Improving P170EM 7970M GPU cooling performance (foiled)

Could some of you include actual fan RPM values along with your temperatures?

There is a test build of HWinfo64 that may include fan RPM monitoring for some Clevo models. Seems to work on P170HM. Perhaps request (in that thread) to the author of HWinfo64 to include your models if you don't get a "Clevo EC" category in sensors:

Monitor CPU and GPU fan RPM on Clevo laptops

Personally, I think those fans are unreliable. This may be part of the problem?

 

i already looked into this a few days back and i cant find anything

 

thats they way they all are. taping it off makes a HUGE difference... i saw an instant 4C reduction. also using a notepal U3 helps. if you dont have a laptop cooler just tilt the back up with some gatorade caps so it has more access to cool air

 

I wish I were magneto right now. I could totally do it perfect.

I'll settle for mag-tape-o though, we already have some aluminum tape. This stuff is awesome. And mine looks way better than the pics lol


Edit: Well I took an hour and meticulously covered every corner and turn on the sides of the mounts and the top, making sure I left nothing to question.

Before tape: 95/96c indefinitely. After tape: 7 minutes in Kombustor: 100c and climbing. 9 minutes: 96/97C. What the ****?

 

hmmm so is mag-tape-o a magnetic tape or an aluminum tape?

 

yesterday i repaste gpu so I bend/align both gpu heatsink
now looks straight but still gap betwen fan andd heatsink is there

I would love to change fan cycle (on off) at idle to keep laptop quiet when browsing

 

Your before/after temps?

 

Ok I got my aluminium foil tape in the post yesterday, previously I had tried this mod with electrical insulation tape as that's all I had and it definitely helped. However now I've redone it with foil tape (I got 50u stuff too so it's fairly thick), I have to say that it works even better it took 4 mins to get up to 89c, and on my machine the fan profiles keep it between 89c and 93c. So that is FAR slower rate of increase than with the electrical insulation tape. It also easily stayed around that temperature range rather than bumping off the 93 to 94c as it did before.

So if anyone else is using insulation tape (I think I read a few people did), definitely get the foil.

I think the fact it takes so long for the temps to rise is probably cos it's now joining the 2 heat sinks and allowing the heat to flow between them both and even out a bit more, also the stickiness works better on the metal so I could really block in any of the leaks Another good thing about this slow rise in temps is that I doubt when gaming it'll ever get used like this so it should really help to keep the temps quite low when gaming...

 

There is copper tape also that might be a good idea to try if heat coupling between radiators and fan cover helps that much. Maybe pile-on a few layers for better thermal conductivity...

 

2C lower after repaste with old OCZ silver
will repaste again with artic silver when I receive it

I have strange thing on my laptop
At idle my fan spin at low speed but when I open kombustor the gpu fan stop
fan is off until temp go up to 48-50C
fan kick in and stayet on even at 42C but I close kobustor and open again an my gpu fan turn off

I see that kombustor have something to do with fan at idle

 

This is a great idea!

...tapatalk...

 

Neither... that was just me saying I'll settle for being Magtapeo instead of Magneto. lol. I used aluminum tape though.

Yeah the fan policies are really )(#*%d up. There really needs to be a user controlled fan policy program for the desired automatic behavior, preferably from Clevo since the BIOS seems to be so poor.

 

I dont care if laptop is loud at load
My idle temps are low 40`s or even below 40C so I want my fan to be off

 

PTFE Cloth Tape by VALUE BRAND - Duct and Cloth Tapes by Zoro Tools Industrial Supplies here this is the stuff to get, usually foil tape is one mil thickness, this is 3.5mil, and it comes in 1/4"x6 yards for $4.35.

 

These are my temps stock. im going to go find some alu tape or what not. wondering why i am seeing peoples temps up in the 90's. im not even close to that.

Edit: Under Dx11 mode i get 100% gpu load. highest temp is 78c

Edit 2 : Moving the clock speeds up to 980/1400 appears to have very little impact on my temps

 

you need to change kombustors settings... first you arent running it in 1920x1080. second you aren't running it in DX11 mode. when i run it with your setting i get around the same temps you do

 

Why do you need such thick tape? What's wrong with the foil tape? What benefit is there to using such monstrous tape? We're just preventing the air from being blown back into the laptop.

Then don't complain or question others for the temps they are getting. They aren't lying just to post high temps on this forum. Just be VERY happy and grateful your machine is running the way it is. But I suspect, your ambient temps are probably frigid with your AC on freezing.

Really? C'mon be serious. You honestly telling me at idle the fan is annoying you? I can't hear the fan here with sound of the wind outside my window. I can't hear the fan over the sound of my typing. I can't hear the fan over the sound of the fans I have on here. I can't hear the fans just from my own thoughts not thinking about the fan. Your fan must be broken or something to be that loud...

