Sager NP9150 optimus clicking noise?

Hi guys,

Last night I reformatted my computer and finished installing the drivers + Speedfan. Prior to reformatting I had never had any issues with Speedfan, but I left my laptop on overnight with it running and woke up to the gpu IDLING at 95C. Needless to say I freaked out, because for as long as I can remember it's been idling at 35-40C.

Now whenever my laptop toggles between igpu and dedicated gpu, I hear a faint clicking noise. I had never heard it before today, so it's really bothering me and is a little unsettling. The sound literally lines up perfectly with the gpu being switched to. On startup and shutdown, I hear 2-3 clicks, as well as whenever an application makes the gpu switch. Could the clicking be a sign of damage? I really don't want to have to RMA it again. This would make it the second time in the month that I've had it...


Specs:
Sager NP9150
i7-3630QM
nVidia GTX 675MX
Windows 7 64-bit
8 GB RAM
Intel ultimate-n 6300

 

Try to change the nvidia drivers.
I have this problem only when I run GPU-z.

 

I've tried several different drivers and even reformatted a second time. Where can I get a new vbios? I'd prefer if it wasn't a modded one unless you can recommend me a reliable one.

 

Do you use GPU-z?
Damn it! Running nvidia inspector gives a similar result.
What vbios do you use?

 

GPU-Z is showing bios version 80.04.58.00.05 (P2051-b004) for me.

What do you mean by similar result?

Edit: By the way, the heat isn't the issue anymore, just wanna get rid of the annoying clicking. Just wanted to clarify that.

 

Clicking, jump to max voltage and frequency, and instantaneous temperature increases and decreases.
Try a different vbios from Tech Inferno.

 

hmm.. could it be that I've just never noticed it then?

If you show the GPU activity icon in the notification area you can see that the click coincides perfectly with the icon lightning up. I read that when a GPU monitoring program like speedfan is measuring its temps, it keeps polling every couple seconds causing the nvidia GPU to turn on and off constantly. That causes the clicking. And I assume it kept turning on but not for long enough to realize it needs to turn the fan on as well, which led to the insanely high idle temp.

 

Yeah, for me all GPU monitoring applications causes such strange behavior.
That's why I do not like P150EM series.

 

The dGPU and iGPU don't have any moving parts, so the clicking noise might be a fan (or worse - your hard drive, if you're not using a SSD).

 

Did you read what I wrote?
"Clicking, jump to max voltage and frequency, and instantaneous temperature increases and decreases".

 

Could you explain a little more? That is correct, those do not have moving parts, therefore could not be causing the clicking noise. Unless it is a pop caused by a short somewhere.

Do you have any Hard Disk drives in your setup? Those often make harmless clicks, and if the program or drivers are installed on it, it may be accessed or read or causing the sounds.

Are you still having issues with heat?

 

It's nothing mechanical. it comes from the GPU or mobo.

 

Haha, I actually hear it too.

You can reproduce it by opening up GPU-Z and switching from the iGPU HD4000 to whatever dedicated GPU you have. The K5000M is a rebranded 680M (what I have).

I'm not sure what or why that is. Haven't noticed any issues. I'd love for someone to do some digging though.

Edit: I wonder if this issue is also present in AW laptops. Could it be a MUX issue?

I hesitate to call it an issue just because there are no apparent symptoms.

 

The click or "chirp" may be audible when GPU is powered up and its power supply switching coils energize. It should not be too loud though.
If you having it repeatedly switch on and off, check what software is running - probably some monitoring software causing these periodic wakeups. Some software keeps polling GPU with like 1 second intervals, waking it in in time when it barely just shuts down, and going on. This also will prevent GPU from cooling down, since it keeps re-initializing.
I recommend solving this, because such continuous rapid on-off power cycling may be harmful to GPU or motherboard if you keep it going for too long.

 

I have the same problem as you with my old p170em , i also have clicking nosie form laptop when igpu changing to dgpu(i had 680m) that sound is comming from power section on motherboard, and its hardware issue , your resseler should change your motherboard.

 

I work for a clevo reseller and i assembled hundreds of EM series till now. ALL units i assembled so far do that noise. (i´m only giving my background so i can really backup my statement).
The clicks occurs every time you switch from iGPU and dGPU. Some users never noticed it, but put your hears near the chassis and cycle one application that will activate the dGPU and you will hear it.
This is normal, don´t worry about that, it´s exactly how it´s supposed to be.

Since ALL units do this noise i can´t agree with statements like: "its hardware issue , your resseler should change your motherboard."

Monitoring software like widgets and tray icon applications are a bad move for Switchable Graphics machines. This kind of software will read values from a X interval, ex: every 5 secs it will read values, so most of them will make your dGPU activate (to read values). Basically with this type of software you will have your computer cycle graphics dGPU/iGPU every few seconds. This type of cycles sucks, you can feel them (on some cases it will make a small drag in your machine, you can see the mouse cursor hang for a fraction of second), depends of the setup you have and the software you use. I don´t recomend it.

 

Ok that's good to know. Yeah, as far as I can tell, it only clicks when initially opening up an intensive nonOptimus program or GPU-Z.

So I guess as long as it's not constantly cycling, it's probably fine.

 

Hey guys, I've got a similar noise coming from mine. It's a steady clicking sound that repeats every 2-3 seconds - very faint but audible when the fans are off and there is little environmental noise
Except I only hear it when GPU-Z is displaying Intel HD Graphics. When I switch to my Nvidia 670mx, I don't hear it anymore!

 

Set the GPU-Z to always run with dGPU via NVidia settings, this should prevent dGPU from going off and on.
Its needed anyway, otherwise GPU-Z won't display some stats from dGPU properly.

 

Got it, sorry, thanks.

 

Dedicated GPU. Its "High-Performance NVIdia Processor" in their settings.

 

Yeah, it's the acronym for the graphics card (NVidia or ATI/AMD).

dGPU = dedicated graphics processing unit
iGPU = integrated graphics processing unit (graphics handled by the CPU).

Not sure why the clicking noise is one sided, but give Ingvarr's advice a try.

 

I hear no clicking noise during iGPU to dGPU switch. Not doubting, but that is really weird. There aren't any moving parts in this machine other than HD and fans, so how can it click?

 

I am guessing you are using the 7970m in your sig? Maybe the issue is exclusive to Nvidia?

 

It's not that I'd call click, more like very quiet "chirp", when graphics card wakes up, which some power supply switching circuits produce (though I guess some laptops may have it louder, some quieter).

 

I'd like to know the specific causality too. It was suggested that it had something to do with heat and voltage; an electrical sound is the only thing that seems credible.

Edit: @Ingvarr - Ah, well that certainly seems pertinent.