How to resolve heat issues with GPUs? Specificly when OCing with 8600m gt

I just want to say that the 8600m gt is such an amazing card. Theres so much potential locked away inside and i just realized this these few days b/c after some fine tuning with Ocing Im running mass effect 1280x800 on ultra details past 30 fps average. The game runs so smooth, feels like Ive got a 8800 gtx under my hood.

Sad thing is that performance down clocked itself after about half an hour. Its the heat I think, and the transition is pretty noticable: half a second of stuttering and everythings laggier (20 fps downgrade)

Any experience with solving this issue? Is there a way to stop the GPU from auto downclocking itself? I mean my temps are around 85 while running which shouldnt be a big concern.

 

Trying different drivers is always a good place to start. I have noticed that some drivers are more tollerant to heat than others, meaning that some downclock earlier. From my experience I've found the 174.12 to not downclock my GPU. I get to about 96C whilst gaming. Whilst anything past 174.31 seems to downclock my GPU at 80-85C, which as my notebook runs hot is nearly all the time. I'm on the route to some cooling mods to the hardware if this doesn't seem to get any better with the newer drivers that keep coming out. I'll give it a bit longer before doing so though as I want to give the notebook manufacturer chance to come out with a fix first.

 

Make sure your using a cooler first. they help a lot. then check the vents.
undervoltating the cpu will help to put less stress on the heatsink, but not much else.

 

There is a fan utility that allows you to set your fan speed to 100%. I turned it on while I gamed and never went above 60c while OC'ed. I use I8kfanGUI for my Inspiron, but you'll probably have to find something different for ur XPS.

 

If you are overheating... usually any temp over 90C degrees is bad.

when was the last time that you cleaned out the fans and vents thoroughly...?

if never, then thats why.

1) remove battery
2) remove/unscrew the panels on the bottom of the notebook to get to fans and vents
3) use flashlight to look through vents for the dust (if you cant see the light on the other end, then the vents are clogged up)
4) go outside, get some compressed air (cans or compressor @ 50 PSI) and give the vents a good airing out all directions ( concentrating on the vents)
.... you might want to brace the fan blade(s) when airing it out (with anything to prevent it from spinning out too much)
.... or use short bursts (1-2 secs) of air instead of bracing the fans.
5) go get some Q-tips and swab the fan blades and the area around it
6) then go do a second airing with compressed air (all directions again focusing on the fans and vents) to push out the dust that was dislodged from the Q-tips

7*) Now go use the flashlight again and look through the vents (shine the flashlight from the fan, you look through the other end) for anymore dust clogs.

8) Then start up the notebook... and let the fans cycle up (use the Fan Toggle at max speed if your system has it) to push out any other dust that might have been stuck.

If all goes well you should be able to close up the notebook and...

you're done.

*repeat this step until its cleaned out.

Thats pretty much it.

Just make sure to do this every two-three months... it should take about 15-20min per cleaning if you want to be thorough.

________________________

Gaming notebooks are a new thing, you must realize that you have to take some extra care of them over typical use notebooks:

1) Battery: to maintain the longevity of any rechargeable battery
- you must NEVER overcharge it [especially for long durations of time] by keeping it plugged into AC
- when it reaches 100% you should unplug it and let it discharge to 5-15%, then plug it back to power
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool place.. not the fridge [remember to use it occasionally 3-4 time a year to charge and discharge it].

2.) Heat: to prevent a healthy notebook from overheating
- ALWAYS use the notebook on a clean, hard & flat surface
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... namely the Zalman ZM-NC1000 or ZM-NC2000
- check your fans underneath occasionally (at least once a month or two) for any dust clogs [clean them out with Q-tips and air cans/compressors]
- ALWAYS monitor the temps (CPU, GPU, HDD, etc..) to watch for fluctuations, which would indicate overheating by dust usually
(for Clevo notebooks) use the Fan Toggle to switch all fans to Max Speed when gaming and such.

By doing these simple things, your entire system will easily last for more than 3 years.

 

@Gophn, do you have that scripted somewhere? Seems to pop up every now and then.
You are right though about the cleaning, but my notebook has never ran below 90C (it is a 14.1" model so has a lot less room for cooling air circulation). I clean my notebook twice a month, which is probably a bit much, but I'd rather take the keyboard off that often than have my notebook shutdown/BSOD due to a clogged heatsink.

 

I have a number of items that are used to CTRL-C & CTRL-V when it comes up.

As for heat issues, if a system is clean of dust... it could be a few other things:
(in the order that I would check)
1.) the systems design is just like that (check with other owners) ... and drivers matter too
2.) the heatsink(s) might not be secure... might need to be re-secured with re-apply of thermal compound (ex. Arctic Silver)
3.) the ventilation might need a boost by getting a good notebook cooler (like Zalman ZM-NC1000/NC2000 or Cooler Master Infinite)

 

Definitely a cooler, raised lower end of the laptop and AS5 make all the difference in the world.

 

I always thought 90C> is danger temperature, not litterally danger but it significantly harm your GPU. Depends on how much risk you wanna take at the end of day though for me, I'm hoping not exceed 85C.

 

4 years ago when I got my Inspiron 9100 I had some problems with games crashing and figured it was a heat issue, so I bought a cooler and NEVER had that problem again, it worked perfect and kept the computer running well for about 3.5 years.

 

How well does the fan speed utilities work>?

 

I8kfanGUI works for Inspirons, Latitudes and Precisions as far as I know.
Sometimes even in XPSs,like the 1730.
Give it a try.

 

I'm having the same problem, but lower than 60c temps:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=259247

 

The performance on this baby is still something though, even if I dont OC, it'll get Mass Effect to run at ultra native screen with 22 fps average.

You think excessive gaming on the 1530 will shorten its life span by alot?

 

Works for Vostros too, don't know how accurate the temperature reading is but the automatic fan control works to my specifications.

 

Well yeh, to any laptop it will do more harm than nothing. Your GPU doesn't exactly live longer running at 85C for 2 hours each day does it. Too bad not many manufacturers are sticking with the 8600GT DDR3 since it is a very good mainstream card - though the rewards of going with the 9000 series are obviously gonna be a lot better though expensive.

 

Wiley, sorry I am going to be lazy here for a second and not read the entire thread (I know, I hate it when people do that).

But if you haven't already. Undervolt your system. Check out the guide on here (the guy who wrote it even has the same CPU as you, so double score!). It does not really help all that much @ idle (well unless you can drop your voltages on your lower multipliers of course). But underload, it is great stuff. I found that it also helped keeping my GPU cooler. Which kind of makes sense. The heatsink/pipe is shared between the CPU/GPU/Northbridge? If the CPU stays cooler, then there is less heat on the GPU.

I could be wrong, but I have noticed that under load my GPU does not get above 71c now. Using HWmonitor.