is overheating? The CPU or the GPU?
2) What is the idle temp of your laptop CPU and GPU?
3) When was the last time you opened up the laptop to clean / remove dust from the fans and heatsinks?
4) Can you confirm that the fans are still working?

Honestly, for a laptop as old as a Dell XPS M1530, opening the laptop up to clean / remove dust from the heatsinks and fans; and re-applying thermal paste on the CPU is the fastest, cheapest, and highest likelihood to yield positive results. If your laptop worked fine in the past, but then over time started losing its ability to cool itself, then this is probably going to help.

 

Ha - that GPU is junk.

I have it in my MacBook Pro and Apple replaced the motherboard 3 times. As each one began to fail, the laptop ran hotter and hotter. On last motherboard, Apple significantly downclocked the GPU which helped cooling for a while but slowed things down a lot...

I am typing the MacBook right now and after 9 years it gets too hot, the fans are just too noisy, it is getting slow, the screen is a bit fuzzy, and support is waning. I recently replaced it with a Dell 9550 which is staggeringly good (after a lot of rework including repastes, clean installs, driver issues).

nVidia blamed faulty packaging - I think that means their early experiments with no-lead soldier failed. There were a large number of lawsuits from various laptop manufacturers around that GPU. At the time, rumours speculated it might kill the company. Unfortunately, I suspect you are well beyond the extended replacement timeframe.

According to my computer guru (pHd specializing in systems engineering) a compounding problem is that these 2007/2008 GPUs were pretty advanced in the day but don't efficiently deal with modern video compression so that makes them run hot and slow...

You can try a repaste and underclock, but the clock is ticking on your GPU...

 

@kent1146:
1. I think it is the GPU (see below)
2. Open Hardware Monitors says:
CPU #1 min: 30°C
CPU #2 min: 35°C
GPU core min: 56°C (with the following reported min clocks: core 169MHz, memory 100MHz, GPU Shader 338MHz)
The hard drive min is 44°C
3. I opened the laptop less than one month ago, hoping to see tons of dust. Unfortunately there was almost nothing to remove in accessible areas. I did not remove the heatsink and (again) if possible would like to avoid that entirely.
4. Yes, the fan (there is only one I think) is working

If I run CPU intensive apps it is still doable, but when if I try to play GPU somewhat-intensive games, hell breaks loose - the max temps are much higher. If I play a GPU intensive game, temperatures skyrocket and performance goes to sh**.
My main issue with that is erratic performance due to the GPU clock playing yo yo, and the additionnal wear it puts on the other components.

 

By the way, I understand that my mileage may vary, but some tests show much more improvement with downvolting than reapplying thermal paste, see http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rature-observations-undervolt-repaste.785963/ :
Stock - 73*C
Undervolt by 185mv - 59*C
Stock voltage with repaste - 68*C
Repaste and undervolt by 185mv - 53*C

This is why I would like to find a way to undervolt the GPU and CPU first, software solutions are both safer and easier.

 

Ok, here is an update.
After trying a few tools (among them was XTU, which was not made for my chipset, so did not work), I tried ThrottleStop (official thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329). It works wonders.

The GPU side of things is no good, 'though. I have tried some more things with MSI Afterburner, such as this way to unlock voltage control, but it did not work at all.
From my understanding, a custom GPU BIOS would be needed to lower the voltage, but it is not an easy thing to come around.
Still looking for an efficient GPU undervoltage solution, because the GPU is the faulty part and the hottest component, not the CPU