Laptop slows down so much - is it my graphics?

Hi all, hoping someone could offer me some advice!

I'm still plogging along with an Acer Aspire 7520 laptop (1.8Ghz x2 CPU, 4GB RAM, Windows 7) which has an Nvidia GeForce 7000M graphics system.

My main concern is that after a while of use my laptop starts going very slow, and the fan kicks in, big style. For instance, even typing this is a struggle as I am typing too fast for it to catch up! This only happens when the fan has kicked in and Aero starts underperorming also.

My GPU temperature is very high:



Is there anything anyone can recommend? By the looks of the memory clock in the screenshot above, my graphics isn't even running at full speed, so why so hot? Could it be anything to do with the drivers as I am using?

I'd like to get my laptop running smoothly so any ideas would be great!

Thanks

 

You should really disable aero first of all

 

Have you tried cleaning the vents of the laptop? Maybe excess dust accumulation is causing the high temperatures you are registering in the GPU.

 

Holy mother of GPU temp, 103C? You should cook some eggs on it.

Yeah, disable Aero and all the fancy effects:
Go to "Control Panel", then "System", click on "Advanced System Settings", under "Advanced" tab, in the "Performance" section, click on "Settings ...", choose "Adjust for best performance", then "OK" and "OK".

Update your graphics card driver with official driver from nvidia.com or using modded, I'm surprised the computer did not shut down when GPU temp was over 100C.

Clean up your laptop's heat exhausts with vacuum cleaner or something, if you can, open it the case and clean the fan and heat-pipe more thoroughly.

Always use "Power Saver" mode if you don't plan on doing CPU/GPU heavy stuff, like transcoding videos, playing games, etc...

 

Like the other guy said... 100 degree GPU?

It does sound like you've dust clogging your fan vents. You need to take your laptop apart and clean it out with some compressed air and Q-tips.

 

Definitely not an aero problem, but more likely dust clogging your vents, preventing the fan from doing anything

 

could be due to cpu and gpu sharing the same heatsink if there's only 1 fan. I think your cpu might be even hotter and it's transferring the heat to the gpu

 

I've managed to get my 8600m GT to 113 Celsius before anything happened, but I think the cpu hitting that would shut down the system.

As previously mentioned, get the dust out, but I'm curious as to whether you have and Intel or AMD cpu. I have had great success following the Undervolting Guide to lower temperatures (of both Intel and AMD cpus), which will help the cpu and gpu since they are on the same heatsink. Lastly, reapply new thermal paste, a good one being Arctic Cooling MX-3.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys, very interesting.

Obviously with it being a laptop, how would I go about getting the dust out? I can see the vents on the back - they don't look clogged, but I guess they may be further in. I have an Athlon x2 CPU. CPU temps always look pretty good, around 45-50 degrees C, but like I say, my fan is constantly kicking in - sounds like it is about to take off!

I also don't think it's an Aero issue - I used to be able to run Aero fine, but now it's a struggle. But I suppose turning it off can only help.

I would be interested to know if it's anything I can improve with the PowerMizer settings? I've been trying to read up on guides on how to best set this (ideally I'd like my graphics to run at full capacity on the mains and then downclock on AC power)

 

You would probably have to open up your case to get a closer look. The dust is probably clogged around the fan. You should be able to unscrew the bottom of the laptop and take out the base plate

 

All the people talking about dust and opening up your laptop with a screw-driver are correct.

Even just get a vacuum cleaner and put it over a vent for much less than 10 seconds to see if you can get anything out first of all, if you're really not comfortable with opening. If you can see the fan blades from the bottom of the PC get a (strong) toothpick to stop the fan from spinning first though, or you might damage the fan.

 

I've had my laptop open and had a brief hoover around the fan and heatsink, but there was not much dust there to be problematic. I also held it over the vent.

I'm lost now, I can't understand why it's getting so hot. I bought one of those laptop stands with a fan built in - I'd always been sceptical of those anyway, but thought I'd try anything to see if it would help. It actually seems to make things worse!! I've un-installed the nVidia driver and I'm currently using VGA mode, but still my fan is whirring so much - can't be the CPU causing that, surely, as it's at 40-45 degrees?

Anything else you can suggest before I have to bin this thing?

Thanks

 

Unscrew the heat sink, re-apply thermal paste, make sure you don't leave any gap when you put them back.

 

This seems hardware related. If you already vacuumed out the vents, then most likely either the thermal paste needs re-application on the GPU heatsink, or the GPU is beginning to fail.

 

Selectively deleting information and posts is morally wrong and a no-no in a "public," forum. Indeed, t's not publicly owned but it is a publically accessable and serachable forum; ANYmanipulation is... poor ethics to say the least.