I know why the v4000t lost x700

The design can't handle the heat. I've been battling with mine for a couple weeks now since I got it. If I play BF2 or CS:Source at high res (1024x768 on BF2, 1280x800 on Source) with medium/high settings, my computer gets too hot after about 20-30 minutes of play and acpi throttles the processor back to 50%. (This actually occurs @ exactly 75 degrees celcius, then acpi returns the processor to 100% once the temp drops to 65 degrees celcius)

I've removed the plastic cards from the slots on the left-hand side (pcmcia and the other card) and that has helped somewhat. I've also got my pentium m 740 running stable at 1.020v which helps some too. I am going to buy a more aggressive coolpad and hope that helps some too, but I'm frustrated with the whole affair. I paid almost $1,200.00 for this machine and it doesn't have a sufficient cooling solution.

With the few things I've done, the case temp just barely creeps to 75c now after a good while of play. I'm trying to figure out how to change the acpi passive cooling setting to about 78c, if I can do that I don't think I would have to worry about it getting that high and throttling back.

-Wintery

 

Great..my V4000T with x700 should be shipping from HP on Wednesday....

Is this confirmed with other V4000T's? lf so l may be returning it for something else (like a dv5000t)

 

I know it's not just my machine. One of my co-workers ordered *exactly* the same machine as me (same processor, HD, everything) the same day i ordered mine and both of ours do it. I've also ran into two other people on this forum who have the problem.

-Wintery

 

This is NOT what l wanted to hear!

 

Most likely ATI has stopped making X700's now that the X1600's are out. Smaller manufacturers will burn off the remaining X700 inventory. I'm not sure how the X1600's compare to the X700's in terms of power consumption/heat.

I will speculate that HP is using thermal pads for the GPU and/or CPU, which are easy to install but less effective than thermal compound. They've occassionally messed up applying thermal compound in the past. Someone really ambitious could rip apart the notebook, remove the pads, and replace them with Arctic Silver 5 and a copper shim (if necessary) to fill in the gap, but I don't recommend it. I did read about this being done on some oddball notebooks that also had X700's to great effect but it's not an easy thing to do and will very much void your warranty. Arctic Silver makes thermal adhesive that could be used to keep a shim in place.

(Yeah, I spend way too much time on these boards...)

 

Definitely there is a problem with the build of the V4000T with the X700. But it's nothing a notebook cooler can fix. Mine had the same issues, but after getting a cooler, the problems were non-existant. Also, lowering the settings just a bit helped also (moved from 1280 to 1024).

 

Yes but getting a laptop cooler just means that the laptop has a design defect and can't operate optimally without having to spend more money to keep it cool.

 

My old v4000t did the same exact thing. Playing WoW for over an hour usually caused the fps to go below 20 for a bit. Very annoying.

 

Well, mine has not had any problems thus far, I have been very happy with the V4000T. Worked like a charm, and if it does that getting a bit hot - just raise the end of the laptop and it works then just fine!

 

That statement makes me wish l opted for the 12 cell battery

 

Well, 12 cells would make it a rather heavy mama, so i think 6 cell choice is reasonable. If you will play while it is on the table, you should be just fine. But if you play like me - laying in bed, with the lappy being on my legs, then it does get pretty hot, where even the mousepad starts feeling a bit hot. Dont worry, x700 is superior to the 7400, and hopefully you will be very happy with the computer. Just because HP has canceled it, it does not mean that they replaced it with technologically superior product!

 

Well crap. Just today I recieved my V4000T.

Probably won't return it though. I don't plan to game heavily on it, just occationally so chances are I won't run into this problem. Plus, I'm willing to bet that once you put a decent dedicated card in any laptop, you'll run into heat issues. I doubt it's limited to just the X700. Think of it this way, the fact that there's a market for laptop coolers in the first place just shows that it's not exclusive to the V4000T.

Not sure I'm keeping the 12 cell battery though. I didn't know it'd stick out as much as it does.

 

indeed - the 12 cell battery is a bad design. What they should have done istead, it make a battery that sticks out backwards only and not downwards, just the way it is seen in some smaller laptops, such as the 12.1 in dell.

As for the heat - you're absolutely right! I still remember my computer with the nVidia TNT2 card - a small, nice card, no coolers or anything like that! So as for now, unless the industry comes up with some revolutionary way that semiconductors work, that would dramatically increase performance per watt, we are bound to find ourselves running into those heat problems in the next years more and more often.

