Sony Vaio SA overheating issue

I have noticed that recently my laptop is burning up when playing games thus need help.

Basic background information:

My CPU runs at around mid 60s degree C when doing basic surfing (youtube, and text heavy websites), low 50s degree C if i were to turn on my external fan to high. When gaming, the laptop used to run on around 85 to 88 degree C when I have my external fan on high; however, recently the CPU has gone up to 93 to 94 degree C, in which by that point the computer is not really usable in terms of gaming.

My computer runs on SSD only, so heating as a result of hard drive is not really an issue. Also the computer is constantly placed at around 10 degree angle on a table, so the computer itself should have enough room to be well ventilated. My external fan is a PacificBreeze SP300, which has been cooling my system by 5 to 8 degree consistently until recently.

Pretty much this problem happens on all the games I play, among them are Counter Strike GO, gotham city impostors free to play, and Arma II DayZ mod.

Hopefully someone can help me out, because I am not going to get any from sony support site.

 

Really sorry to hear about this but with the, in my opinion, flawed exhaust vent design its as if Sony chose desgin over function. I wanted to buy myself an SA once but, that lid over-the-vent design really killed for me. I knew it would cause overheating when under full load & its evident by what you & others have experienced.

I would also be suspicious of it needing new thermal paste. Have you considered this?

Sent from my SPH-M580 using Tapatalk

 

yes, I have be suspicious in regards to the thermal paste possibility. But it is just that there isn't any great DIY tutorials when it comes to something like that (i prefer something with step by step picture), and I am fairly clumsy and afraid to break the laptop. But if there is any tutorials you know that are good and any good thermal paste, then maybe I will try to see how a new thermal paste works out in my laptop.

As for the vent issue, it hasn't been a problem for me at all despite having the lid over vent design. The laptop has been working very well with the cooling part for the past year. Only issue I have with the SA is the fan noise, it is so loud to a point where it is almost on par with the noise that my external fan makes.

 

What CPU option did you go with?

I have 13" SA with the i7-3520M, and it idle's at ~45C and peaks around 75C. I don't game on it, but I use some CUDA enabled software which pushes the CPU and GPU to max for up to 15 minutes at a time. According to Intel the danger zone for these Ivy Bridge chips is up over 100C, so they are designed to take some heat. Have you tried setting the fan to Priority to Ventilation (available in the Vaio control center)?

 

To be honest since I've never personally owned a Sony notebook, I can only give you general advice. I do know the S series is very popular on this site so I'm sure someone with more expertise will chime in.

Search for disassembly guides online, I'm sure some one has made one. Also, check with Sony's support site to see if there's a maintenance manual. For example, Lenovo provides a Hardware Maintenance Manual for my E425. In the manual are step by step instructions on how to disassemble the notebook.

Besides a thermal repaste, I would also clean the interior of your notebook of any debris & dust that may be affecting heating & cooling.

Sent from my SPH-M580 using Tapatalk

 

don't open up your laptop yet. instead, disable Intel TurboBoost to prevent the CPU cores from overclocking themselves. it will reduce about 5C-6C off your load temperatures. go to Control Panel > Power Options > choose the plan you're using > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings > Processor power management > Maximum processor state > set to 99% (instead of 100%).

mine is not overheating at all, even when i'm playing Battlefield 3 with an overclocked GPU (i'm also using a notebook cooler).

 

@Kanati: I am using the intel core i5-2410M clocked at 2.30 GHz, which puts my CPU into the sandy bridge category. I guess my CPU's idol temp is a bit higher than what most people are seeing, which bugs me because the temp i usually see on basic browsing is similar to the temp you are seeing on heavy load (70 ish)

@david: yeah, if i were to open my laptop, i would definitely clean it. Considering that I have been using the laptop for a bit over a year now, it must have quite a dust build up, which contributes to the problem somewhat.

@darxide: I am going to try this and hopefully it will solve my problem for now. And how do you overclock your GPU, because the AMD radeon 6630M is feeling a bit underpower now when playing some of the newer games (DayZ especially), and how much hotter will an average computer gets when doing so?

 

My bad, for some reason I had it in my head that you were talking about the 2012 model. The sandy bridge chips will run a little hotter than their ivy bridge equivalents because they're manufactured on a larger lithography (32nm). That being said, a 70C idle is much too high.

I would start by grabbing a can of compressed air and blasting it through the intake vents (not the outflow vent!). Even a thin coating of dust on the heatsink can greatly decrease its effectiveness. I've seen temps drop by 10C from this step alone, and you won't even have to open the laptop. Unfortunately I can see any way to hold the fan still while doing this with the S13 (which is always advisable, a spinning fan = a small electric generator), so it may be safer to do it with the cover off.

 

i'm using Sapphire TRiXX to overclock my GPU. when i play Battlefield 3 (with GPU overclocked from 485MHz core/800MHz memory/900mV core voltage to 735MHz core/933MHz memory/904mV core voltage and with TurboBoost disabled), my max GPU temperatures are around 87C. the CPU is also around the same temperature. it's hot, but it's within the safety thermal limit of both the CPU and the GPU. i'm also using NotePal U2 cooler with the two fans placed right under the intake vents of the SA.

 

I believe there are some big quality control issues with the cooling systems on these laptops. My SB series is idling at 75c. The CPU hits 95c simply from placing the laptop on its side (the cooling system is gravity driven). It is in high performance mode... but still... GPU hits 90c after 2 minutes of furmark... not as bad, looks like the CPU is my problem.

I will do a repaste now post the results.