Heat concern with an X1600

As other forums and threads have documented, whenever an external monitor is attached to the nc8430 the ATI PowerPlay automatically will raise the clocks/voltage if needed.

Except for when I'm gaming, I always leave it at 'Optimized Battery' settings for the GPU but the notebook overrides that with the 'Balanced' setting because the extra power is needed to drive my external monitor.

I've kept an eye on my temps and clocks, and this is what I've found:

• When running on "Optimized Battery" without the monitor I run at about 45C and 209/135.
• When running on "Optimized Battery" with the monitor it automatically goes to "Balanced" and runs at around 60-62C and 392/252.

I'm mainly concerned that this temperature jump isn't normal (I know it will run hotter at higher settings but I don't know what is appropriate), and I'm wondering if it would be worth my while to ditch the external monitor since the resolution between the two screens are the same. Regardless of whether I'm on the external monitor or not, when gaming my laptop approaches 75C.

I purchased the 20.1" monitor when I owned a 14.1" notebook and wanted a higher resolution when sitting on my desk. That higher resolution requirement is now null and void since my nc8430 has a native LCD resolution that is sufficient.

If I ditch the external monitor (if I can stand just the 15.4" screen on my main desk), I can ditch the monitor stand and possibly get a notebook cooler as well as per the Cooling Guide.

Any opinions/comments are welcome.

 

I don't think you have to worry because the laptops undergo all sorts of stress tests.The temp jump is unavoidable.You might like to use the Vantec and the Arctic Silver 5.(Note : You are a super mod.)
I don't think any attempt at underclocking will be wise, it might lead to flicker, and damage your hardware/eyes.
Just as I said the heat shouldn't be a trouble to anything but your hands.Because the MacBook Pro runs much hotter than this even though it's underclocked.

Can you explain this ?

 

I'm a little hesitant to use AS5 because (1) I've never used it and (2) HP is really picky about us modding our own laptops. I don't want to give them a reason to void my warranty.

The cooler is a bit of a problem right now since the notebook sits in a monitor stand with docking station. I've been trying to find one that would fit in such a small space.

I've tried underclocking/undervolting already and ATI's PowerPlay works much better than anything I can do anyway.

But okay...no problem with temps...that's good.

Yea...I was pulling an all nighter for class one day when I was also in the process of formatting my old computer. I was too tired to realize that I formatted all my drives instead of just the two I wanted to format.

3.5GB of personal documents down the drain, but I was lucky enough to retrieve them through a recovery program.

 

Although 75*C seems like a warm temperature, it is well within the limits of what a GPU can handle. GPUs can handle higher temperatures than CPUs.

Applying Arctic Silver 5 to the CPU is a relatively simple procedure, but applying it to the GPU is more complicated because each notebook has a different heatsink and you may have to go through a trial & error process. Not worth it in my opinion; getting a good cooling pad is your best bet. The Spire Pacific Breeze is an excellent, if loud, pad for $15 from Newegg.com.

 

Well, the only problem is that I have a docking station and a notebook stand that work together...there's no room in between the notebook stand and the notebook to put a cooler. Crappy...but I'm stuck with it.

I went ahead a ditched the external monitor, so at least when I'm not gaming I don't have a nice breeze coming from my desk anymore. I didn't realize how much quieter this thing could get...

 

Are you using the default fan settings? If you crank them up before the chip gets hot, it wont get as hot, I run the fan on my m1210 on low constant, then kick into high when either the cpu hits 50c or the gpu hits 55c, which by the way were my idle temps right out of the box, your 1600 will run hotter than my card, but I believe it should have its own fan, my system only has one fan for everything, and after hours of bench marking both the cpu and the gpu(with a healthy OC) only peak in the mid 60's c which impresses me for a pretty loaded 12.1" machine . Basically the fans dont really "cool" the chip down when its under load, they just keep it from getting hotter, so kicking them in at lower temps will usally give you a dramatically cooler system overall, with that said, 75c is pretty normal for a video card under load, the default core slowdown for my 7400 is 104c I think, which is scary hot.

Personally I'd keep the monitor, in lieu of the cooling pad,you could use some thing as simple as pair of flat wooden chopsticks underneath to keep it slightly elevated, its kinda ghetto, but its dirt cheap, pretty effective, it wont eat up any space,and you wont be able to see it