 

Great mod. Dropped 5C straight away using electrical tape. I'll try with foil tape when I get a chance.

 

the idea of the thick copper tape is to give a better heat transfer, and it holds its shape better, not to mention it transfers heat between the two heatsinks of the gpu, so if the one for the vram is not getting hot, the heat from the hot core heatsink can be transfered and therefore more efficiently cooled. also it just looks better with all copper. haha.

 

Just got done doing this, went from 76c max in furmark running 1920x1200/8msaa to 72c running same.

It indeed does work.

 

what? my furmark temp is 90C even after repaste job

 

Maybe you need to repaste again.. Or perhaps your heatsink is one of those that isn't apply enough pressure..? (adjust at own risk)

 

Here a mod I did with my old Sager NP5125 helped with over all load temps.

Might help you guys stabilize load temps.

 

so you put some thermal paste underneath the heatsink system?

 

no he added copper shims to increase pressure between the heatsink ad chip.

 

Do You need longer screws with extra shim?

 

I still have a 0.8mm shim left over from a previous heatsink mod on my old Dell 1558, I'll see how that goes.

 

what other mods we can do?
only 2C drop after repaste and tape

 

Elevate that back of your laptop by putting Gatorade caps under the rubber feet, or buy a notepal U3 cooler

 

yup, plastic bottle caps FTW!

 

i wonder if removing the warning labels on the heatsink can further improve the cooling effects?

 

So I tried to do this mod today and when I opened up my laptop, to my surprise, it's no wonder I have zero overheating problems. After reading a few posts here and there, I was beginning to wonder if maybe I've been doing tests wrong or that the readings for my CPU and GPU temps were inaccurate. But now I know why my laptop has no heating problems.

For one, I think Malibal did a supreme job applying IC7. I won't even bother checking. If I do that, I would have to reapply it myself and probably mess up the good job they did. After all, I have no overheating issues, so why bother?

And second, well, I'll show the pictures first.




As you can see, the heatsink's fins are dead flush on the fan assemblies. It's so straight and even, and pretty much flat and level, that if I did this mod, I'd just be wasting good aluminum tape and my precious time. I'd probably be covering a gap of .01nm. Lol.

I'm curious who else here got as lucky as I did. (Big props to Malibal for this.)

 

you still have the gap to the left and right on the GPU sean. and the gap between the vram heatsink and gpu heatsink.

 

Where the heatsink has a slight curve? Yeah, I looked closer at that and I can't slip a piece of paper in between that and the fan. I inspected it very closely and I can't imagine a huge amount of hot air being recirculated in there.

EDIT: I just opened it up and took a look at it again and I see what you're saying about the gap to the left and right. The left one there's no point in covering because the fan blows straight outwards and the fins have vertical slits, so there's no way for the hot air the fan is blowing out to go sideways and back in to recirculate. The gap on the right side, on the other hand, can be covered up and it would make the fan more efficient. I realized that the copper pipes from the heatsink to the fins aren't long enough but then it's not just that. The chassis has a little block there that wouldn't allow the heatsink fins to extend anyway.

Another thought is that if I cover up that corner (the right side), the adhesive side of the aluminum tape would gather dust bunnies which will accumulate over time and give me more of a headache to clean up and maintain down the road.

So while the air the fan accumulates inside the assembly isn't 100% going to blow through the fins due to that hole on the right side, blocking it won't make the fan any more efficient since blowing cool air not out of the hot fins but back inside the chassis would recirculate hot air... if that makes sense. The only way for hot air to go back in is if there was a huge gap between the heatsink fins and the fan's assembly.

In conclusion, I'm leaving mine alone. I've weighed my options and I can't see how my laptop in particular can benefit from any mods. This mod is great for those who have misaligned heatsinks/fans but for those who don't they're better off checking the paste instead to see if the overheating problem is there.

 

You call this as good alignment? My looks same.
who make this garbage? high end machine

 

Did you read what I wrote above? Even with longer fins it's not possible because there's a block there (a part of the chassis --look where you drew the arrow on the right) and the fan is also screwed down where it's at (it's not adjustable).

I agree Clevo should moved the fan a little to the left as it can help a lot more if the fan lined up horizontally. But by perfect alignment, I meant there's no gap in between the heatsink fins and the fan assembly for the hot air to seep back in. That's what this thread's mod is about right? Try comparing my pics to the OP's. BTW, I applaud the OP for this mod. I'm not ****ting on it or discrediting him. I'm simply saying not everyone will have that gap or crooked alignment. Vertically, the alignment on mine is as good as it gets.

As for calling this "high end machine" a "garbage", you're entitled to your own opinion. Why you bought one, I will never know.

 

Here you go fantomasz.



See where "c" is? That area doesn't matter. There's no point taping that part. The heatsink fins has slits so the air won't go sideways. In other words, the cool air from the fan will only blow straight out. The cool air (see "a") will go straight out.

