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?

 

[WR2]

I'm wondering if this is the $100 support "remote optimization" that Acer Tech mentioned.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Sorry for my many posts and slight ignorance. I didnt look at cpu-z but im going to run it again now and have a look - I should be looking in the "Clocks (Core #0)" section and observing "Core Speed" and "Multiplier"?

Currently those two are 798,2 Mhz although through the corner of my eye I just saw it jumping to ~1700 something, I think.

The other one says 8.0

Those are the two things to look at when the prime95 is running?

 

[Peder_dingo]

I reckon this in conjunction with reving up the fans to be honest - perhaps the cpu more elegantly clocked through the bios. When I know how my macbook revved up to insane speeds trying to stream HD video (first series core duo / intel gma945 adapter) this fan runs remarkably silent, even when the cpu is toasting itself. Nowhere near the "hairdryer" effect you would expect when the processor is 10 degrees from a meltdown.

Edit: I downloaded speed fan and I noticed I cant configure the fan from there - it might be because the programme isnt designed for laptops, but it still struck me a bit odd.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Ok watching CPU-Z at 80% power overall power settings, 100% workload it fluctuates between 1795,7 and 1796,1 Mhz and a steady multiplier of 18x.

37 and 35 degrees from tjmax

At 100% overall power settings, 100% workload it fluctuates between 2692,6 and 2694,2 and a steady multiplier of 27x

20 and 15 degrees from tjmax

Also one more thing, the idling temperature is the same on 80% and 100% which might suggest general inadequate cooling.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Ok I did a non-scientific comparison test.

Witcher 2 on medium-ish settings, 10 minutes of time in game on 100% power settings:

19-27 FPS in fraps

Maximum temperatures of 87 and 90 degrees in the two cores, and 78 degrees on the GPU.


80% power settings, same conditions:

15-24 FPS in fraps

Maximum temperatures of 74 and 76 degrees in the two cores, and 74 degrees on the GPU.


This seems like a totally viable solution - I think I would see a bigger performance decrease with an Intel HD or one of the lesser Geforces, no?


And what should I aim at temperature-wise for playing 1-2 hours straight?

 

[WR2]

Dell XPS 15 Notebook (i5-2410M & GT 540M) review
Max load temps touched 94C.

Packard Bell EasyNote TS11 (i7-2630QM & GT 540M) review
It's a Quad but this Sandy Bridge also hit 94C and the reviewers noted that was the point where the cooling kicked into high gear.
The processor's temperature increases up to 94 degrees Celsius before the cooling system steps up a level and the processor is cooled down to about 85 degrees again.

These temps did not seem to scare the reviewers. Both laptops got good ratings.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Strange. But also who is the target audience for the review? Hardcore gamers, casual gamers or people that use it for studying, ie. webbrowsing and use of office suites? I don't mind that it soars up to high temperatures momentarily, but when gaming it might be 1-2 hours of 90 degrees straight - and I don't think that is advisable in the long run. Also for instance I had the Macbook (1st gen) which got outstanding reviews, but it got super hot too - I think if reviewers of the Macbook did the review with gamers in mind, it would have received lesser scores because the fan goes on full hairdryer effect when the graphics are pushed just a little bit.

Also I have a feeling I experience fewer crashes-to-desktop with the reduced CPU output/reduced heat, but that might just be a "feeling".

But something seems to indicate that high temps is inherent to the Sandy Bridge's. A user here on the forum showed me a review of my laptop (configured with an i7 instead) and there was mention of high temps there as well.

So to be on the safe side, I am going to keep going with underclocking it. Somethimes I can game for 4-5 hours straight if I got nothing else to do, and I don't think sustained temperatures of 80-90 degrees for 4-5 hours in a row will do it any good.


I am very very thankful for all the help I have gotten. I still have 2 questions though:

1) Generally speaking is an underclocked i5+Geforce 540M 2 gig "better" than the same processor with unmodified clock speed+Geforce 520M 1 gig?

2) What temperatures should I aim at when gaming, as a "rule-of-thumb"?

 

[WR2]

The target audience for those independent reviews are potential owners who want to be an informed consumer.

There were enough other examples of Sandy Bridge dual and quad CPUs running at cooler temps too. I put that down to more robust cooling design or perhaps a more aggressive cooling fan profile. But it does point out, I believe, that your Acer cooling does not have a malfunction and is probably performing close to it's designed capability. There seems to be confidence on the part of the MFGRs that it's 'good enough'.

1) This issue looks unrelated to the GPU. I saw 90C+ CPU temps reported on on models with lower GPUs and even with integrated HD 3000 graphics. A GT 520M model will probably get 90C+ too from an Acer or Acer owned brand.
2) I haven't seen anything authoritative that gives guidance on this question. This might be more of a 'what makes you feel good' situation.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Yeah, I think I feel good at 75 degrees, although my hardcore gamer friend said his water cooled super computer never runs above 35 degrees and he suggested a range of 40-50 degrees tops. And I think I am going to keep this laptop afterall. I shouldn't expect the world of it gaming wise, and in reality I should just be happy I can run a game like witcher 2 at all on a discount laptop. And I think I am better off with an i5 running at 80%+540m geforce at 75 degrees than a full i5 and a vid card with lower performance at god knows what temperatures.

