HEL80 & Heat: A Game Too Far

I'm going to use this thread to track the progress of addressing my HEL80 overheating and heat related shutdowns when playing Everquest II & Counter-Strike Source.

I've read several threads regarding cooling but currently I'm trying to avoid taking my whole machine apart, pulling my CPU or buying another piece of loud third party equipment to set my lappy on. In the end I may have to do all three but this is an exercise so off we go!

Current Observations
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- Machine is about 6 months old running Windows XP Pro.

- I had a few temp related shutdowns when I first got the machine which I rectified by turning off automatic over-clocking in the Nvidia control panel.

- Currently my idle/browsing temperature per RivaTuner is around 59c which seems hot as I see lots of folks claiming to be at 40c when idle/browsing.

- Once I start Everquest II the temp immediately jumps to 67 and then slowly starts to climb (mid 70s after 10 mins, in another 10 mins it shuts down) until the machine shuts off. I don't have the exact cutoff temp yet as I installed RivaTuner after my last shutdown.

- Everquest II is set to the minimal graphics settings in all areas possible. I hate having to do this as my card supports higher settings which look great until heat shuts my machine down.

- Nvidia card is set to performance vs quality.

- The lappy fan only seems to go on high during boot up. I feel that if the fan would kick on more or at a higher speed then I wouldn't have such problems but that's just a theory at this point.

- I currently use a laptop desk thing which lifts the back of the machine about an inch off the surface and I keep my exhaust port free from obstruction.

- If I fill a big freezer bag with a single layer of ice, wrap it in a tea towel and put it under the lappy (not blocking the fan intake) then the temperature stays at about 67c.

- Currently running Bios version 116B. I've seen some folks say 121B is good but other folks complaining of problems with it so I hesitate to upgrade.

- Last thing I did before bed was to install the Xtreme-G 163.44 drivers and inf from tweakforce.com. This seemed to make the fan kick on a medium speed more often than it was but I haven't seen any big changes in my operating temperature.

Current Questions
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- Why isn't the fan ever kicking on to high except during bootup? Is there a different bios version that will increase the cooling performance/fan utilization?

- Why is it only Everquest II (not a new game) and Counter-Strike Source (to a lesser extent) that cause the heat spikes? What is it about these games that causes the problem? WoW, City of Villians and other games don't cause a problem.

- Does my selected resolution affect GPU heat?

- Is there a recommended version (tweaked or untweaked) of the video drivers that might assist in cooling?

- Is there a way to see the 'cut off temperature' at which point the machine shuts down? Not really trying to change it as don't want to damage my hardware but I'd like to know the value.

- Why is the GPU running so hot? I'm slightly baffled by a piece of hardware that can't be utilized optimally because it runs too hot.

Comments
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I am fully aware that I can clean the fan, put in arctic silver and/or buy a chiller pad but I'm trying to avoid these (I'll probably clean the fan though) as it seems that the equipment should work properly on it's own. I'd like to accomplish my tasks with tweaks rather than additional expenditures or disassembly.

If anyone has information or help other than the standard cooling threads I'd be more than happy to hear it. Especially related to bios version and video driver versions that give the best fan/cooling performance based on user experience.

I'll update this thread as I go to help any others trying to troubleshoot the same issue.

Peace,

D

 

Clean the fan.

Seriously, it's 3 screws, and super easy. After seeing how easy it is, I wonder why all laptops aren't this easy.

 

I agree with Atook. Clean the fan. It's not hard at all. You probably have a bunch of dust blocking the out vent. It'll take like 5 mins.

Just cause you're playing a game doesn't mean that the fan has to be on high while playing. I play FEAR and BF2 and my fan isn't always on high.

 

I don't believe that the fan should be on high simply because I'm 'playing a game'. I do believe that fan should kick to high at some point if I'm playing a game that causes the laptop becomes so hot that it shuts off.

Why have a high speed for cooling if it never kicks in and the lappy eventually shuts down?

I will be cleaning the fan when I get home and will post any changes asap.

Thank you both!

-D

 

I feel for you man. I have this same problem.

I'm a noob when it comes to taking laptops apart..I built my own desktop but im too scared to take my lappy apart. now..exactly what fan are we talking about clearing?
My lappy is only 7 months old..but i guess i could look and see.
My idle temp is 49c.

but alot of the time when i play a game...like..company of heroes, cs:s, hl2, itll just shut down and be reallllly hot.

I also heard that it could be the ac adapter overheating the power like...plug..in the laptop? i dunno...

 

I would first clean the notebook out as mentioned above. After that call the company you bought it from and let them try to walk you through a trouble shoot.

If the out vent is blocked then that heat is just being stored up inside your notebook with nowhere to go, hence its really important to clean that out.

Really easy to do. You just remove the panel where the fan is and clear out the vent. You don't have to remove any other parts or anything cause it's right there. (make sure battery is out and lappy is unplugged).

Here's a sticky cooling guide from Chaz

 

haha yea, i thought it was that fan.. anyways i just opened it up and was really suprised how much dust was in there! I had read other articles telling me to clean it and im like..eh..mines not a year old. The first time i opened it it looked fine...but then this time i took off the black cover on the fan and there was a huge clump of dust blocking both ducts. ill see if that helps now that its pretty much cleaned out. .. I also updated to the latest drivers. 122b. My gpu temp is down to 40c now..but that could also be because i just moved to the ac'ed room. we'll see how this goes.

 

Trust me when I say it makes a difference with it unclogged. Now the heat has somewhere to go!!

It was easy though, wasn't it?

 

yup, super easy, havn't overheated again yet. things are looking good.
hey, do you know of anyway i could display my gpu temp as an overlay in games kinda like how fraps shows my fps?

 

Why? I clean my vents every 2 months or so and I'm mostly leaving my lappy on while performing the procedure .

 

Wow lol. Well....ummm....i guess it's ok if you're just removing dust from the vent. Just as long as nothing is touched

here's how you can monitor the gpu temp

 

Cleaned the fan output ports which looked like a lint screen after drying towels. I also, based on a recommendation from another thread, took out the two black plastic plugs that sit in the card slots on the left side.

Net results:

Original Idle Temp: 59
New Idle Temp: 43

Original EQ II Temp: 80+ until shutdown
Current EQ II Temp (with graphics turned up to medium): 57

As you can see, simply cleaning the output ports and pulling those plugs gave me a major decrease in operating temperature. My gaming temp is now LOWER than my original idle temp.

The procedure was, like others mentioned, very easy although I would recommend working in good light with a set of needle nose pliers as I lost at least 2 screws into the lappy guts due to my over-sized fingers.

Thanks all and I'll post any further information.

Peace,

D

 

Glad everything worked out.