The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    P150hm 60 degrees idle

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by Acren, Jul 11, 2011.

  1. Acren

    Acren Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Just got my p150hm with 485m, and can't help but notice that the GPU is at a constant 60 degrees while idle, which seems to make the fan pretty damn loud all the time (but not as loud as fn+1).

    Is this normal?

    Bad thermal paste?

    Is there any feature to reduce the clock speeds when idle?

    I've looked around but haven't found anything.
    Thanks.
     
  2. ElBlufer

    ElBlufer Notebook/NBR Addict

    Reputations:
    152
    Messages:
    1,626
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    That's definitely not normal. I don't even believe that a bad paste job should cause it to idle that high, I'd contact your reseller about an RMA.
     
  3. ReDuNZL

    ReDuNZL Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    33
    Messages:
    458
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    It is normal, if you have an external monitor attached to your laptop. The card never goes to idle state, if that is the case. My GTX 280M idles at 59-60C too, and I have an external monitor.
     
  4. Acren

    Acren Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Yeah, just noticed that. Down to 42 when I unplug my monitor.

    Isn't this a major flaw?
    :(

    I'm guessing there isn't a way to change it?
     
  5. ReDuNZL

    ReDuNZL Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    33
    Messages:
    458
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    It has always been like this, both with Nvidia and AMD.
    It shouldn't matter much, the card can take it. But your fans shouldn't need to rev up much to take care of 60 degrees .... mine don't, just a barely audible noise.
    It's the same with any make, btw, not just Clevo's ;)
     
  6. Acren

    Acren Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    My previous notebook (Alienware M15x) would underclock itself when idle, even with an external monitor plugged in. I don't see why having a second monitor would disable idle state.
     
  7. ReDuNZL

    ReDuNZL Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    33
    Messages:
    458
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Really? That is news to me.
    I don't see why it needs to be like this either, but there you go ...

    Ah. Quick browsing, as I myself raised this question in this forum some time ago. Looked at the answers I got again, and ...
    Did your Alienware have a AMD card? It may well be that AMD's clocks down as they should, regardless. Nvidia's don't.
     
  8. Acren

    Acren Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I have had both the NVidia 260m and the ATI 5850m in the Alienware machine. Both of them underclocked when idle.
     
  9. ElBlufer

    ElBlufer Notebook/NBR Addict

    Reputations:
    152
    Messages:
    1,626
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Didn't know about the external monitor thing...
     
  10. ReDuNZL

    ReDuNZL Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    33
    Messages:
    458
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
  11. 4st3risk

    4st3risk Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    92
    Messages:
    414
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    External monitor here, lid closed. Card idles at ~45 (72-74 room temp).
     
  12. Acren

    Acren Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Yeah, card goes into idle fine as long as you don't have both monitors active.
     
  13. nllptr

    nllptr Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    13
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    You can use this utility to fix P-states even when you have multiple monitors connected.
     
  14. d2c

    d2c Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    214
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    31
    great find, will install once i get my laptop.
     
  15. Acren

    Acren Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    This is great!

    Very nice find, thank you.
     
  16. ReDuNZL

    ReDuNZL Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    33
    Messages:
    458
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Thanks a lot, nllptr! This works.
    Strange, but I never thought of trying this little software, even though I am using a couple of these guys' sidebar gadgets allready, and have seen their site many times.... blame my brilliant german.
    Their GPU Observer shows me the card downclocking correctly now :)