*Bizarre* Laptop Cooling Issue

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  • Nizar_Lahmar
    PCHF Member
    • Jan 2020
    • 13

    #1

    *Bizarre* Laptop Cooling Issue

    So, I already made a topic similar to this a long while back, and since I have more info on the situation now, I thought I’d make an new one in the hopes of being able to fix this.
    My laptop has a GTX 1050, paired with an i7-7700HQ. And the problem is none other than overheating.
    But you see, the issue isn’t in the overheating itself, but rather the fact the GPU temperature LITERALLY does not go down, no matter what you do. Making sure the laptop has proper airflow, a cooling pad, or a strong fan underneath, does not help, at all, not even by a single degree difference, which is just insane.
    Additionally, this happens whenever a game has any sort of 3D shebang going on, meaning as soon as the game starts etc, the temperature sky rockets to 85 Celsius, and remains there until said game is closed, and this 85 degree mark is pertinent, because it’s the exact mark at which the throttling begins, meaning right as it hits 85, the core clock drops, and FPS obviously starts dropping too, and extensively, were talking from 60 average to the 10 vicinity, stuttering at max.
    Moreover, I tried basically all I could, fiddling around with the NVIDIA control panel, downloading third party software, making sure no viruses were interfering with performance, fiddling around with my power saving options, reinstalling Windows, and even underclocking, which helped, but only very, very insignificantly.
    Furthermore, I noticed that as soon as the laptop is unplugged, the FPS gets capped to 30, and the temperature barely reaches 75, which is expected since it’s drawing in less power, I’m assuming it underclocks itself, but much more effectively than a simple Afterburner curve can.
    What’s even more baffling, is that even if, a game is running at embarrassingly low settings, like pixel-like quality, as long as that baby is a 3D game, or using 3D models or something EVEN IF IT’S 2D, it will sure as hell stutter.
    Anyhow, I’m sorry if this is too long, I can’t rely on my computer’s unplugged performance it barely reaches an hour before needing to be plugged in, if only there was a way to get the laptop to run the way it would if unplugged, or I guess a way to draw in less power. Any ideas guys?
  • phillpower2
    PCHF Administrator
    • Sep 2016
    • 15209

    #2
    Hello again Nizar Lahmar,

    Did you upgrade the RAM as was suggested in your previous thread.
    Originally posted by Nizar Lahmar
    Furthermore, I noticed that as soon as the laptop is unplugged, the FPS gets capped to 30,
    That is normal behaviour as being that the notebook has a dedicated GPU which needs the extra power disconnecting the AC adapter starves the GPU of power and the notebook reverts back to using the Intel HD graphics.

    Can you post a Speccy url for us.

    Comment

    • phillpower2
      PCHF Administrator
      • Sep 2016
      • 15209

      #3
      Power Profile
      Active power scheme: Balanced

      When gaming you must have the AC adaptor powering the notebook and the Windows Power Plan set to High Performance or your GPU will not work properly or at all if the AC adaptor is not connected.

      Operating System
      Windows 10 Pro Education 64-bit
      Computer type: Notebook
      Installation Date: 4/29/2021 2:25:19 AM
      Windows Security Center

      There are no chipset drivers for the MB shown to have been installed, as soon as Windows has been installed you must install the latest chipset drivers for the MB as the chipset is what enables the board to be able to communicate with all the other hardware, after the chipset drivers you install the storage/SATA drivers and then the GPU drivers.

      Please note that chipset drivers for new MBs must be installed from either the installation disk that shipped with the MB or direct from the MBs download centre, if you do not do this Windows update may download and install the wrong drivers and cause you no end of trouble.
      Originally posted by Nizar Lahmar
      no I didn’t upgrade the RAM, I assumed it won’t exactly affect performance, and the laptop worked more than fine when doing daily tasks,
      Sorry but you were advised in your previous thread as to how having only the one stick of RAM was affecting performance.

      RAM
      Memory slots
      Total memory slots: 4
      Used memory slots: 1
      Free memory slots: 3
      Memory
      Type: Unknown
      Size: 16384 MBytes
      Channels #: Single
      DRAM Frequency: 1197.1 MHz
      CAS# Latency (CL): 17 clocks
      RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 17 clocks
      RAS# Precharge (tRP): 17 clocks
      Cycle Time (tRAS): 39 clocks
      Command Rate (CR): 2T
      Physical Memory
      Memory Usage: 32 %

      From my reply #4 at your previous thread;

      There is nothing wrong with the hardware that would explain what you describe so nothing to fix there.

      Two things of note in Speccy, the RAM is only running at 50% of what it is capable of, 1200MHz as opposed to 2400MHz.

      RAM
      16.0GB Single-Channel Unknown @ 1197MHz

      The RAM only working is single channel is causing not only a bottleneck but also causing more of the RAM to be used than is necessary, 32% is being used when just running Speccy so imagine what is happening when the computer is put under load when gaming.

