I5+Geforce 540M CPU/GPU temperatures when gaming?

[Peder_dingo]

Hi. I bought an Acer laptop about a week ago. It has an i5, 4 gigs of ram and a 2 gig Geforce 540M. I have been gaming on it, and I had some crashes in a particular game which lead me to believe that perhaps it is overheating. Downloaded real temp and I have recorded a maximum CPU temperature of 90 degrees while the GPU was 80 degrees. I shut down the game after that (it didnt crash and Windows didnt give me any warnings) because I was afraid I might melt it down. Does anyone have any advice on laptop gaming and what I should consider reasonable temperatures while gaming?

 

[Peder_dingo]

Hi I have found myself to be in quite a bad situtation because all of this. I made a thread about the ordeal here:

http/www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/70705-20-expect-manufacturer

I would really like any form of input, because I only have until the end of this week to return the computer.

 

[WR2]

TJ-max is the throttle down point and is the max safe operating temp.
But not all hardware monitoring programs get the temps right all the time, so I like to see if the CPU, in fact, throttles itself which gives a certain indication. The 100C/105C for your model CPU is higher than I thought it would be.

Does ACER give you cooling profile options? It was mostly the idle temps that lead me to think the cooling isn't performing as designed. If that's because it's being weighted toward less noise than optimum cooling I'd be less concerned.

 

[WR2]

I read your other thread about that 'remote optimization". As far as I can see that could only mean tweaking the cooling profile (fan speed) or jiggling with the CPU speed.

 

[Peder_dingo]

He didn't go into detail - but I guess it has to do with BIOS tweaking and stuff like that. The question is can I do this by myself and achieve stellar results? The way I see it I should do one of the 3 things I suggested in the other thread.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Like clocking it differently and stuff like that, so I can't really completely rely on the original specsheet. In which case I might be better off with a lower spec laptop that can use it fully.

 

[WR2]

I don't know how flexible the ACER BIOS and control programs would be, or if it's something you could do yourself. I suspect that could be the case, but I just don't know.

I noticed the Acer support staff agree it was operating higher than expected. There is no way of telling if that's partly due to the natural variation in CPUs, some type of mis-handling during shipping or a sloppy assembly procedure.

The downside of returning it would be that you get it back and are told it's operating inside 'allowable tolerances' after it being away for a couple weeks. The upside would be you find it IS with the allowable tolerances or perhaps they can adjust the cooling performance. Or it would be replaced.

I think you'd end up with more confidence having it returned from a technical review by a (relative) expert, familiar with similar models than you would discussing generalities/possibilities in a forum.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Well he didn't exactly say he didnt expect it to get this hot, he just said 90 degrees was too much for sustained use. I mean they have an optimization programme for this specifically and he seemed familiar with the issue. But still wanted a hundred bucks to do it. So I suspect its a standard deal - advertise high specs (it is substantially better specs than anything else in the price range here) but save production costs by building with low quality components like fans and such and then put a cap on it fan speed etc. so the components dont wear out super fast. Most customers probably wouldnt notice something like this. I mean it just seemed well familiar to the guy when I contacted him - it wasnt in-depth support he offered, it was a remote setting tool to do a fast "optimization". A standard operation it seemed. Hundred bucks, please.

But you are right I would get clarification if I go through the full process, however if I want to exchange this for something else, I have 3-4 days. If I send it in for a check, I will forfeit the option of changing it to something else. So I have to make up my mind fast.

The specs are just SO much better than anything else in the range so I am thinking is it possible to underclock the i5 and keep using the geforce without getting these high temperatures? And would that be better than an i5/Intel HD3000 combination or i3/Geforce 520M 1 gig option?

 

[WR2]

I don't think you'll be playing many games at a high level with the HD3000 graphics built on the CPU. The Geforce 520M will do mostly low graphics tolerably well.
Are the Acer models you're only option?

