Is there any advice or configuration that could fix my issue?

CureYoshiDarkness

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Sep 5, 2014
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Hello.

I am asking for any solutions or information that could help me with my issue at hand.

I am currently running a HP Pavilion dv6-7000 series laptop that I was originally using for college for software and video game development; however, now I have been using it for daily tasks and mostly gaming over Steam. There is a problem and I've been able to partly fix it and this is overheating issues which would cause me to save and quit out of a game within possibly sixty to ninety minutes of a game session, just to let the machine cool back down. This fix is a Gearhead Laptop Cooler, and it is working to a degree which is very helpful, but my question is, is there any way I could tune my laptop to be more gaming friendly?

Its Specs are as listed.

OS: Windows 7 Pro
Processor: AMD A10-4600m APU with Radeon HD Graphics 2.30 GHz
RAM: 16 Gigs
System Type: 64-bit
Total Memory Space: 2 Tera

I do know that it does play games greatly with the shadows turned on low or removed completely, but it seems to still build up heat in the Temp1 and GPU1 when playing games (I know this normal as well), but is there a way to stabilize this or ease the issue?

Another thing is currently example, my Temp1 and GPU1 stay in the 100-115 (F) range while all other temperatures remain under 100 (F), sometimes the HD0 hits 100-105 (F).
 
Solution
How hot are the temps getting during games? If it's just 100-115 F (And you're sure it's F not C?), that is not hot at all, so I'm guessing those are your idle temps.

From my expeirence, HPs Pavilions are notorious for not having sufficient cooling. I've never had one that didn't get unbearably hot under heavy use, so I would recommend a cooling pad for the laptop, something that moves a lot of air to help cool down the laptop quickly and effectively. Last time I diagnosed a Pavilion that was running hot, I got a Cooler Master X3 for the owner and they were very happy with the results. It's a huge cooling fan, but it does it's job very well and has an adjustable fan speed so you can scale it back when you're doing regular tasks like...

drapacioli

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How hot are the temps getting during games? If it's just 100-115 F (And you're sure it's F not C?), that is not hot at all, so I'm guessing those are your idle temps.

From my expeirence, HPs Pavilions are notorious for not having sufficient cooling. I've never had one that didn't get unbearably hot under heavy use, so I would recommend a cooling pad for the laptop, something that moves a lot of air to help cool down the laptop quickly and effectively. Last time I diagnosed a Pavilion that was running hot, I got a Cooler Master X3 for the owner and they were very happy with the results. It's a huge cooling fan, but it does it's job very well and has an adjustable fan speed so you can scale it back when you're doing regular tasks like office work. It will do well if you typically game in one spot at home, otherwise the X-Slim is probably the best smaller pad you can get. Not sure if it'll do enough though as the fan is smaller and doesn't run as fast.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-NotePal-Ultra-Slim-R9-NBC-XSLI-GP/dp/B005C31HC0/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409968533&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=notepal+xlim
 
Solution

CureYoshiDarkness

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Sep 5, 2014
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Thank you for the quick response.

I've been using this, just got it today and it has been working miracles: http://www.amazon.com/Gear-Head-Cooling-Built-In-CFS8800BLK/dp/B00CR0K9FW

And yes, it is in F. The highest I've seen the temp1 go is 180F and I know I might be pushing it; while the GPU stays in the 160-170F range. Originally my laptop was set to using C, but I've since changed it to F and been more enabled to track the temperature rises. Another thing I noticed is when it is plugged in, it heats up a bit quicker, but not really as fast (not when without the cooler unit). Also originally (without the unit), the HD0 was nearing 120F, but hasn't done that recently.

I am also aware that HPs Pavilions are infamous for their cooling issues, but I didn't know a few years back. Regardless, it's still a good laptop even though its frustrating me at the moment.
 

drapacioli

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180F is 82.2C, that's not high enough to immediately cause damage to your components (AMD lists a max of 100C or 212F), but that's definitely hotter than I would want my laptop running. I like to see mine go no higher than 75C. The rest of the temps are also hotter than I would be comfortable with personally, but not immediately damaging. You might experience a reduced lifetime if you let temps stay that way for long periods of time though. How are the temps with the cooler on then?
 

CureYoshiDarkness

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Sep 5, 2014
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These are the temps with the cooler on, when and when not plugged in.

When not plugged in and playing a game, they are fairly safe and not hot at all:
---
HD0: Jumps between 93-95F
Temp1: 142-150F
Temp2: 86F (It never changes oddly)
GPU1: 140-150F (normally 12F under the Temp1's)
GPU2: 32F (It never changes, weird).