The "b" area has a little obstruction there so extending the fins won't do any good. It'd probably just melt the plastic over there. Also the cool air coming out from the gaping hole on the right will be cool or at most warm since it doesn't mix with the hot fins (see the red dots). Now if the cool air leaks to the right, is it really worth taping it up?

Pros:
- The fan may be more efficient as 99% of the cool air it generates will be redirected towards the fins.
- The chances of dust bunnies accumulating in the "b" area is nil.

Cons:
- The adhesive (sticky) side of the aluminum tape, if applied on the right hand side gap, will attract all the dust bunnies or what have you. In turn, all that dust will attract more dust until it creates a little clogging on the right hand side.
- It can backfire blocking it as the air volume the fan generates can't escape in a straight forward flow. May be it will weaken the fan in the long (looooooooong) run?

So to me, I'd rather leave it alone. Like I said, this mod is a really good one and the OP, based on his Malibal in the first post, definitely benefitted from this (obviously). So many others with a similar situation have also benefitted from this mod. It's a VERY GOOD mod, but like all awesome mods it's not for everyone. That's all I'm trying to say.

 

I already try caps and nothing
this is hot machine

 

no one was talking about poor alignment befoe my purchase

 

Sell it. Return it.

 

Yes,my laptop is for sale.I play few days and I dont like it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebooks-desktops-sale/676004-fs-clevo-170em-7970-europe-only.html

to hot
to loud
keyboad suck,I must press very hard to not miss a letter
semi gloss body is a finger print magnet

the only good think is a big power

 

HTML:

Yea the keyboard is much harder to type compared to G73.

I'm seeing a lot of different results, some 78C some 90C It looks to me some of those high temp ones' copper plate didn't pressure enough. 78C and 90C has a really big gap tho.

 

Im talking about 90C on furmak ,not kombustor

these with 78C use different parts?

 

Not exactly different parts I'd say. After the whole "heatsink pressure/bend the heatsink a bit" scenario, probably some heatsinks are putting more pressure than others.

 

so what to do? ask reseller for heatsink replace?

 

At the moment, there is no way to compare the performance from one laptop to another in an absolute sense. The fan RPM (slow, fast, max, 1st, 2nd speed...) and ambient temperatures are highly subjective measures.

What seems conclusive so far, is that from individual anecdotes, there is a clear improvement from before and after applying the mod (assuming above subjective factors are kept constant). There are a few mechanisms that make perfect sense why this works:

<del>1) Air flow velocity at the output of the fan is greatest at "right" end for the GPU fan. Plugging that hole at the end prevents a significant loss in static pressure and improves air velocity through the radiator fins where heat is removed from the system.</del> Oupss. I had the fan spinning in the other (wrong) direction when I though of this!? Actually airflow is maximum through the hottest part of the radiator as it should...

2) The radiator and exhaust grill impose significant air flow impedance at the output of the fan. The volute output stage is too short to establish a good laminar flow through all radiator fins <del>(especially close to the end where the heat-pipes enter the radiator and are the hottest)</del>. Plugging the right-hand hole at least maintains static pressure and provides greater airflow where it matters the most. Leaving this hole open, promotes a path of least resistance directly back to the intake. While the air may be cool in that path, the loss in static pressure significantly degrade the overall cooling efficiency of the system.

3) Assuming the bulk of the heat is generated by the GPU, then the air is first preheated by the VRAM radiator which may only be slightly warm. In that case, there should be tremendous improvement in cooling efficiency by thermally coupling the VRAM and GPU "radiators" so the VRAM "raditor" can be used to also cool the GPU.

4) Themally coupling the GPU/VRAM heatsinks to the fan cover should even further contribute to thermal efficiency of the system by providing more surface for heat dissipation.

This is engineering design and system integration fit for cheap products.

 

This makes a lot of sense. If I can devise a way to block that right hole whilst keeping the cover that blocks non-sticky, I just might do that. The left side, I really don't see the point of blocking because there are no air exchanges in that part. It'll just be warm to hot with or without tape.

The right side will be challenging. If I come up with a decent solution, I'll share it. If someone else comes up with it first, I would like to see it.

 

Just carve a piece of foam to press-fit in that channel. You might find that it helps reduce noise a little too. Temperature resistant foam would be a good idea, but doubt there is any chance of melting with any other packaging or wheather-seal type foam.

<del>If you are adventurous, you could craft a long triangle wedge to stick inside the fan at the right end to guide the air flow straight into the heat sink fins instead of establishing a turbulent corner in that end of the fan.</del> Oupss... had the fan reversed when I was thinking about this. Actually, expanding the fan volute in a wedge shape toward the GPU side would make more sense.

 

I just cut a little square of foil the same size as that opening, stuck it to a larger piece of foil tape and affixed it so the sticky part is only touching the locations it needs to stick