Inspiron GPU versus CPU Temperature & Video Card

Hi all,

Ok I have a question that has me a bit confused. I have an inspiron e1505/6400 that has the ati x1400 video card in it. Now when I recently tore down the laptop I noticed the the heat sink goes over the CPU and another element which everyone says is the GPU. The cpu had thermal grey gunk and the gpu had a purple thermal pad on it.

My question is, if I have the ati card isn't that my gpu? Didn't make sense that the intel 945 board has a gpu if there is already a video card handling graphics.

Also is there anyway to monitor the temperature of the GPU? All the applications I have tried are just showing me cpu temperature and not gpu.

 

The other thing covered by your heatsink probably is the GPU. I'm not too familiar with the Inspiron series, so I don't know if the X1400 graphics card is soldered on or if it's a separate unit. If it's soldered, then yes, it should be the only graphics unit on that motherboard. If it's removable, though, then the motherboard should be universal, meaning it would also have the Intel integrated GPU.

As for temperature monitoring, try HWMonitor:

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

It shows my GPU temps, along with CPU (both cores). If this doesn't show your GPU temperature, it's possible that your X1400 simply does not have a thermal sensor.

 

There are 2 versions of the 6400. One has the built in video (intel integrated something) and then the ones that have plugin cards. I have the one that plugs in. Now that you mentioned it I wonder if the GPU is used at all since I have a video card doing that. This is making less sense now....

Thanks for HWmonitor, I forgot to try that one on the laptop, lol.

 

The GPU is a sub-component of your video card. The video card is a amalgamation of a GPU, some VRAM, a PCB and whatever other surface-mount components a manufacturer needs or wants to include. On many laptops a video card doesn't really exist, since everything is soldered onto the motherboard; it's just a hold over from the desktop days. Usually people refer to the two interchangeably.

If you have a discrete GPU in your E1505, it'll look like this: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/video.htm#wp1006368. The heatsink and everything is built onto the module; there won't be any thermal pads there.

Thus, the chip with the thermal pad is most like your Northbridge; in the case of an E1505 with discrete graphics, it'll be a 945-chipset without an integrated GPU.

Also, seconded on HWMonitor.

 

Commander thanks for the explanation! The link you included is exactly how my laptop is setup. Actually here are a few shots I took.

In the far right you can see the female slot the graphics card plugs into. Its partially cut off.


Here is a shot of the heat sink that goes over the cpu and gpu.


Here is the shot with the heat sink removed.


OK so based on what you commented the GPU is still fully functional on my laptop. Reason being that I was thinking about doing a copper modification to the gpu. Instead of using the thermal pad I would install a copper shim.

Actually now that I think about it. What normally runs hotter the GPU or the CPU on laptops?

 

Hi all, ok installed CPUID and its not showing me the gpu temp unless ACPI temperature is what I am looking at?

 

I have done some more research and it looks like you were correct commander. It is indeed the north bridge chip on my board.

http://eduncan911.com/archive/2007/12/11/why-the-inspiron-is-a-king.aspx

 

It seems my initial suspicions were correct; your graphics card does not seem to have a thermal sensor.

 

The E1505 has two heatsinks. The lower one covers the processor and the system chipset (Intel I945)
The upper heatsink is for the ATI graphics card. (Has a long copper heatpipe)

Download I8KFANGUI and install it for your laptop, it reads the graphics, memory, chipset, cpu and harddrive temperatures. I have confirmed the accuracy of this program with my FLuke 574 infrared heat gun

My graphics temperature is usually around 110-125F under normal everyday use
I have the ATi X1400 in my E1505, so your temperatures should be close to mine.

K-TRON