Hasee ZX8-D5P2 (Clevo P7xxDM2(-G) - Probably P751) Overheating when playing games

Hi,

First of all, I'm not sure if im posting under correct forum. This is a Hasee laptop brought by one of my chinese colleagues from china. I know it is a Clevo-based laptop (The model I've put on thread title appears on boot screen and can be queried in linux as well) but l'm not sure about this post being on correct forum. Help me moderators, if you can!

Second, I've bought this laptop about 4 months ago. The general specification is as follows :
CPU : Corei5-7400
GPU : GeForce 1070 GTX
RAM : 8G DDR4
Solid-state disk : 256G

I play AAA games with this laptop, using a normal coolpad (not a fancy one like Cooler Master or other brands). In the first months, the GPU temperature would hardly get over 75 - which is OK - but nowadays it goes up to 90 and above. Last night it went up to 92 which worried me. To me its a fairly new laptop so I should not be getting these issues this fast. As I don't have access to Support (I can ask them questions through my chinese colleague but can't afford to send the laptop to china as its my work laptop as well) I need to find a way to solve this issue. Can anyone help? Is there an issue with the voltage (heard some of clevo laptops have had this which fixed by updating BIOS) or something else? Can anyone help me on this issue?

 

Stock thermal paste is really bad no matter what brand you choose (even Apple). You need to repaste your CPU/GPU with aftermarket thermal paste .

Most effective one is Liquid Metal (Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut).
Here is How to apply Liquid Metal

Or watch Linus's tutorial video on youtube .
Hope this help

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I've heard a lot about Liquid Metal. But many people warned me of it because of being conductive. Is it really dangerous to try Liquid Metal? I was going to get the ceramic one from Grizzly Thermal, but Liquid Metal is much, much more conductive.
I've done a few PC setups a couple of years ago, but I'm a bit reluctant to try this one, as my laptop is quite new and if it breaks, ill break!!!
Also, it depends heavily on my HeatSink material - it has to be copper.
I don't know if its aluminium or Copper, haven't opened it yet.

 

Depend ! If you do it properly , nothing bad will happen .


I tried Liquid Metal on 3 laptops and all of them are completely fine
Feel free to use normal thermal paste , it will work but it won't last long . I chose Liquid Metal because I don't want to repaste my laptop every year

 

I've heard that if you move your laptop a lot, it might cause to leak and short-circuit. Is it correct?

 

I work oversea and travel a lot, I don't see any problem here .
As long as you use electrical tape or use some kind of coating material like Linus did in video , you shouldn't worry about that .

 

Or simply try normal themal paste (Arctic Silver MX-4, TG Kryonaut) and see if it helps. Clean fans, tighten the screws properly.

 

I prefer IC Diamond 7. It's pretty noob proof and works very well. Just repasted mine with it.

 

I've read that it's pretty rubbery when it comes to spreading. Do you spread it yourself or just let it spread under the pressure of the heatsink and stressing CPU and GPU to lower the viscosity?

 

Just apply to the center of the die, either as a ball or a line, and just let the pressure and heat spread it. It doesn't lose thermal transfer capacitance by being too much or thick, so it's ideal for laptop heatsinks, which can be less than ideal.

 

DO NOT use IC diamond because it's a thermal paste that's only good to fix flawed heatsink (bent, scratched, missing screws).

The only advantage that IC diamond gives over other competitor is the dry-out resistance on uneven contact surfaces. If you are lazy and don't want to fix the machine, you can go with IC diamond.


The problem with IC diamond is that it takes way too long to remove. You have to soak the entire surface affected by IC diamond in alcohol for 5-8 minutes before removing or else IT WILL DESTROY THE SURFACE OF YOUR SILICON / HEATSINK!


Having a thermal paste that scratches the surface of the heatsink and silicon die is not acceptable!

Their solution is to make you wait absurd amount of time before you can wipe that filth off your devices in the hopes that you will scratch the surface less.


This is not the case, you will still scratch, cause surface imperfection, and delete writings (such as nvidia imprint on the GPU die) even when removing IC diamond very carefully!

 

@ALuViAn I don't recommend you jump straight to liquid metal, however I would recommend other pastes such as Kryonaut/Phobya nanogrease exteme/gelid GC Extreme.

The issue with your machine is probably dried out thermal paste. In that case you can try to do a repaste first.

