HP dv5t really hot

My dv5t gets extremely hot when under high load (games, etc.). The CPU's cores often reach ~95-100 degrees Centigrade while playing Minecraft for a 15-20 minutes or so (the GPU gets to around 70-80 degrees and the HDD - 60-70). When idle, or with light surfing the CPU is around 50-55 degrees (a bit higher in Vista - right now I'm running Ubuntu 10.10). The fan seems to work fine, as it changes its RPM according to the temperature, and I cleaned it last month, which didn't lower the temperatures.
Now from what I've read T9400 is a pretty hot chip, but in my mind once your CPU reaches a temperature with 3 digits (Centigrade), something is kaput. So how can I lower these temperatures?

PS: Before you start asking me - my warranty ran out last year.

 

Has it always ran hot? Does it run warm all the time?
Have you tried clearing out the heatsink fins? After a few years the dust will collect on the inside of the heatsink and block the air flow. You can always blow it out with a can of compressed air. I usually stick a toothpick into the bottom of the fan to keep it from spinning while cleaning it out.

Finally, if you have some tech knowledge you can always re-apply thermal paste to the CPU and GPU.

 

I bought the notebook 2,5 years ago and it's been running hot ever since. I took it apart last month and cleaned the fan and the heatsink, but it still got the same mind-boggling temperatures, when under high load. When idle the CPU and GPU temperatures don't seem to go over ~50 degrees, which I guess is kinda normal.
I know how to apply thermal paste to CPUs and GPUs and I'll try it out later.

 

Are you raising the rear end of the laptop by about 2 cm (3/4 of an inch)?

I've got a dv5 w/ P7350, which is a cooler chip than the T9400. I routinely get 60's (C) in the CPU and up to 80's when doing a torture test. My GPU (nVidia 9600m?) runs mid-40's to high 80's when doing a torture test. My rear end is raised about 3/4 inch. I've been monitoring temperatures ever since I got it, and it didn't begin to get warmer than usual until a month ago. Then, I seriously blew all the dust out, and it's back to temperature from when I got it.

Good luck!

 

I reapplied the thermal paste and there's little to no change in the CPU and GPU temps.

I've been raising the rear end of my dv5t with some old books ever since I got it. I'll buy a can of compressed air some time this week and try blowing the dust out, although I'm quite sure that won't significantly decrease the temps, as I didn't see that much accumulated dust in the heatsink and fan.
If that doesn't work the only thing left for me to do is to undervolt the CPU. Just how much of a performance decrease should I expect?

 

Undervolting brings 0 (ZERO) performance decrease. The only thing that can happen with an undervolted CPU is application or OS crashes. This is why they have stress test programs so you can make sure your CPU is stable at the specified voltage settings. For Windows, IntelBurnTest is the best (yes even for AMD processors), for Linux i'm sure there is a version of Prime so you can use that.

You have to let Prime run for 4-5 hours to be sure, whereas with IBT you can have a definite stable/not stable answer in less than 30 minutes. Both my laptops have been undervolted since i got them. The dv5 still runs hot even when undervolted (80-85C when CPU is at full load), but 85 is still lots better than 100. The DV5 has never had any issues and i do plenty of intensive stuff on it. VirtualDJ, AutoCad, LTSpice... the list can go on.

 

I just ordered my new hp dv5... (look at my specs) I am very worried that if I use my laptop for a long time, it will get VERY hot and it just bought this on April 1... Can anyone tell me bow to start a new post (sorry I'm new but I cannot find the new post button)

 

Dumb question hatrox....does it physically feel red hot? I was wondering if the temp monitoring is wrong. What do you use to monitor temps?

I only ask because I was troubleshooting someones G62 a couple weeks back, something was running and the cpu was stuck at like 99% and the fan was going like mad all the time, and I tell you the back corner by the fan was so hot you could literally fry an egg on it. I put Speedfan on and the cpu was only at about 79 to 80C though.
Once I found the culprit (something HP software related - I forget the name) the laptop idled immediately and back down to like 32C.

The reason I asked is because you applied your own thermal paste and you'd normally see some difference no matter what. Odd.
And with those temps you mentioned You'd expect it to have gone kaput already!

 

I'll to do some research on the matter, as the only CPU I've ever undervolted is the Snapdragon on my HTC Desire and that's a wee bit easier than an Intel Core 2 Duo.

There's a tiny "New Thread" button under the thread list.

I'm fairly sure the temp sensors are functioning correctly, because when under high load the laptop gets nearly as hot enough to boil water, so...yeah. There IS a change in it's temperatures, but it's pretty negligible - it's only about 3 or 4 degrees cooler. Oh and it's not HP software related - I reinstalled the Windows immediately after I bought it and then switched to Linux (Ubuntu 10.10 x86) so there is no sign of HP bloatware.

 

amtuko, you have the newer generation dv5, which is fairly different than hatrox's older (but not oldest) generation dv5. Hatrox's dv5 is about 2.5 yrs old, as is mine These were produced at the tail end of the (in)famous nvidia underfill/solderbump/heat issues.

Check the dv5 owner's lounge; make sure you're on the current generation of dv5's.

 

Hatrox,

What were the temperatures that you were monitoring when you initially got your laptop, and what are they now?

Can you see/hear/feel your fan blowing air? (CPU is rear right of the laptop, if I remember correctly).

If you try to blow some air on the fan (carefully!) using a compressed dust spray, does the fan spin freely? (be very careful doing that, you don't want to overspin the fan!) If dustbunnies got into your fan bearings, your fan might not spin as freely, and would cause your CPU to get hotter than usual.

I suppose you could try the laptop cooler stands with built-in fans. I think you need the type which blows upwards, rather than sucks, but I won't swear to it.

Best of luck!

hdt