DV7T Heat Issues

Probably should have posted new like this instead of replying on another post. Looking at a DV7T or DV7 and am wondering about the supposed problem with heat on these. Some appear to have problems and some don't. Does it depend on the build, such as having a quad instead of core 2 duo or faster video card?? Are the fan or fans located in the same spot on all builds?? Is the venting path more clogged with certain builds?? I'm looking at a simple core 2 duo T6600 and standard ATI 4530 on the DVT7 or P7550 and ATI 4650 on the DV7. Should I plan on having any heat issues with this conservative build especially if I don't plan on doing any serious gaming?? Or is each one a crapshoot that is built with some doing well and others not so with heat?? Obviously heat is a serious factor in the life of the laptop and don't want this to be an issue if I can help it.

Also looking at the Toshiba P505 with 18.4" screen which from what I've read doesn't have many heating issues. But all in all I like the HP better for looks, features and components.

Just want to do my homework before spending $800+ on a laptop that I wish I hadn't purchased!! Thanks!!

 

4650 is a lot better. Get the newer CPU too. The P7550 has a TDP of 25Watts, the T6600 has a TDP of 35Watts!!!

Get the 25 Watts model!
When there is a discrete GPU in laptop, especially when both the CPU and GPU are sharing the same heatpipe system, temperature goes up!

 

for the past year + i've had my dv7t, i've never had a single heating issue. the temps get high during gaming but nothing that requires a call to 911.

year round, i have kept the rear of my laptop raised about an inch. the exhaust outlet is nice and unobstructed. i dont travel with it or use it on my bed or anything. it's been on my desk about 99.9% of the time and i've never had issues.

some people got faulty units, others i think abuse their units and wonder why they over heat (IE, gaming while in bed)... so as long as you are taking care of your unit properly, and it's not a defective unit, you should be okay

 

Thanks for the input guys!!

timesquaredesi--likes like your DV7T has alot more firepower and two hard drives. If anything I would think yours would develop alot of heat if it were to be an issue..

 

^ i thought the same - that my machine would run hotter but it's absolutely cool. here are my temps as of right now --

hard drives - both running at 38C
processor - both cores running 32C
motherboard - 41C
GPU - 44C

I've had my machine running all day. I've been writing a paper, took a break and played some unreal. just have had word, IE, adobe reader and some other 'smaller' apps running. that's it. clearly, im using maybe 10% of what the machine is capable of but that's fine. i bought the machine to be really fast since i cannot stand anything lagging!

i have been running dual 320gb drives for the past year and this week, i installed two 500gb drives, 5400rpm. since i dont really play games a lot, i opted not to get 7200 rpm drives because of the price and also the extra heat generated from spinning faster. the 5400s work fine for me and i expect the new dual 500s to last quite some time.

an aside - i installed windows 7 on this beast and it is flying - wayyy faster than vista, IMO. this machine came with vista from HP and i did NOT do a clean install - so it had a lot of hp crapware on it. i installed win 7, drivers and nvidia video and some fingerprint software and that's it. this thing is squeaky clean right now

-- if you are considering getting a machine --

order whatever you want with whatever specs. when you get the machine from hp, you have 21 days to return it. for those 21 days - test the hell out of the machine - play games on it, connect to wifi, burn dvds, etc etc etc - all the while looking at the temps. if any of the figures look funny (tempts too high, etc), then return it for a full refund. i did similar tests when i got my machine and i didnt notice any problems. it's been smooth sailing since august 08.

not that i have heard anything bad or complaints about them but, generally speaking, i wonder how the dv8 quad's with 1gb of video memory are doing in terms of tempratures. i wonder how much higher (if any) the temps are on those models just sitting idle.....

 

Fine...HDD temps no issue there
Processor at 32C? It's cool, but it's NOT during load ,probably HP recommended mode during internet surfing/office tasks.
GPU, it cools down when you run in 2D mode, as the GPU core actually throttles down to save on power when not running 3D.

Your temps are nice, but post temps taken RIGHT AFTER you get out of UNREAL/whatever 3D game you play. You can run HW monito in the background anyway, it'll tell you what is the highest temp reached during your gaming session.

 

^ I've done that before too, a while back.

with my dual 320 gig drives and after about 25-30 minutes of unreal, my gpu is generally between 68 and 71C. i dont remember the other figures off hand but, again, that's fine as the peak temprature as long as you dont run the laptop for hours at these temps.

gpu, obviously, was the highest reading i've gotten. i dont remember the other figures off hand but i'll play for 30 minutes and post scores later today/tomorrow and revert back. nothing else was over 65C if i remember correctly.

 

played unreal3 for 20 minutes and here are my readings --

resolution was on 1280x760, world details were all set to the highest.

motherboard - 66C
core0 55C
core1 56C
GPU 71C
Drive 1 38C
drive 2 39C

 

Wow thanks for the temps even for playing games--either you got lucky timesquare or these newer HP machines are better equipped to handle heat issues..

 

no problem. i dont think i was a lucky one though - a lot of people got awesome units and have had no issues with them at all. i think the problem is split 50/50 - either (a few, not all) the cooling systems weren't installed right on the units or people are using them and covering the exhaust vents or something to that effect when using them. at first, i thought it was wierd that i had to lift the back of the machine for it to cool better but now i realize that doing that has probably kept my temps ultra cool for the year and 3 months that i've had my machine.

and as someone said - people usually go onto forums and rant about problems they had with their units as opposed to people that have had no problems with them. that's why, i think, it appears as though more people are complaining about their overheating laptops as opposed to the tons of people that bought these units and did not have a problem with them.