Geforce 8400M GS temperature

Hi guys:

The other day i checked my GPU temperature with Everest and i noticed it seems to me as a bit high. Everest reads about 65C on idle mode (using windows, firefox, listeing to music, etc, without very much graphical stress), and because of this i feel a bit worried of how hot the card may actually get when stressing it at 100% playing games for hours.

Please post your idle/load temperatures and what OS you are using (i'm using Vista with all aero effects enabled)

 

i wouldnt worry, graphics cards can handle much higher temps than processors can. also, those temp gagues arent always accurate also.

 

I don't know what my temps are...but..
during quake 4 or ut2004 gameplay...maybe after 2 hours of playing, my laptop would sometimes just shut itself down into a sleep like state except pressing the keyboard doesn't do anything...the only way to get out of that state is to restart the comp by holding down the powerbutton..
weird..

 

best thing to do is get a cooling pad. my m1330 did that with world in conflict but after i got a cooling pad it stopped.

 

FREELANCER
I had the exact same thing happen to me, after about 2-3 hours of game play (only) the machine would go into this weird trance - the lights were on, but if you tapped the keyboard, nothing happened! Could only fix by holding the power button and essentially power cycling it to restart.

I talked to dell, they got me to test the video card - it was fine. I updated by graphics drivers and bios, no effect. I told them I was still having the same problem consistently. They sent out a Tech who replaced my motherboard and heat sink - all perfect since then.

You should ask Dell and tell em about the problem.

 

how do you monitor your video card temp?

 

you can monitor the temps using Rivatuner. OP, those temps do seem kinda high... I'm running Vista Home Premium and after playing Unreal Tournament 3 for about an hour, my temps hit about 69. I idle at about 50.

 

rivatuner might be giving you a false reading maybe. when i was using stock drivers, it gave me a 60-65 C degree idle reading for my 8400GS.

then i tried using CPUID HWMonitor and it gave me a 50 C reading, which seemed a bit more reasonable.

after switching to the 169.04 drivers from laptopvideo2go, i now get 50 C idle readings from both programs.

try using HWMonitor and see if it gives you a different reading:

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

 

Overclocked during gaming maxes me out at 75C. Non overclocked, around 70C at full load, 50C or so at idle. The max thermal design I believe is supposed to be 90C. I'd not venture too highly above 75 or so though.

 

You can find some feedback from other 8400M GS owners here and here...

 

My 8400m gs peak at 95 degrees celcius when playing cod4. I got a m1330 t8100 3 gig ram. No problems, running smooth!

 

How r u measuring your temps, btw?

 

When I am playing counter strike source my 8400m gs reaches around 93 celcius. I thought this was quite high though. Does anyone have any suggestions. I am using everest ultimate to measure my temps.

 

Mine idles at 67 C constantly, and playing games sends it up to 95-100C. I sure hope that isn't bad... I'm using 174.74 drivers btw, and it seemed like (could be wrong), but when I had older drivers, like 169.04, it idled alot cooler idk.

 

Both CPUID and GPU-Z both tell me my temps are between 73 and 74 celcius and I just turned on my M133O a few hours ago and have not done any sort of gaming or any other graphic intensive work.

And, I use a perforated metal notebook stand from Staples underneath the laptop, so I don't think it's the ventilation.

I am using the WHQL 174.31 driver on Vista x64 with 4 GB RAM and, of course, the 8400 M GS, no overclocking or other fancy stuff, with Windows Classic (Win 2K) theme.

Any comments/suggestions/ideas?

 

With the stock driver from Dell (15x.xx), I got 46F. With 16x.xx or 174.xx, I got 57-60F at idle. All in XP Pro SP2.

 

Mine peaks at 98C with the latest Dell drivers.

 

Here you go!

You can use ATITool version 0.27 latest beta (4, I guess) on Vista, I use 0.26 on XP. The GPU temperature is reported 10C lower than actual on Atitool (see GPU-Z). But ATITool heats up the GPU pretty well when 3D window is open. My GPU is overclocked (see picture) and overvolted to 1.2V

 

I was using the 174.31 drivers but rolled back to the 167.45 and now it idles like 10 celcius lower than before

 

I think it is just the way driver reads the temperature, I can not think of a reason for actually lower temperatures. I would recommend going back to 174.31 and ignoring the temperature reads. 174.31 is the best driver I have used on my Vostro 1500.

 

I also tried other drivers and got the same results. I am now back to 174.31.

 

When I use the 174.31 driver or any other 17x.xx driver, my temp skyrockets when gaming or doing the aero windows switch thing... it reaches 104°C and then the gpu downclocks... these temperature readings really have an influence on performance!!
(use nTune to read temps, now in 167.45 drivers, idles at 60°C)
I know they're not as fast as the newer drivers, but at least I don't get framedrops due to the downclock...

m1330
T7250 2GHz
2GB RAM
160GB 5400 RPM
Geforce 8400m gs

 

Downclocking of graphics card due to overheating is not normal and acceptable if you are not blocking the air intake, overclocking, or using the laptop in a very warm room, i.e. under normal circumstances.

There are a couple of things you can do, obviously other than calling Dell and asking for a fix to this problem.

You can buy a notebook cooler for gaming which is a simple and non-intrusive fix. Even elevating the base of laptop without blocking the air intake helps.
You can check if laptop fan is functioning normally and you can try to increase the fan speed using NHC or a similar program.
You can also open up the laptop and redo the thermal interfaces, if you feel comfortable doing this.

Cheers!

 

This is not a driver issue , it is a hardware issue. Dell poorly designed the cooling and placed a thick thermal pad in between the GPU and the heatsink. Their temporary bandaid is a bios solution that downclocks your video card and makes the fan work 100%.

The bios works i can assure you , I started seeing artifacts today and locking . Post bios it is gone. Problem is removing the thermal pad leaves a gap in between the heatsink and the gpu. I temporarily filled it with a little bit of extra paste. But i am looking for the copper shim mod. 14mmx 14mm 1mm thick i believe for the 1400 vostro. I am still researching how to go about this.

I now idle at 65c and full load at about 95-100c. I look forward to getting that copper shim and stabilizing this machine.

 

My 8400 GS idles at 36F degrees and maxes out at around 45F degrees. I'm running XP Home SP3, and I run I8kfanGUI and run the fan in low speed.

 

I'm really interested in purchasing this notebook but with the overheating problems it has can you recommend it? Do you think the problems have been ironed out in the models they are selling today? Otherwise I have to look elsewhere. Maybe the Lenovo U330...