Nvidia 9800m Gts - Heat!

I have purchased a Sager computer over two years ago and it has served me well apart from two issues. One of the two problems is the NVIDIA 9800M GTS graphics cards that came with the laptop. Don't get me wrong, the graphical performance of the card is good, but it generates heat like a radiator and even though the laptop has a set of good fans, it simply cannot cope. During word processing and watching movies, this is not an issue, but when highly graphically-intensive applications, such as games, are run, the notebook overheats and spontaneously turns off without warning. The expected time for this to happen varies depending on room temperature and air flow. A cool room temperature or air conditioning enables the notebook to last longer. When it's outright cold it can last indefinitely, but I cannot say I find that solution satisfying.

I guess that's my personal subjective review of the NVIDIA 9800M GTS: very good grades on graphical performance, but marked significantly down for its heat issues.

 

Sager computers should have a good enough ventilation system that the 9800M GTS won't overheat and shut your laptop down. This might be the case of bad application of thermal paste? Where are you using your laptop? Are you blocking the air intake fans? Do you use a cooler?

Using 9800M GT which is slightly more powerful than the GTS, I've not experienced any overheating problems

Could it possibly be driver issues? Can you monitor the GPU temps with HWMonitor and have it keep the temp logs and tell us your maximum temp reached when it shuts down? So many possibilities ._.

 

Yes, the fans are good and I can feel them working (positioning a hand at the air-exit point, I feel a lot of hot air being blown out). It is also not an issue of fan cleanliness - the fans themselves are good.

Hmm, it is possible I guess.

I am using my laptop on my wooden desk in my room. It is located close to a window.

No, because of the heating issue, I explicitly make sure not to do so. I do not, however, usually elevate the notebook to increase air flow below it.

I am not sure what you mean by a cooler. The laptop has its own fans - I did not modify the cooling system of the notebook if that's what you are asking.

Well, looking at the comparison table in Wikipedia ( Comparison of Nvidia graphics processing units - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 9800M GT is slightly more powerful due to having more processing units, but they are clocked at a lower frequency, hence it generates less heat. Indeed, looking at the same table, I notice that the thermal design power for the 9800M GTS is 75W! Looking at other graphics cards (e.g. the 9800M GT has a TPD of 65W - also pretty high, but significantly less), that appears to be very high for a mobile graphics card and seems to explain my issues with it.

It could be. I must say I have not paid attention to drivers and am not even sure how they can be updated or if it can make a difference.

I have indeed tried to monitor the temperature with GPU-Z. It does not keep a log, but to test it, I have simply quit a game when I thought the computer is getting close to powering off. The temperature can reach above 90 degrees Celsius.

 

When is the last time you cleaned your laptop? A sager should have no problems cooling a 9800m GTS.

 

Some months back (and I cannot do it here, as I don't have the necessary screw drivers with me), but this was an issue right from the beginning, when I got the notebook. (I timed getting it just before leaving the U.S., since laptops in the U.S. are cheaper than where I come from.)

 

To me it sounds like your system needs to be cleaned or repasted.

 

Well, cleaning it made no difference in the past. What is repasting?

 

Removing the GPU heatsinks and reapplying thermal paste. Do you also have a cooling pad?

 

I see - well it might be that. However, the fans are blowing out a lot of hot air - wouldn't the lack (or poor application) of thermal paste mean that the heat stays in?

I do not have a cooling pad, but I do improvise sometimes. For example, I cool water in a container and use it to cool portions of the desk where I lay my notebook. I then periodically reposition the notebook to a 'fresh' cool patch of the desk. This does help.

 

Every little bit helps.

Cooling pads help significantly as they raise your notebooks allowing intake of cool air.

 

What laptop do you have, the m570ru?

The high clocks are not the only thing that contribute to heat. For example NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT - Notebookcheck.net Tech higher clocks, much less heat. A 14 inch laptop could handle that card.
Is your card 1gb or 512mb? 75w is not necessarily correct because there are a few different versions of the card.

 

Fair enough - elevating the laptop has decreased idle temperatures by about 5 degrees, so it does indeed seem that every little bit helps.

Yes, the laptop I have is indeed the m570ru. My card has 512MB of RAM, which supposedly indicates that it is made on the 65nm process rather than the 55nm used for cards with 1GB. The latter have a lower TPD (apparently), so this could also account for the greater heat generation.

