How to improve cooling?

Hello folks!

I'm new here. I hope we all get along.

I recently bought a new notebook and I am really enjoying it, however, under a heavy workload it tends to get a little hot. I was wondering what things I could do to improve cooling because summer is getting close and my notebook will even get hotter by then. I do not want to buy a notebook cooling pad because I did not buy this notebook as a desktop replacement. I travel a lot and I carry it with me and I want to it to take heavy workloads without having to worry about the temparatures no matter what season it is.

This is my notebook: AMD Radeon HD 6990M Benchmarks and Installation in Eurocom Notebooks - YouTube
It has exactly the same internal layout as displayed in the video.

Specs:
Casing: Clevo P150HMx
Screen: 15.6inch 95% colour correct gamut high contrast LED LCD (matte)
VGA: AMD Radeon Mobility HD6990m.
Processor: Intel Core i7 - 2670QM Quad Core (2.2GHz -3.1GHz turbo) 6MB cache
RAM: 8GB DDR3-1333(2x4gb)
HDD: 640 GB 7200rpm S-ATA 16Mb cache

Pretty nice, huh?

Under a 100% workload my GPU temps are around 80-90 degrees celcius and my CPU temps are around 70-85 degrees celsius. I already called with the company that sold me the notebook and they told me that these temparatures are nothing I should worry about. But it still worries me. I have always learned that CPUs shouldn't go above 70 degrees and GPUs shouldn't go above 80 degrees. Though I must add that I have no experience whatsoever with notebooks, I have only worked with desktops in the past and I don't know whether these rules of fist apply to notebooks. Should I be worried? Even if these temps aren't worrysome I still want to improve the cooling performance for the sake of maximizing the lifetime of this notebook.

I am already planning to redo the TIM properly ony my CPU/GPU with Arctic Ceramique. Would using another type of TIM be better?

Are there any ways to improve cooling using software? I would like to configure my CPU/GPU fan to start blowing as hard as they can once the 70 degrees mark has been passed. The problem is I am clueless how I should do this. If I enter the BIOS setup utility I cannot see any options regarding CPU/GPU or fans. Does anyone know?

Is it possible to replace my fans with more powerful fans? I have been monitoring my GPU-fan RPM and it doesn't really go higher than 900 RPM whereas my desktop fan is able to go up to 4100 RPM. I think the fans in this notebook are 5v fans. Would it be possible to replace these fans with 12v fans? Or perhaps better performing 5v fans?

I am also considering trying to add a thin 3rd fan in the middle to suck extra cool air inside. It would look something like this:

Would that improve the cooling performance?

I am opening this thread so I can explore my options. Battery life and warranty should not be considered in this thread. These are things I will think about after having fully explored my options.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Hefner

 

The best thing I've done to improve cooling is to make sure the fans, heat sink, etc. are completely free of dust. If your house gets dusty easily, you'll want to do this often, perhaps every time you'd dust the rest of your house. Just open up the main panel and blow air through the heat sink and into the fan (be sure to hold the fan so it doesn't spin the dust everywhere that you're trying to remove). It seems simple, but it helps out more than you might expect.

 

prop up your laptops back with a bottlecap and use fn+1 for max fan speeds

 

u can try my cooming mod here if u can buy spare bottom cover!!!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/619377-p151hm1-np8130-cooling-mod.html

also here are my temps now full vantage run and 10 mins run with furmark!!

 

I'm using notepal u3 with fans blowing directly over gpu and CPU heatsinks/vents.
I've drilled some holes on the plastic cover since the heatsinks are covered with plastic, that in conjunction with ICD brought my temps down to 6-7c.
Before with my overclock in sig I was reaching 86c, now it's 81c under full load.
To reach 85c I need to push the system alot and I've not used max fan since the mods.
As an example I've just finished a BF3 session with ultra details (no AA) and the max I've hit is 71c with OC.

 

nice man!!can u post a screenshot of ur bottom cover??thx!!

 

Ill do when i get a chance, im on phone right now.
Anyway dont expect anything awesome because i suck at drilling holes (lol).
But it works. Ive got a spare bottom cover from mythologic in case i decide to sell the laptop to keep it original.

EDIT: there you go.


As you can see i need to dust it out a bit, i didnt had time, but temps arent effected at all. So dont pay attention to the dust spots, also the red arrows shows where ive put the u3 fans and the flow of them, which are directly above the drilled holes, which are above the copper heatsinks.

 

Mind clarifying if you are referring to the holes or the dust on this? My guess is dust, I'll ask anyways just to be safe.

