Laptop Overheats During Gaming - Fan Appears to be Working

[PvtRyanS]

I recently (5 days ago) sent my fairly new hp dv7t quad edition laptop in for support. The fan was not working (it was giving me an error at startup) and the laptop got extremely hot (80c+) extremely quickly. I just got it back and while the fan seems to be working just fine (it sounds okay, runs normally, speeds up during gaming/slows down during idle, etc) my laptop is still getting very hot very quickly. After about 10 minutes of battlefield 3 RealTemp was showing most of its readings at 80c. I'm pretty sure the readings aren't inaccurate, because the case is very hot to the touch. The computer idles at around 55-60c. All of these readings are in my experience way above what they should be. I can't figure out what's causing my computer to get so hot.

Things you should know:
-Computer gets very hot, but has never shut down (I usually stop gaming when it gets to 80-90c, which is after around 10-30 minutes in a game like BF3)
-The fan is working to the best of my knowledge
-I have blown the fan out with compressed air
-I am still under warranty
-I'm not overclocking
-It's summer right now where I live, and it gets really hot in my house, but I don't think that should be causing such high temps
-Idles at around 60c
-Intensive gaming bring temp to around 80c
-I believe that the problem is software, but I suppose there could still be something wrong with the fan
[-EDIT- I've noticed that the fan does seem to be running fairly heavily during gaming, more than would seem to be necessary. But I really can't back this up with anything concrete]

Specs:
-Radeon HD 7690m (I've had many driver issues with this card, as have many others, but it currently works and can play games just fine)
-16gb ram
-Intel i7 quad 2.2ghz

I should mention that both the gpu and cpu get hot, so I wasn't sure which category to place this in.

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Sunius]

I'd contact the warranty and let them fix it. By trying to open up the laptop yourself you may void the warranty.

 

[simon12]

Laptops do get hot when they have a decent graphics card I suspect its just the design. I also found this in a review, which is nothing I have heard before on a laptop and could be related
"Heat
After 15 minutes of streaming video from Hulu at full screen, most of the dv7t Quad Edition was practically chilly. The touchpad measured a cool 81 degrees Fahrenheit, while the space between the G and H keys measured 87 degrees. However, the underside of the laptop was uncomfortably warm, measuring 110 degrees. Fortunately, HP bundles its CoolSense technology, which leverages the notebook's built-in accelerometer to detect when the dv7t is resting in someone's lap. When we placed the notebook in our lap, the system's fan immediately kicked in."
From http/www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-pavilion-dv7t-quad-edition.aspx
This seems a weird feature which I suspect may be failing or something but i am really only guessing.

 

[PvtRyanS]

I'd contact the warranty and let them fix it. By trying to open up the laptop yourself you may void the warranty.

As I said, I just sent it in for fan repairs. I'll send it back, but first I want to make sure that the fan is actually the problem.

 

[PvtRyanS]

Laptops do get hot when they have a decent graphics card I suspect its just the design. I also found this in a review, which is nothing I have heard before on a laptop and could be related
"Heat
After 15 minutes of streaming video from Hulu at full screen, most of the dv7t Quad Edition was practically chilly. The touchpad measured a cool 81 degrees Fahrenheit, while the space between the G and H keys measured 87 degrees. However, the underside of the laptop was uncomfortably warm, measuring 110 degrees. Fortunately, HP bundles its CoolSense technology, which leverages the notebook's built-in accelerometer to detect when the dv7t is resting in someone's lap. When we placed the notebook in our lap, the system's fan immediately kicked in."
From http/www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-pavilion-dv7t-quad-edition.aspx
This seems a weird feature which I suspect may be failing or something but i am really only guessing.

I'm using the laptop on a desk, and have tried using it with cool sense on and off, without much change. I'll look into it more though.

 

[thee_prisoner]

You may want to try cooling laptop pad with fans that you set your laptop on.

 

[AntiZig]

7690 is a rather average GPU, while BF3 is a rather demanding game. Your laptop gets hot because it has to work hard. I bet if you check utilization while BF3 is running your GPU is at 100%

 

[Sunius]

7690 is a rather average GPU, while BF3 is a rather demanding game. Your laptop gets hot because it has to work hard. I bet if you check utilization while BF3 is running your GPU is at 100%

Well, it shouldn't overheat even at 100% load .

 

[jay2tall]

80C during gaming is really not that hot. Especially for a laptop. You also have to remember that in a laptop the CPU and GPU typically share a cooling system and their heat pipes are usually collected to the heatsink and fan. You are also talking about a consumer "non gaming" laptop that you are using for gaming. These are simply not setup to dissipate the heat that is generated from heavy gaming. Everyone that I know who games on a laptop like this sets it on a laptop cooling pad with fans. These are a staple for anyone that uses a laptop for gaming such as yourself. If you look at an actual gaming laptop like the gaming laptops from ASUS or Sager they are thicker and have more vents and larger/more fans to circulate air into the small space of your laptop. This is the reason I never suggest a standard laptop for gaming applications. There are reasons gaming laptops cost a little bit more.

 

[AntiZig]

Well, it shouldn't overheat even at 100% load .

Shouldn't, doesn't mean it won't. Read what jay posted right above. Consumer laptops are typically designed with small TDP in mind very often CPU + GPU heatsink is combined. What that cooling system was designed for doesn't always meet the hardware that is in the laptop or the operating conditions the cooling system assumed during the design. With that said, OP specifically pointed out that it never actually overheated (ie shutdown). 80 is hot, but I'm not surprised at that temperature when you got 7690M trying to play BF3

 

[D3NJ0HNN7]

Hi

Yes 80c is hot but it isn't unusual BF3 is pretty demanding game, Idle at 60c is normal in summer, if it doesn't get lower to 40-50c in the winter i would clean your fans. But max temperatures are high on video cards nowadays mine can go up to 90 when I play Crysis 2 on max settings. It is true that it will survive half a year less than when it doesn't get above the 60c.

An i7 max temp is 100c when it reaces that temp it will slow down every program until the temp is again at 70c. And I am pretty sure the HD 7690m has somewhat the same specs

 

[hwangchan]

Jay hit my response on the money.

80C (176 F) is warm but not hot for electronics. Of course it sure feels hot to us! A system will shut down around 95-100C @CPU depending on the manufacturers calibration.

As a standard HP laptop, the Heat sink is probably shared between the CPU & GPU, on the 7960 it is 2 chips on the same board, not a separate truly dedicated card. This means lots of heat is generated in that area, but the 80C is pretty normal.

I have a simialar setup i use for gaming, and I will crash after ~30 min unless I am using my cheap laptop cooling pad w extra fans. My laptop fan exhausts to the bottom, which is a terrible design imo. When I use the laptop pad, the laptop still gets hot, but I can game for 6+ hours with no issues.

 

[dinnerbone]

Well your fan seems to be crazy.. is it aligned properly?
Iam having that problem right now.. I play Minecraft at a 55%CPU load and 65% GPU.
Well i guess BF3 is even demanding than that. and now i have a hot cpu when idle. its 60-65 C
Note: i use an Acer Aspire e1 471