VPCZ1 and cooling with games?

Hello,

So I am not a huge gamer, but I like to occasionally. And I have been very satisfied with my Vaio Z. However, when i play any games such as starcraft II even, everything stutters. I believe it is that the CPU is getting too hot and it is trying to dump heat.

Any way i can keep the CPU cooler to try to reduce this? (I bought a laptop pad with fans, although not sure it helps much since the Z's fans are on the side )

Thanks!

 

Try (1) setting the thermal strategy to 'performance', and (2) getting an external fan and having it face the left side vent, and (3) lift the bottom of the laptop up creating more space at the bottom.

 

Also, get a temperature monitoring utility to confirm your suspicions. It is by no means the only suspect. Everest, Speedfan, CPU-Z, GPU-Z, are some of the programs you could try.

If temperature is not the issue, get a benchmark app and check the performance of your system against other similar systems. You might need to update your drivers, and turn off unneccessary background processes that might be hogging resources.

Once everything is working the way it should, reduce game settings so that it runs decently on the hardware that you have.

 

Given that one does not overclock the GPU and the cooling system is working properly (not much dust stuck in the heatsink etc.) the Z should run loud but very cool. There have not been any reports of throttling yet on a properly working Z, just people with thermal strategy set to quiet which results in permanent slowdowns.

 

Thanks!

I know it is odd, I would not expect it either. (and I do have it in performance mode for heat dissipation)

However, it seems (using CPUID HW Monitor) that once one of the cores gets up to 95-98 deg Celsius performance drastically slows until its back in the 80s; then everything is normal.

It also does not seem to depend on graphics settings (lowest or high graphics performs in the same manner) leading me to think it is a CPU thing (and as I have a model with the i7, wouldnt anticipate an issue. If anything would think the GPU would more likely be a problem

Definitely intriguing (and annoying).

Also, that is a good point. I wonder if dust in the fan/heatsink could be an issue. How do check/get any dust out?

 

What are the idle CPU temps and usage? Is there something running in the background hogging resources? What are the temps of the other cores when this core gets to 95?

 

Thanks! the idle CPU temps seem to be in the 70s. Sometimes just a web browser in the background, but happens even if nothing (that i know of, and task manager doesn't reveal anything hogging CPU)

Usually the other core is also in the 90s, but slightly lower, high 80s-90s.

 

Way too high. Open up your machine, gently clean the fan unit from dust. Recheck your temperatures. May also be possible that the heatsink does not contact the CPU good enough, but its a PITA to check that since you have to take out the motherboard (CPU/GPU is on the bottom side of the mobo).

 

Yikes, nervous to open up my machine. Any hints? heh

 

^Did you check yet the Thermal Strategy in Vaio Control Center? Sounds an awful lot like it's set to silent.

 

Yes, set as "Performance Mode"

 

I think there is no option left than opening that thing up. Nothing to worry about, just take care of the keyboard cable or leave it connected and just flip the keyboard unit over - then you can also clean your fan. Search the forum for ZoinksS2k, an elite Z owner, who uploaded various disassembly pics/tuts and some videos.