Need to disable hyperthreading IdeaPad Y570

Now, before people jump on me for saying something as bold as that, I have legitimate reasons for wanting to turn it off.

Core i7 2670QM gets dangerously hot when under heavy load (often 78-81 Celsius) when gaming even with a laptop cooler. I ran tests without it thinking the cooler was at fault; it isn't, because as intense as Skyrim peaked at 90 bloody Celsius. Yeah, no me gusta. So after doing much research, I came to realize that when HT is enabled, the CPU needs to make more calculations and thus more heat, even when running a program that doesn't require HT. That alone is quite counterproductive. I believe that is is NOT in the interest of Lenovo owners to have a locked BIOS that prevents expert users from disabling it. In fact, it can very well be a deal-break for disallowing users from ever being able to turn it off. Is there any reason behind this? The only leads I have are How do you disable Hyperthreading on Y550P? - Lenovo Community which is false information. It only hides the threads, it never turns them off.

I don't know if I got a lemon or what, but one thing is for certain, I know for fact that I don't need HT at all, I don't use it and I never have since getting this machine back in March 2012. Is there any way to install a BIOS that will allow me to truly turn off hyperthreading other than having to use the poor man's method of altering the boot configuration in msconfig?

I really don't like having to reach such high temperatures, it makes me paranoid to know end, and I don't want it to cause lasting harm. I also know that turning it off will not damage the CPU, I can live without HT. The most CPU intensive programs I have only use two cores, not two threads for those two cores, so I know it won't be an issue.

 

I don't know how to disable it but 81C under load is nothing really to worry about. It's a tad on the hot side but not extreme or dangerous.

 

So...I'm pretty much screwed. Why Lenovo had to be a jerk and lock out HT I'll never know. I really need to find a way to disable it; I really want to reduce the amount of heat. Normal or not, I still find that amount to be disconcerting.
See, I thought that prolonged exposure to high amounts of heat was a major detriment to the machines components. Had I known that heat was such an issue, I would have gotten desktop

The only way in Windows is to set the no. of CPUs, but that only hides it, doesn't turn it off. There HAS to be a way.

 

Again, these are safe temperatures. Your machine will be too slow and old way before temperatures like this kill it. If it still really bothers you you could try to repaste the cpu or just downclock the cpu.

 

How? I can't reduce the clock frequency because the CPU settings are locked in the damn BIOS. Lenovo had to be jerks about it and lock anything CPU-related. Besides, reapplying the thermal paste on the CPU voids the warranty, and I also lack the expertise in dissecting a laptop.

I should also mention that running Google Chrome that my CPU fan spun up like crazy and temps peaked at 75 Celsius, when using a freakin' web browser.

 

Wouldn't disabling Turbo Boost reduce heat? Is it even safe to do in the Power Management? I read numerous reports that it reduces heat.

 

Are you still on warranty? If not, repasting the cpu might help.

Edit: I just reread your posts and saw you said you did not have the expertise to repaste. Do you know someone who can do it for you? Maybe you can take it to a repair shop and ask them to do it?

 

Another option is to go to Energy Management and select "Auto" for Maximum CPU speed instead of "High".

Skyrim on my Y570 peaks at around 75 degrees with a Coolermaster U2 cooling pad. I've been playing for over a year now.

 

I have a cooler as well (Notepal X2), and the machine is still under warranty, but I'll ask my brother (who's an expert) to repaste the CPU. What would setting the speed to Auto do? Does Lenovo's power management override the Windows Power Option settings? I would think that would kill performance and not kick in when it should.

 

That should help. While your brother has opened it up you should definitely blow out all the dust out the vents with compressed air or something like that if you didn't already do that.

 

It turns out accessing the CPU/GPU on the Y570 isn't as bad as I originally thought. I watched a YouTube video where some guy added a RAM module to his Y570 and with the back panel off, I saw where the heatsink is, along with the screws, so it may not be as intimidating. Is Arctic Silver 5 good to use?

 

Well, my guess is that on High settings the CPU is always getting as much power as possible, while on Auto the CPU only gets as much power as it needs.

On High settings my temps spike at around 90.

 

Lenovo's power settings do indeed override the Windows Power Option settings (although if you then change the Windows settings, those will "override" the Lenovo Power Manager settings).

I would highly recommend setting your CPU power to automatic, as that allows the CPU to downclock when idling or when it's really not necessary to be at the max clock speed--cutting power consumption and reducing heat output significantly. Unless you're benchmarking your machine or have some other particular need, there's really no reason to use the High Performance power plan.

 

Does that get changed via the Windows Power Options in the Control Panel, under profiles? I don't want to use Lenovo's as I see no such option, plus I trust Windows power management more. What about the CPU? When I switch back and forth between non-intensive and intensive programs constantly, wouldn't that wear the CPU out faster?

 

Well, you could try Lenovo's energy management for a bit and see what your temps are. If your temps drop and you don't notice a drop in performance, then at least you know you have options other than reapplying thermal paste.

 

Hmm... either his Y570 blew up when he switched it on, or he's busy playing Skyrim.

 

Pick MX-4 over Arctic Silver if you're up to task on changing the thermal paste and don't mind voiding the warranty, any one of the two thermal pastes mentioned should be fine.

You'll be very happy with your results if you're able to get a great mount with new thermal paste.