 

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first i tried the mod u did but the result was no good.then i bought another spare bottom cover and i did the mod u saw in my cooling mod thread.way better than this one!!u must try it!!also if its possible run a full vantage test without feature tests(run only the 2 cpu and gpu tests)and posts the temps pls with gpuz and hwinfo!!!

 

Nah I'm just saying that it's a bit dusty because I hadn't had time to clean it.
But the dust is just placed where is shown in the picture, luckily there's no dust in the holes nor in the internals.

@johnny: link your thread well I'm not going to mod it again since its fine as it is, I'm really happy of the performance.
As the vantage runs, I did a few a week ago, but I can do them again.
68c on CPU and 72c on gpu.

 

see the 4th comment on this thread!!!

 

Thanks for the input everyone, +rep for all! Really nice mods you guys have done I am planning to do something similar as Johnny did. I will make sure that the heatsinks and fans are completely open and then I will put some black mesh in front.

But first I need to buy a spare bottom cover so my 2 year long warranty is still valid. Does anyone know where I can buy that for my 15,6 inch Clevo P150HMx?

Thanks!

 

u can buy one from ur reseller!!its cheap!!

 

I just called the my reseller and they do not have them for sale. They told me that they could order it, however, it would take a long time and I am a pretty impatient guy. Do you know any other place where I could buy a bottom cover? I live in the Netherlands in Europe.

Thanks!

 

how long??so u can mod ur current bottom cover till the new one arrives!!

 

Genius. Didn't think about that yet.

 

but be sure ur new one arrives for sure!!!

 

2 things, artic silver 5 or paste similiar will knock off 5 degrees, and a notebook cooler. Specifically the Notepal U3 or actually its small sibling. Nice thing about it, is your laptop when folded down fits into it(The cooler becomes a protective case in a sense)and then into your travel case. It also comes with some active fans but I feel they arent necessary and since they are modular they dont need to be installed. Its only about 25-30 bucks, and is well worth it, angles up your keybaord too and makes typing a bit easier and more natural.

 

Can you take some pics of how your notebook fits inside the U3? Doesit get scratched up at all?

 

I am pretty curious about that as well. I have an Eastpak backpack with a padded sleeve built inside and it is a tight fit. If my laptop were a little bit bigger it probably wouldn't fit so I am curious as to how much size it adds to the machine. It is a must that it fits well, if it doesn't I wont take it into consideration.

But yeah, definitely interesting.

thanks!

 

If its a tight fit already it won't.. The U3 is made for 17"+ laptops I believe..

 

Actually the Notepal U2 would be the correct one for a 15" laptop. COol thing is you can get it with or without the fans: http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6612

 

There you go

As you already know, i need to clean the laptop a bit, but i guess these temps are fine. Gpu is running with my stable overclock, 720-1850, but not the highest, which is 750-1900 (which is use only for benchmarks).
Also for fairness ive disabled PPU in options
There you go:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Not bad if you consider that the 485m is still an old tech compared to the much cooler 6990m and gtx580m.
BTW great mod you did! Im not planning to modify my work thought as im happy with the results.

 

I would seriously recommend an external cooling stand.

I had one when I got my 8160 back in 2004. The cooling stand worked for about 5-6 years then started to shut off intermittently (loose wiring) and I stupidly was too lazy to fix or replace it.

Couple years later (last year) my laptop came down with problems that I am certain were hastened by the extra heat that was not being blown out by the large fans in the cooling stand. In short the motherboard gave out, and at this latter date is extremely hard to replace and in that quest, the CPU was down for the count too.

While I got 7 good years out of the laptop, had I replaced that $40 stand I may have gotten a few more yet. My next one I will ALWAYS run with an external cooler. Between that and the newer ones not being such heat monsters it may last 10 years.

 

My reseller called and told me that I have to send the entire laptop so they can get a new one. I really do not want to do that nor do I understand why. Do you know any other place that would sell me the plate?

 

they need the whole laptop???with my reseller i just tell them i need a new bottom cover!!dont know other place.... :/

 

Mythlogic and Malibal can get individual parts. As well as probably many other resellers.

That's crazy that they want your whole laptop. Call them back and tell them to get their crap together and to get you a panel asap!

 

is it better to get a new/better fan/heatsink , good thermal paste?
i have the a similar problem too, but my fan noise is tooo loud D:

 

Have you tried contacting Sager directly? I had a mishap with my optical drive cover (short story short, I accidentally smeared Noctua NT-H1 on it and proceeded to clean up with Goof Off ). They took my order and immediately sent me a new cover, which came within a few days. Tried getting the part from my reseller, XoticPC, but they only offered to do what I was able to do myself...order directly from Sager.