Sager NP9280/D900F Overheating - Need Cooler

I've got a NP9280 with a i7 975 and GTX 285M in it. I was rendering out an animation over the weekend and it automatically shut off 3 times after 6-8 hours of 100% CPU usage. It's got to be heat related. I elevated it too for better heat dispersion before starting. Core Temp tells me it got to 100C! Not good. It idles in the high 40s - not too bad but could be better. Laptop is not very old (couple months) so it's not the fans. It would really help having a cooling pad. Anyone know of some good ones that would fit?

 

A cooling pad will not solve your problem. You should check the fans even if it has only been a couple of months. You should also check to make sure the thermal paste on the CPU is sufficient i.e not too much and that it has been done properly.

 

Agree with ^^^^^! The CPU will get a little toasty after6 hours of 100% load (I assume you're running Primes or similar) however it shouldn't get that hot.

By far the most common cause of high load temps that we see is clogged heat sinks - often the idle temps will be fine (as yours are) but on load they tend to jump up.

 

Wow, that's scary. Lets say if I have a process that runs 100% on a D900F (with a 130W CPU) for 24hours, can the D900F keeps the CPU cool the whole 24hours? I mean, is it design to be capable of doing that?

 

Check your vent to see if dust is clogging it up. Common problem for high end notebooks if you don't maintain regularly.

 

If all is ok with your fans, heatsinks, overall cooling system and thermal paste then the D900F won't have any problems with keeping the CPU cool at all, even for that amount of time. When your cooling system is functioning correctly, temps under load tend to stabalise at a certain level from my experience.

 

OK. That's what I wanted to know. Thanks.

 

Yup, you should be able to run Primes for as long as you want - I have had several machines run over 24h when initially testing the first batch of chassis

 

I'm having a similar issue with my D901C with a Q9650. Idle temps are 48*C across all 4 cores, but when I go to full load for 2 hours straight, my core0 temp goes to 75*C, and the other 3 cores go to 68*C.

I recently upgraded to the Q9650 from the E8400, where I had no heat issues. I'm worried I put too much or too little thermal paste on. But could too much/too little thermal paste really cause a 10-15*C temp rise? Seems that is excessive...

 

You should expect your Q9650 to run hotter on load than the E8600 as it's quad vs dual core temps. I would say 75-80C on full load is average for a Q9650, in a desktop PC with stock Intel HSF you will hit the same temps on Primes - shouldn't worry unless it is jumping up to past 85C for any length of time

 

I wasn't running primes. I was rendering with Mental Ray, which is not only using the CPU 100%, but also the RAM and the video card. I'm fine with doing this myself, but trying to weigh voiding the warranty on it to reduce the heat. Hmmm... So, I should:

1. Clean the fans
2. Clean the heatsink
3. Reapply thermal paste

Is there a better heatsink that will fit?

 

You still shouldn't have any stability or heat issues - though most people would advise a notebook cooler for that sort of intensive work it isn't essential to keep the system stable. Thus the heatsinks are designed to keep the components at safe operating temperatures.

If you're worried about voiding the warranty then consult your reseller directly first and they will be able to advise you - it would be worth isolating your CPU load temps and GPU load temps seperately - the Blend Test in Prime is very CPU intensive but also pushes the RAM quite hard.

 

How much difference can thermal paste really make in degrees Celsius at full load?

I must admit I used a 6 year old (unopened) tube of Nanotherm Silver XTC when I installed my Q9650. Since my temps seem high, I ordered a tube of Arctic Silver 5, but don't really want to go through the trouble to putting it in if it will only drop temps by ~1*C.

 

Don't worry with the thermal paste, at least not yet.

Just get a can of air and blast everything clear.

Worked fine for me when I had heat issues.

In the long term a notebook cooler pad is a good idea as it will increase the lifetime of your notebook.

 

Just in case you do decide to use thermal paste, I would suggest you use a non conductive one i.e not Arctic Silver 5.

 

Do you really think cleaning it out is going to make a 20*C difference? I will clean it, and I'm getting the best tested cooler I can by Thermaltake - tests show 7-8 degree difference. I also ordered IC Diamond which proves in 3 side by side tests I've seen a 2 degree difference from Arctic Silver 5. But, why do you say go with non-conductive? Anyway, that's 10 degrees. I hope cleaning accounts for more.

 

i have similiar problems with heating. my temp after almost a year are 70+ when playing and 40-50 in idle(stands for CPU and GPU the same). when i clean all three fans on my D900F the temps are better just for the next two weeks then its the same. i´m waiting for the new zalman nc 3000 cooler but i think there is nothing to improve the temps. i just play two hours and when i see the temps getting over 70 to 80 in Everest gadget I´ll shut it down for a few hours. But I´m afraid there is no helpful idea to decrease the temps permanently

 

i dont see a problem with load temps of 70-80 if they are stable and dont increase further. actually for the GPU thats pretty moderate.
also take into account the room temperature you have when comparing your temps to others.

 

If your notebook is clogged with dust, 20C difference after cleaning might even be an understatement.

 

You don't have a problem with heating at all. Those numbers are perfectly allright. That processor of yours is a i7, they are supposed to do that.

 

Yeah I'm surprised to see such low temps. For an i7 quad (even a mobile) it's common to see 80-85C during gaming. For a 285M 70-80C is a normal range as well.
As mentioned, if the temps stabilize around 80C - don't worry.

 

That's what I'd like to get mine down to - 80C instead of 100C. I can hit 80C after 5 minutes of rendering. I'm waiting for my stuff to come (cooler and thermal paste). I will clean it out, use the cooler and test, and then I'll probably end up undervolting it too, and if I need to, reapply thermal paste.

 

You might be ok after just the dust cleaning alone.

 

How hot can the Q9650 run?

 

In theory the Q9650 shuldn't be running above 70C for any length of time.

 

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but the gtx480M in my D900F is acting weird. It would give errors if the temp is above 80C. Also, the fan seems to be a bit more quiet lately, as if it doesn't kick into the highest RPM. What steps should I take to identify the problem? I'm not sure right now whether it's the fan, or the thermal paste.