When not plugged in and idling:
---
HD0: Jumps between 93-95F
Temp1: 105-115F
Temp2: 86F
GPU1: 105-115F (It tries to copy the Temp1 from time to time)
GPU2: 32F

When plugged in and playing a game:
---
HD0: 111F (The highest I've seen it)
Temp1: 170-182F (Thats the highest it hit, but eventually lowers to 164-166F)
Temp2: 86F
GPU1: 165-170F (Highest marks)
GPU2: 32F

When plugged in and idling:
---
HD0: 95F
Temp1: 107-111F
Temp2: 86F
GPU1: 107-111F
GPU2: 32F

Some of these numbers are manageable, which is nice. Here is an example, this morning I was playing the Sims 3 for nearly five hours and it never had any heat trouble. This evening I tried again and I had skype running a call and the heat was just suddenly 180F and I just didn't risk the chance. Saved and quit.
 

drapacioli

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Temp2 and GPU2 are either not really sensors or they aren't what they are reporting in that software. I wouldn't worry about it very much. My SSD reports that it's running at -128C, which is obviously not the case!

So if these are the temps with the cooler on, how much worse were they when the cooler was not on and the laptop was plugged in? Those still seem very high.
 

CureYoshiDarkness

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Without the cooler, I have not risked it. The highest recorded I have is

HD0: 120F
Temp1: 185F
GDU1: 182F

The funny thing is I have never had it 'auto-shutdown' on me yet.
 

drapacioli

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Auto shutdown I believe happens at 212F for that CPU. You never want to let it get that high though.

It's not really that great either way. The cpu fan is moving plenty of air when it runs hot, right? If it's not, you could try cleaning it out, there may be a ton of dust or hair in there that is limiting air flow. With this laptop model though it may or may not help that much, and I'm not sure if you can even easily access it.

There is one thing you could try, but it will limit your laptop's performance. Under the power settings, do you typically switch from balanced, high performance or battery saver? What you can try is to limit the max processor state, which will force it to not run as fast as possible. Cutting it down to about 80% might make the difference between running really hot and being able to game all day without worry. Try going down in 10% steps or so and see if there's any difference in the way the laptop heats up. If there is a power-saving mode for your GPU, try enabling that as well. The idea is to limit your system just enough so that it doesn't overheat. It will cost you some performance, but at least it will be stable.
 

CureYoshiDarkness

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I'm going to gladly try this tomorrow morning. I've been playing with the settings for nearly three hours now and I am getting some progress. I might try to limit the overall power of the processors since I know on battery power it only gets 50-60% usage and I've seen no impact on performance with it. Possibly lowering it on plug-in power might be the trick to fix this.

Again, thank you for the assistance.
 

drapacioli

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You're welcome, feel free to post with the results or if you need any further help.
 

CureYoshiDarkness

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Sep 5, 2014
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Good morning.

I just reduced the maximum processor state from 90-95% to 70-75% only when its plugged in. You see, when I am running it on battery power, it only uses 45-50% of the processor's power. So, I'm thinking if I reduce the power from the processor since that I believe that's the Temp1 reading, it'll slowly increase in heat, but not overheat as well as possibly avoid overheating completely.

Sorry if I this sounds odd-worded, but I'm just trying to do anything to fix the issue and personally if it remains under 140-150F in Temp1 and GDU1, then its manageable.

(Had to edit a mistake)
 

CureYoshiDarkness

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Sep 5, 2014
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Alright, I was away from my laptop for nearly 3 hours (chores and such) with Wargame: AirLand Battle running on idle mode with the power plugged in to it. The settings are all moderate with the exception of shadows which are turned to the lowest and its windowed with a Vsync at screen rate mode, but it seems it never went over 140F in Temp1, it stayed between 135-137F, while the GPU1 did the same. The HD0 was 95F, but since I opened Firefox, it has gone up to 97F.

I also have Skype and Steam running, no calls, just messaging and there seems to be no heating problems at the moment which makes me a very happy person.
 

drapacioli

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That's great! I know reducing power was not the ideal solution, but at least your system is stable now. Be sure to post back if you have any future problems.
 

CureYoshiDarkness

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Sep 5, 2014
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I will do so, thank you so much for helping me out as well.
If there is another problem, I'll respond here to do so.

I may just poke around the other subjects while I am here, just to see what tips I could pick up from other threads, you know? Again, thank you for the assistance.