I really appreciate the help and effort you put into helping me out. Thx a lot

 

[WR2]

I think you'll find some games that don't send the CPU up above 90C so check for differences in games, especially new games.
I see no problems running the occasional gaming session @ 90% or even 100%. You can use those comparisons to look for the 80C and 75C performance levels in different games.

You should also be on the lookout for possible ways to change the fan performance profile too.

 

[WR2]

Gaming satisfaction is almost always dependent on the GPU.
Considering that the GT 540M has about as much power as a desktop GeForce GT 430 card and the GT 520M a bit less performance than a GeForce GT 220 desktop card I think sticking with the GT 540M is the smart move.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Yeah. Plus I can always supplement with an external cooler and then turn up the processor notch a bit higher. I expect the laptop will wear out eventually most likely due to gaming stress - you have to pay more or get a stationary if you really want that. And I think I can squeeze 3 years out of it, using it for gaming making sure temperatures rarely go above 75-80 degrees.

Fan control is also a possibility. I cant get control of them through SpeedFan, but I only spent 30 seconds on it. Knowing that my previous Acer died off due to the fan I want to be careful not to stress this fan too much - although that was 10 years ago and much has happened component-wise since.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Best answer selected by Peder_Dingo.

 

[jaguarskx]

I can understand your concern regarding heat. I too am concerned about the heat generated by my Lenovo Y470 with a Core i5-2410M CPU. The CPU gets as hot as 93C while playing games like Crysis and Fallout 3 (damn game is really buggy and crashes a lot). I have until tomorrow to decide if I want a refund.

Unfortunately, it seems in nearly all gaming laptops the CPU reaches 90+C while under load regardless if it is the i5 or i7. It seems that you are going to keep your laptop. Getting a laptop cooler will probably help cool down your laptop by around 5C; up to 10C if you are really lucky.

What I did to lower the CPU's heat is underclock it while gaming. Of course it lower the frame rates a bit. I used the Windows 7 Power Options to adjust the "Energy Star" plan settings. I merely clicked on "Change Advanced Power Settings" to bring up the advanced options and scrolled down and expanded "Processor power management". Expand the "Maximum Power State" will give you two sections; "On battery" and "Plugged in"; and you can change the percentage to underclock your CPU.

100% = Turbo Boost enabled - For my i5-2410M that means it can go up to 2.9GHz. but it mostly goes up to about 2.7GHz which I believe is the limit when both cores are stressed. This causes my CPU to go above 90C.

99% = Turbo Boost disabled - This means my Core i5 will only run at 2.3GHz. The CPU's temp is about 85C.

98% = Approximately 22% underclock. The CPU operates at about 1.8GHz. This lowers my CPU's temps to about 76C. This is the setting I am currently using when playing games.

You would probably have to lower the percentage down to around 75 - 80 to further underclock the CPU.

Naturally this would decrease frame rates a bit. In Crysis I would normal get between 33 - 45 frames per second, but lowering the Core i5 to 1.8GHz lowered the frame rates to between 25FPS - 34FPS. Obviously Crysis is both CPU and GPU hungry. I noticed no decrease in performance with Fallout 3. If only Bethesda can release a patch that would stop this game from crashing often.

 

[Peder_dingo]

Thats what I did too - I made a profile I can switch too for tweaked cpu performance. I just played Shogun 2 with a friend for 6 hours straight on good settings (textures on ultra and other things pretty well up) with high shaders, SSAO, HDR and all the niceties switched on with an fps of 30 and hitting a peak temperature of 72 degrees on both cores and the gpu. Nice perfomance and nice heat level - I think it goes to show that GPU means a lot in relation to CPU when gaming.

And also Fallout is not Windows 7 / 64 bit os supported - there is a memory leak that is unpatchable by anyone but Bethesda and they dont seem inclined to do so. You can use the /largeadressaware fix to get your OS to take advantage of your RAM but there is no fix on the leak and there probably wont be considering NV is out.

http/wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Fallout_3_and_Win_7_64_Bit

You will also experience New Vegas running better in prettier graphics while straining your computer less - I only played modded versions of both games though, but with similar collection of mods from same modteams.

 

[mtrolle]

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.

It suck
got it and it ware a fault
i7 540m

Furmark 99 C SCORE:155 points (2 FPS, 60000 ms)

that's why I found this page, looking or a solution.

 

[Thatguy_88]

Edit: FYI the lowest all-time recorded CPU temperature on my computer is 47 degrees.

mine reads 33 c with the water pump

 

[Peder_dingo]

It died to heat. After about a year the GPU stopped working and the onboard gfx took over; about 6 months after that it started crashing the wifi adapter/processor/onboard GPU when it got lifted vertically too rapidly or even when put down on a table gently, as if something was loose inside.

In my country there's a 2 year limited warranty by law, Acer refused to fix the computer and said it was my own fault because the laptop has been exposed to tobacco smoke!?

Lesson learned: Don't buy Acer, even if you are on a budget (it will just prove more expensive in the long run when you have to replace it after 1-3 years), and don't game on a laptop.