When you open up the GPU heatsink, it is also worth to observe if any of your thermal pads. Some are too thick and cause bad contact with the GPU die.

 

Or try using a different solvent that is more effective on the IC Diamond compound. SCIENCE is an amazing thing.

 

Science is an amazing thing, yes.


It's so amazing that we can make better thermal compound that doesn't need soaking but doesn't scratch the heatsink.


It's so amazing it can make IC diamond look like it's IC feces.

 

Thanks guys, WOW, everyone is so on to this thermal paste thing!
I used to have PC for many years. Since 1998 (yes I was 12 at that time!) I've done this thermal paste on PC CPUs but this laptop is my first try. And actually, I really don't want to mess this up.
I'm going to ask my colleagues to get me Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and Thermal Grizzly Liquid metal, as I don't have access to them in my country. Will test ceramic one and keep liquid metal for future.
A couple of questions:

1. How much temperature reduction should I expect on each of the above products? I need to get my GPU temp to less than 85 (I play Overwatch, Nier: Automata and Witcher-like games. As I said, it maxes on 92, but usually around 85-90).
2. My CPU does not have any heating problems. Should I try and change that one as well? Or keep it as-is?
3. Does aluminium heatsink prevent me from using liquid metal? why?
4. Also, about thermal pads, should I change them, too? Do I need to get one? I have absolutely no info on thermal pads!

And I found this on ifixit.com :
Thermal pads should be replaced with thermal pads only or with specially designed viscous thermal paste. The reason is that normal thermal paste is not designed to fill big gaps so sooner or latter will flow out and leave a gap between the component and the heat sink.

Any ideas on the above?

 

It depends on how bad your current paste is.

You can assume that the thermal paste is the same as on the GPU. If you're already changing it on GPU, then why don't do it on CPU? The lower the temperature the better.

LM is mostly gallium based -

If you would want to replace thermal pads, you'd have to measure their thickness and buy appropriate ones. However, thermal pads are not that crucial, but I'll let more experienced users elaborate on this.

 

When was the last time you cleaned the heatsink?

 

@ALuViAn The service manual is here https://mega.nz/#!yE90mS6J!WgDVizhkJHkJz86uml-aZMcr_pyihK9L3XB-Cm2lEO4
Original site https://premamod.wordpress.com/
Use ThrottleStop to downclock or undervolt to BGA CPU level to reduce the heat output.
Like Mobius 1 suggested I feel Phobya nanogrease extreme or Gelid extreme is a wise choice. ICD must be your last choice if none of the pastes are available.
In case you forget which paste to buy here is detailed thread dedicated to it http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...nd-apply-traditional-and-liquid-metal.806840/
As for thermal pads stick with arctic pads or similar soft ones.

 

I'm using CM Maker Gel Nano which according to me was same composition from 3M which is same as ICD 7/24 but Maker gel nano didn't scratch my cpu/gpu surface when my rubbed with less alcohol.

 

The company representative tag marks you as someone to head to for official responses on behalf of the company, so it might be an idea to have that tag removed for that reason.

 

Please don't attempt liquid metal unless you absolutely know what you're doing.
Most Clevo heatsink is crooked and will let Liquid Metal run off and potentially damage the mainboard!

@ALuViAn

1. With repaste I would guess you will drop around max 80. Remember that Clevo now have a built in fan boost using FN+1 that you should activate during games.
2. The heatsink is one piece and includes the CPU. So you will have to replace the CPU paste if you wish to replace the GPU paste.
3. The heatsink is copper, at least for the Clevo LGA series.
4. I would recommend you keep the thermal pads on (do not touch by hand if at all possible). Most likely they are fine.

 

Thanks man! I was looking for this service manual the whole time but could not find it.
About undervolting my CPU, does this help lowering my GPU temp.?! Note that I have no issue with the CPU temp. but the main problem is GPU temp.
I was going to buy Thermal Grizzly but I might get Phobya. How much is the difference in practice? If anyone has tried both..

 

The laptop is fairly new. Bought it 4 months ago.

 

I won't be using LM. will use ceramic thermal paste (either Thermal Grizzly or Phobya, want to check more reviews, which one do u think is better? btw) and I know how to apply them properly as well.
About Fan boost, it has an automatic warning threshold (85) which boosts the fan. Does it reduce fan lifespan?
Also, another thing is, I've installed a point-and-click indie adventure game. Very simple, no complex textures or super computing or anything. Just normal pre-rendered pictures. Again my GPU temp. goes up to 90. I'm getting worried. Have to wait for at least two weeks till I can get thermal pastes I am looking for.