 

[Peder_dingo]

I got it narrowed down a bit, but if I am going to change, it will be to worse specs. If I return it I have to spend the money in the same place, so I that limits the options, unfortunately. If I turn it in I got it basically narrowed down to this:

1. Packard Bell Easynote ENTS11HR640NC (I don't know if they are any good, but I know Acer owns them)
i5 2,3 ghz / 4 gig ram / Geforce GT520M 1 gig

2. Toshiba Satellite C660-1MF
i5 2,3 ghz / 4 gig ram / Intel HD3000

3. Toshiba Satellite C660-1TT
i3 2,1 ghz / 4 gig ram / Geforce 315M 1 gig

4. Packard Bell Easynote TM85-544
i3 2,4 ghz (but an older i3 model than the other i3's in the list) / 4 gig ram / Geforce 420M 1 gig

5. HP Pavillion g6-1129eo
i5 2,3 ghz / 4 gig ram / Intel HD3000

6. Samsung NP-RV520-A02SE
i3 2,1 ghz / 4 gig ram / Intel HD3000


So GPU-wise everything is a step down - but then again if that means my computer wont burn out after a year of gaming, I'd prefer that.

 

[Peder_dingo]

However I just came up with something. I read about that Intel 3000, and it turns out if you have a Geforce in my series, it uses some sort of technology to utilize both the onboard Intel HD AND the Geforce simultaneosly - that might account for high temps. I am going to figure out how to switch it off and test it, but still I would like advice to what I ought to do.

 

[WR2]

That might be a BIOS option.
But I don't think the HD 3000 is active while the GT 540M is running.
Its only when GT 540M isn't needed that the HD3000 is active. They call that Optiums.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Yeah you are right I just skimmed a fan site, and then found the official documentation which says its either/or. No luck I guess. Not being super familiar with pc's anymore, is there an easy and safe way to try and underclock the processor to just give it a go? It seems if I change to one of the other computers I am sacrifing a lot of GPU power/memory.

 

[WR2]

No doubt about it. None of your options look attractive.

Packard Bell EasyNote TS11 HR review I believe this is the same model, with different GPU option, as the first alternate you listed.
Of interest is the 93C CPU temp they report when tested with Prime and Furmark.
They mention it's higher than expected but they also give an above average rating on the whole.

 

[WR2]

Samsung RV520-W01 review

 

[Peder_dingo]

Thanks I am reading through it now and then I am going to read about the 520M the specific model I looked at came with. I really appreciate all the help - it is a bit frustrating because I have to make a decision pretty fast and I hate doing the "wrong" deal🙂

By any chance is there a super easy safe way of underclocking the CPU? Like pressing one button or something like that without risking anything?

 

[WR2]

Of all the leads that Google turned up this one looks most promising: Throttlestop
It's actually designed to do the opposite of what you need but also looks flexible and powerful to change the CPU multi to allow lower CPU performance.

Also, while not authoritative, I've run across a few comments that make it look as there might be a design decision by Acer (and some other MFRGs) to use 'barely adequate cooling' designs. I guess they trust the Intel TJ-max spec or have inside information that spec has some padding? It might be the case that a 90C CPU operating temp might not indicate a cooling 'malfunction' after all.

 

[Peder_dingo]

I think I got it all figured out! I used windows control panel to make a power setting only using 80% CPU power and I am doing the prime95 test again. So far the 100% load shows an 18 degree improvement! We will see how that translates into gaming performance.

Generally speaking is it worth sacrificing the CPU power to keep the good graphics card? Or would I most likely be better off with the slower gpu and lower vram of the 520M and the full power of the i5?

 

[WR2]

If you can adjust the power setting based on your 'requirements of the moment' I see very little downside to keeping the better GPU for gaming.

What did CPU-z show on the Prime95 run for CPU speed and multi?

 

[Peder_dingo]

100% CPU power results. Tj Max=100 degrees on both cores

80% CPU power results. Tj Max=100 degrees on both cores

 

[Peder_dingo]

Yeah I read somewhere that bus speeds and such are bottlenecks anyways so 20% CPU power reduction doesnt translate to 20% less performance. We will see how it holds when doing a game test, Also this way I can always "scale up", buy a laptop cooler and see how much juice I can add. I just need a benchmark value - like should I try and aim at maintaining a difference of 20 degrees to the tjmax? 30?

When gaming the values far exceed the prime95 test though - 10 degrees to tjmax(!) at 100% power