Undervolting N850HK1

In the continuing quest to get the CPU temps within an acceptable range while running at 100% under full load, I think I would like to give undervolting the CPU a try. I've read some of the undervolting guides, but I've never done it before so I would like to get as much information as I can before I dive in. I've already repasted the CPU and GPU with Arctic MX-4, which helped quite a bit at idle and normal use, but didn't do much to lower the temps at full load. I have the processor running at 98% max to keep the CPU temps in the 70-75°C range.

I've downloaded ThrottleStop and Intel XTU, but I don't really know which one of these would work best with the N850HK1. If anyone has successfully undervolted the CPU so it will run at 100% capacity under full load with temperatures less than the high 90's than you get with the stock configuration and would care to share that information here, it would certainly be appreciated.

 

I think I saw this video, it covers all the basics. I was wondering if anyone had undervolted an N850HK1 and had some specific figures. I'll give it a go and see how it works.

 

I tried basic undervolting with ThrottleStop without any real improvement.

Without undervolting, the range of CPU temps ran from 45°C at idle to 98°C under full load(rendering 1080 video). I repasted the CPU heat sink with Arctic MX-4, which dropped the idle and average use temperature by 10-15°C, but did nothing for the extremely high temps under full load.



With a reasonable undervolt using ThrottleStop, the idle temperature dropped a bit, but again, no help with the CPU under full load.



I was hoping for more help with the high CPU temps by undervolting, but I guess the cooling system on the N850HK1 just can't handle the CPU temps under full load. I'm pretty much stuck with 98% CPU until I figure out a hardware improvement to the CPU cooling system.

 

Yes, you are right. We need these (this post and below)

But no one on this forum can help with the purchase.(

 

I have the dual pipe heat sink. It is not able to keep CPU temps within acceptable range. Poor quality control.

 

do this:

take off the heatsink, remove all the padding under it in the area where it meets the fan, remove the screw from the LED LID also and just leave it unscrewed. after this apply grizzly conductonaut to both CPU and Heatsink, but use a bit bigger are on the HS than the chip is.

oh, and do rub the heatsink with scotch brite material from kitchen sponge to ground it and clean with alco after.

but! do clean the CPU surface with alcohol and then rub it with Gelid extreme thermal paste to remove factory TIM residual because it tends to react with Liquid Metal. off course clean out the Gelid(or Grizzly Kryonaut) paste with pure alcohol(iso) afterwards before applying LM.

I promise after this you will have full 100% load of CPU under 85C or even under 80C.

 

I considered using Grizzly Conductonaut but because it is liquid metal and the laptop I have is moved around a lot, the consequences of the metal leaking onto the motherboard from the rather loose fitting CPU heat sink made me decide against it. I did clean the CPU, GPU and heatsink with Scotchbrite and alcohol before applying the Arctic MX-4.

I'm not so sure that applying any thermal compound will lower the CPU temps nearly 20°C unless something was wrong to begin with.

 

@ ronbo613, Use the tape around the chip to avoid leakage. Even on my one-pipe cooling this gave a strong reduction of peak temperatures.

 

Don't worry, I have my 13.3" LAPtop, and I mean LAP with big letters, I pasted with LM with no problem. I move it around every other minute. The good thing about LM is that it sticks to itself, so it can not drain out like water.

 

Unless it pools at all and then it breaks surface tension and does go everywhere with a bit of inertia from movement.

 

As much as I want to get the computer working at 100%, I can't take the chance of bricking the CPU or motherboard, especially since "tinkering"(repasting a poor factory job on the CPU) has voided my warranty.

 

You could use a better product like kryonaut

 

Most of the test results available on the internet show not much difference in performance between Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and Arctic MX-4. Certainly not the 10-20°C reduction I'm looking for. I checked it out before using MX-4. The Arctic MX-4 is adequate because there was a significant drop in idle and "normal" use temps, probably due to a poor thermal compound application(most of the compound was on the motherboard), but no reduction in temps under load.

If you switch from regular gas to premium on a vehicle with an engine problem, it's not going to run any better.

 

What tests?

 

Then using a barrier is your best option, people have had a mix of varnish/tape and foam.

 

Google

I'd like to find out a more reliable solution to this issue other than running a thermal compound test bed. I got this computer to do work on, not as a hobby. I'll have another look inside since the headphone jack stopped working, probably more issues down the road due to poor quality control. I think I made a mistake going with Eluktronics, might be time to eat the loss and get a more reliable computer. The computer has good components, assembly and quality control is poor.