Note: I didn't really come here expecting to solve the problem, as I have had the problem for more than two years and things like cleaning didn't help, so I essentially gave up on it. I wanted to warn others about the heating issues of this card. However, seeing that others do not have the same negative experience - if the problem can actually be solved, so much the better of course!

 

Well, if you repaste like we were saying that will probably solve your problem entirely.

Invest in some good cooling paste. Its only 10$ for all you could ever need and some really high quality stuff like MX-3.
its really the most important thing to do.

The m570ru is fully capable of cooling that card as well as a gtx 280 with double the shaders.

However there is always something else
You could potentially flash it to a 9800m GS. Its the same but with slightly lower clocks, it shouldn't be too much of a performance hit. it has lower voltages though, so it will really run a lot cooler.

The problem with that is that you'd have to test it for stability. It wouldn't really be any different from undervolting with your current VBIOS.

 

Well that's good to hear. At least your GPU is 65nm, my G86 core is still 90nm runs hot for just a dinky entry level GPU lol

Have you cleaned out the fans, heatsinks and the fins?

 

I just replaced my 9800m GS (a downclocked GTS) with a 260m and I can attest to the incredible amount of heat from that series. I flashed the 260m to higher clocks than my 9800m had, and the 260m stays about 6-8C cooler at load and 2-5C cooler at idle than the 9800m at scaled fan rpms.

The wonders of 55nm and a G92 core.

 

Re-pasted the GPU in my old Asus G51 and it dropped the max gaming temp by 8C. I used Antec Formula 5, but almost any aftermarket paste is better than stock.

 

If you aren't very careful, I wouldn't use silver based thermal paste as it conducts electricity, and you can fry your GPU. I would use ceramic based.

 

No, it could just be that the air they'll be blowing when the paste is correctly applied will be even hotter.

That said, I don't know if applying new paste will solve your problem. Those cards run hot and there is precious little you can do about it. It appears that the cooling system of the laptop is adequate, but no cooling system can save you if you're basically heating up the sink (read: your desk and your room) to the point where even it must be cooled.

Also, it is not good for wood to undergo drastic and rapid temperature changes. I would second the suggestion of getting a dedicated notebook cooler (i.e. a pad with fans that you can put under your notebook when you play games).

 

yea, the wonders of a 128 shader 65nm core at 1.06v...

not sure if I need to keep paying my heat bill or cancel service and buy more games...

 

Good advice guys and gals - thanks a bunch! I will get a proper cooling pad and I will apply a thermal coating compound (I have never done this before, though, so I am a bit concerned about doing it properly). I will also clean the heat sinks and the fins - in the past I only cleaned the fans. It will have to wait two weeks though, as I don't have my tools here with me, so I have to wait until I get back home.

Anyway, I almost have to agree on the comments about almost not needing to pay the heating bill and just relying on the laptop to heat the room.

 

Yeah clean it out and repaste it. Here is a quote from a forum member who had a 9800m GTS with the same problems.

 

It's all about thermal equalibrium.

Poor thermal contact, chip reaches 110C and then its the sheer delta C (difference in temperature) that forces the heat across but your chip will run very hot. Higher temp = more leakage = more power output.

 

Ok, stock and O/C clocks, ambient 78F.........

 

Is that the 55nm or 65nm version?

 

My guess is 55nm

techPowerUp! :: VGA Bios Collection: Gateway 9800M GTS 1024 MB

 

Thats yours? the OP has the 65nm version.
I guess it is really a hot, hot card. It doesn't make much sense that it would be hotter than a 65nm g92 core. I guess its just the voltage, which is way higher, like 1.11v

 

The P7811 was based on the older 512mb card, those actually tend to run as cool as the 1GB version and even overclock slightly higher both in GPU and memory.

I still have not repasted my video, something I will tackle one day though......

 

Update:

I have returned back home from the U.S. and did a clean-up. Instead of just cleaning the fans like I usually do, I took your advice and also cleaned the heat sinks as some of you have suggested. I must say wow - although the fans were relatively clean, there was a LOT of dust in the heat sinks.

The procedure has made an enormous difference. The card now runs at about 50-55 degrees in games where it would previously have exceeded 90 degrees and shut the computer down. Since the heat sink clean-up, the temperature has not once exceeded 60 degrees. Sure, it might do so if I run something for longer, but still, I can safely conclude that the problem has been resolved - the difference in temperatures is like night and day. I would like to thank all of you for giving me advice and helping me deal with this issue!

 

Nice job. Dust always finds its way inside should be cleaned out regularly.