 

I guess I'm going to keep mine. I love pretty much every other aspect of the computer. The screen is simply beautiful, and it runs every game i throw at it better than my desktop (until it overheats that is). I think this laptop cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834999413 would solve my issue. Just a bit dissapointed in HP/Compaq. They know/knew this laptop would be widely used as a gaming machine and had to have known it would have heat issues. They should have either found a way to incorporate a better cooling solution or not have put such a powerful mobile graphics card in this case design. Just isn't worth returning though. I haven't found a machine with comparable hardware for the price I paid.

-Wintery

 

That's the point winterymix. This is a very cheap laptop with a great graphics card. I have never had my laptop overheat. I do have the 12 cell battery. Someone said that it makes the laptop ugly. This is not the case. It helps prop up the back and this also helps vent heat. Right now I am surfing on my bed. I just make sure not to cover up the vents. Also I have a cooler that I got off newegg for like $15. It works fine when I play BF2 and many people who play game frequently have a cooler. It's not the laptops fault. That was a long rant. Sorry, I just like this sweat laptop.
Tim

 

yea my frames drop to like 10-20 sometimes but other times i can go for 2 hours with no frame drop

 

The same thing is happening to me too. Most likely it's a heat problem, but then again, I ususally just restart WoW or wait 5 minutes and it's back to normal. I personally think it might be a combination of both the video card AND the CPU, as running the CPU at lowest speeds also produces some undesireable affects.

I'm not certain about the design of the V4000T but it is VERY important not to block the back of the heat outtake for the CPU and GPU. My temps regularly hit 70 degress Celsius, and that's rather high for any kind of electronic component.

 

Hi guys,

I don't have HP but I have x700 in my comp. I just wonder can you see the GPU and ambient GPU temp in Everest home edition? Because it should be around 80-85 in games. CPU can easily go up to 100 when the CPU logic will throttle it down. Normal CPU temp should be around 75-80 under 100% load. Undervolting helps a lot - in my case 13-14 degrees. Now if you check my signature for Heat - you'll see what a small airpocket in the thermal paste can do to your card - it can easily work at 110! YOu can also see what happened when I fixed that. But I think this issue that some of you are having is strictly CPU thing, and maybe BIOS sets the lower threshold for the slowing down. If you install NHC you can log the CPU temp and speed on disk and afterwards make a graph in Excel - you will see what happens. At least you will know your top temp when the slowdown happens - and to what temp it cools afterwards. Maybe it helps you get more info on this.
Cheers,

 

Thanks ikovac,
Everyone one is so concerned that their temps are too high. First off don't play games on your bed. This can block the vents which leads to the high temps. I play games like BF2 all the time on this laptop. My temps will peak around 80. I have had my laptop for almost three months and not a single shutdown from over heating. I have had trouble playing BF2 online but that is just because of my crappy wireless card. Just get a cooler like I did. It doesn't have to be really expensive. Then things will work out great. Almost all laptop with higher end graphics cards will heat up when playing a game. I just wouldn't panic. This laptop is great.
Tim

 

80 for GPU or CPU? For CPU thats extremely high, and for the GPU that would be hotter then l would like..

 

No probs here.

I play games a lot.

All you need to do is undervolt the processor. My machine was running at 75C before I did that, after it runs at 60C with no drop in performance (at 100% CPU and GPU usage).

Check out NHC (Notebook Hardware Control), it makes a big differenc.

 

It's nice to know l can do that but i still think l'd rather go with the 5672WLMi.

My V4000T would have been here today but no one was around to sign for it so they rescheduled it for tomorrow

Does anyone know if the hpshopping.com credit line can be used as a credit card?

 

Unreal,
Mine normally runs at 75C when I play games but I have seen it peek at 80C. It has never shut off from this heat.
Look in the video game thread. They will be better able to explain the difference between the two cards in the systems. With the 5672WLMi you will only be able to play games like BF2 at low settings. The x700 can be set at the high/medium settings. Just try out the v4000t before you make up your mind. I just looked at your specs and they are the same as mine (except I got 2GB of ram). Trust me you will like this laptop once you try it.

By the way is this your first laptop purchase?
Tim

 

Don't worry l will try running CS:S and BF2 on it before l return it, but l still feel like my mind is made up for the 5672. l know that l can play BF2 on the x1400 fine on med because my old FX5200 in my desktop could play it all @ low w/o hickups. X1400 >>>>>>>FX5200 obviously.