      Short version, your computer is being made to work harder than it needs to be because of the RAM and missing drivers could also be affecting your settings and cooling.

      Comment

      • Nizar_Lahmar
        PCHF Member
        • Jan 2020
        • 13

        #4
        Originally posted by phillpower2
        Power Profile
        Active power scheme: Balanced

        When gaming you must have the AC adaptor powering the notebook and the Windows Power Plan set to High Performance or your GPU will not work properly or at all if the AC adaptor is not connected.

        Operating System
        Windows 10 Pro Education 64-bit
        Computer type: Notebook
        Installation Date: 4/29/2021 2:25:19 AM
        Windows Security Center

        There are no chipset drivers for the MB shown to have been installed, as soon as Windows has been installed you must install the latest chipset drivers for the MB as the chipset is what enables the board to be able to communicate with all the other hardware, after the chipset drivers you install the storage/SATA drivers and then the GPU drivers.

        Please note that chipset drivers for new MBs must be installed from either the installation disk that shipped with the MB or direct from the MBs download centre, if you do not do this Windows update may download and install the wrong drivers and cause you no end of trouble.

        Sorry but you were advised in your previous thread as to how having only the one stick of RAM was affecting performance.

        RAM
        Memory slots
        Total memory slots: 4
        Used memory slots: 1
        Free memory slots: 3
        Memory
        Type: Unknown
        Size: 16384 MBytes
        Channels #: Single
        DRAM Frequency: 1197.1 MHz
        CAS# Latency (CL): 17 clocks
        RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 17 clocks
        RAS# Precharge (tRP): 17 clocks
        Cycle Time (tRAS): 39 clocks
        Command Rate (CR): 2T
        Physical Memory
        Memory Usage: 32 %

        From my reply #4 at your previous thread;

        There is nothing wrong with the hardware that would explain what you describe so nothing to fix there.

        Two things of note in Speccy, the RAM is only running at 50% of what it is capable of, 1200MHz as opposed to 2400MHz.

        RAM
        16.0GB Single-Channel Unknown @ 1197MHz

        The RAM only working is single channel is causing not only a bottleneck but also causing more of the RAM to be used than is necessary, 32% is being used when just running Speccy so imagine what is happening when the computer is put under load when gaming.

        Short version, your computer is being made to work harder than it needs to be because of the RAM and missing drivers could also be affecting your settings and cooling.
        Okay thank you for the rundown. All drivers are up to date as far as I’m aware, and I only set the power mode to Balanced since High Performance didn’t show much difference. I am planning to update the BIOS, though I doubt that’ll help since I believe I already have the latest version, I technically do (version 308), but the dates show that the version I have is a few months out of date, yet the version number is still 308 and not 309 or something, I’ll try it regardless.

        Anyhow, alrighty then I’ll take more RAM into consideration, hopefully it does help, and I was running other things as I did the Speccy analyzation that’s why I believe the usage was at 32%, but nonetheless it is weirdly high.
        Also, I did try taking out the notebook’s battery like you suggested in the last thread, to see what changes it’ll wield, but unfortunately that made performance much, MUCH worse.

        Comment

        • phillpower2
          PCHF Administrator
          • Sep 2016
          • 15209

          #5
          A word from the wise, unless you are happy to run the risk of ending up with a rather expensive paperweight leave the BIOS well alone.

          Upgrading the RAM is still the best bang per buck upgrade that you can do tbh, faster performance all round and real helpful to those who like having multiple tabs permanently open.
          Originally posted by Nizar Lahmar
          Also, I did try taking out the notebook’s battery like you suggested in the last thread, to see what changes it’ll wield, but unfortunately that made performance much, MUCH worse.
          Well that makes no sense whatsoever, it should have either made no difference at all or allowed the computer to start/boot up slightly quicker due to there not being a battery to slow the flow of energy down and Windows not needing to load drivers for the battery.

          Comment

          • Nizar_Lahmar
            PCHF Member
            • Jan 2020
            • 13

            #6
            Originally posted by phillpower2
            A word from the wise, unless you are happy to run the risk of ending up with a rather expensive paperweight leave the BIOS well alone.

            Upgrading the RAM is still the best bang per buck upgrade that you can do tbh, faster performance all round and real helpful to those who like having multiple tabs permanently open.

            Well that makes no sense whatsoever, it should have either made no difference at all or allowed the computer to start/boot up slightly quicker due to there not being a battery to slow the flow of energy down and Windows not needing to load drivers for the battery.
            Alright then, I’ll leave it alone haha.
            I know right? I thought taking out the battery would legitimately do something, but as far as gaming goes, performance tanked to the point where movements weren’t even choppy, they were insanely slow and somehow appeared to be getting worse the more you play.
            I still find it unfathomable how a fan right underneath the chassis strongly blowing cool air (without obstructing anything) doesn’t cause a single degree difference, but yeah what will ya do I guess.
            Nonetheless, thank you for your support, it is very, very much so appreciated.