 

TG Kryo and Phobya nangrease needs to be spread evenly in thin layer to get max performance.
Lap the heatsink of GPU side using 800 grit in one direction 2-3 times, maybe you'll see a difference.

 

Depending on the environment that can be log enough, give it a clean first to see if that's the issue.

 

I don't think lapping is necessary at this point.

 

If the old paste pumped out due uneven/warped heatsink... Go for Phobya NanoGrease Extreme. More like ICD in composition (thickness) but will give you better temp.

 

I've found thermal grizzly to resist pumping pretty well.

 

OK, I used Clevo Fan boost (Fn + 1, strangely works both in linux and windows!) and did some heat testing with playing games.
Now it maxes on 78 instead of 92!!! Actually, this is a lot of temp. drop. Why is like that? As you know, the fan speed boosts when getting to 85 but the temperature drop is not substantial..
Maybe my problem is rooting somewhere else. Should I continue with repaste? I still haven't got the paste yet.
But again, its worth mentioning that in the first month, the temperature never got to above 75-76 degrees, without the fan boost. (I didn't know that function exist till yesterday!)
The other suspicion that I have is for dust. As I live in a polluted and dusty city, that might be the case.
Should I open the laptop and clean everything thoroughly or should I just clean them through vents?

 

You should try and clean the fans first.

You can remove the fans carefully without removing the heatsink.



FN+1 is hardware combination and doens't require the Clevo software.

 

It's not unusual for clevo notebooks to have garbage fan profiles. You should try something like Gelid CG-Extreme or kryonaut, then obviously clean your fans and heatsinks from dust and see if it works as it should.

Or you can simply use fn+1 for gaming and deal with your jet noise.

 

OK guys, at last I got my Kryonaut and Conductonaut from Thermal Grizzly. Will try the ceramic one first for a couple of months and see the results. And then maybe I try liquid metal afterwards.
By the way, two things :
1. one of the screws on the back of my laptop is very, very tight. It's so tight that I'm worried I might mess up the head. What do you recommend for opening it?
2. After cleaning the fan, should I put any oil on the Fan's motor? Or just leave it as-is?

 

1. Get a screwdriver that matches as best as possible.

2. Clean fan if visibly dirty. Oil is only if it starts making an odd noise.

 

@ALuViAn - Like Meaker said, find a Philips that matches best. You may need to apply pressure to grip it enough to turn. No oil necessary for the fan unless you hear anything unusual (also like Meaker said), only then can a lubricant come in handy.

 

Indeed

 

Well guys, I opened the laptop lid and started loosing the screws on the heatsink. but as you can see in the picture, the following screws did not budge, and also I got worried I might be messing up the head. There was a small screwdriver in the TG package, it could open all of the other screws but not these four, it seems they are tied to GPU and I don't know how to open them :
Check the four screws I've marked them in red.



These four have different size, material and characteristics from any other screws in my laptop. The rest could be easily opened, but not these four. After half an hour of sweating and pushing, me and my friend gave up. I'm a bit worried I've might messed up the screws. How can I open these? Is there a special screwdriver for these? Anyway if I find any solution on opening these, I will definitely change the screws completely.

 

BTW, I've found out the set of screw drivers for electrical goods (they call them "cellphone screwdrivers" here). Can someone tell me the code / the size of the above? so I can buy the correct one?

 

@ALuViAn

https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-66-052-6-Piece-Precision-Screwdriver/dp/B00009OYGV

I used the largest Philips head from this set and it worked. Just push straight down on the screw and turn.

 

OK, at last I made it happen! Opened the heatsink and changed the thermal pastes of CPU and GPU. CPU was looking OK but the thermal paste on GPU was dried out. Haven't tested it thoroughly but with a quick test in a heavy game, my temperature dropped about 7 degrees. (It maxes on 85).
Not bad, but still need to drop more. I checked the heatsink and fortunately, it's made of copper. So next time, I will try using Liquid Metal.
Now, what do you recommend for dropping the temp now? What can I do?

BTW, here is a picture of the laptop with cleaned CPU and GPU, might be useful for some people.