            Comment

            • phillpower2
              PCHF Administrator
              • Sep 2016
              • 15209

              #7
              Originally posted by Nizar Lahmar
              I still find it unfathomable how a fan right underneath the chassis strongly blowing cool air (without obstructing anything) doesn’t cause a single degree difference, but yeah what will ya do I guess.
              If you are referring to a USB powered cooling pad let me know and I will explain.

              Comment

              • Nizar_Lahmar
                PCHF Member
                • Jan 2020
                • 13

                #8
                Originally posted by phillpower2
                If you are referring to a USB powered cooling pad let me know and I will explain.
                You are right, it is a USB powered cooling pad, but I also bought this fan that- let me send you the Amazon link.
                It really blows considerable air.

                Comment

                • phillpower2
                  PCHF Administrator
                  • Sep 2016
                  • 15209

                  #9
                  What people are not made aware of by the sellers of such fans is the fact that being USB powered means that there is a bigger power draw required from the battery/AC adapter and motherboard circuit and all that does is increase the internal temperatures even more.

                  USB powered cooling fans and pads are not a good idea and paying a little more for a mains powered device is always more worthwhile.

                  Comment

                  • Nizar_Lahmar
                    PCHF Member
                    • Jan 2020
                    • 13

                    #10
                    Originally posted by phillpower2
                    What people are not made aware of by the sellers of such fans is the fact that being USB powered means that there is a bigger power draw required from the battery/AC adapter and motherboard circuit and all that does is increase the internal temperatures even more.

                    USB powered cooling fans and pads are not a good idea and paying a little more for a mains powered device is always more worthwhile.
                    Oooohh I see. Yeah that makes a lot of sense, thank you for clarifying!
                    I did try some more efficient under-volt curves these past 2 days, and it seemed to make matters slightly better overall, I’ll keep improving the under-volt 'til I settle on a proper all-rounder one.

                    Comment

                    • phillpower2
                      PCHF Administrator
                      • Sep 2016
                      • 15209

                      #11
                      The problem that you have is compounded by a couple of things;

                      The notebook is very thin so there is less room for cool clean air to be drawn in through the vents and across the hardware.
                      Your USB devices are causing more heat to be generated.
                      Your RAM is having to work harder when you put the notebook under load.
                      The present 70°F temperature where you are.

                      Also a downside to your particular model of notebook, there is no service hatch on the base for accessing the RAM or storage device/s, had there of been you could have removed them as that would allow for more cool, clean air to find its way inside the notebook.

                      Comment

                      • Nizar_Lahmar
                        PCHF Member
                        • Jan 2020
                        • 13

                        #12
                        I don’t know of any city on earth with an ambient temperature of 70 degrees Celsius xD I live in Morocco, it’s relatively hot these days, I mean we’re approaching summer, but it’s not 70 Celsius, if it was I’d worry about cooling down myself lol

                        This laptop isn’t thin to be honest, it’s actually pretty bulky for a semi-modern notebook, but yes it’s not really spacious I suppose.
                        I used a normal small charger brick for the fan now, therefore I’m no longer letting it generate more heat.
                        I’ll try to upgrade the RAM as soon as possible. Do you recommend not using this 16 gig stick and buying two 8 gig dims? Or just buying another 16 gig one, to run 32 gigs in dual channel?

                        Comment

                        • phillpower2
                          PCHF Administrator
                          • Sep 2016
                          • 15209

                          #13
                          Oops, sorry about that, meant Fahrenheit which equates to around 21°C.

                          Regarding the RAM, whatever works out the best price wise, having 32GB of RAM is great but pointless if you don`t actually use/need it, 16GB in dual channel is more than adequate for most people.

                          Comment

                          • Nizar_Lahmar
                            PCHF Member
                            • Jan 2020
                            • 13

                            #14
                            Originally posted by phillpower2
                            Oops, sorry about that, meant Fahrenheit which equates to around 21°C.

                            Regarding the RAM, whatever works out the best price wise, having 32GB of RAM is great but pointless if you don`t actually use/need it, 16GB in dual channel is more than adequate for most people.
                            Ah, yes I agree.

                            I see. Well, nonetheless, thank you a lot for the help man! I really appreciate it, having a professional to discuss this with immensely helped. Thanks again!!
                            I hope this helps others in the future too.

                            Comment

                            • phillpower2
                              PCHF Administrator
                              • Sep 2016
                              • 15209

                              #15
                              You are welcome and thanks for concluding your thread (y)

                              Comment

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