GPU Overheating On My Sager Lappy??

J

jasperabcgum

New Member
Before anyone jumps on me, I did spend the last 30 minutes or so searching the forums for an answer on this. I ended not being able to find an answer I didn't already try or that really applied.

Three days ago I started having problems with my computer randomly shutting off while playing games like Fallout 3 and COD: WAW. I did some research and found that it could be overheating problems, so I downloaded SpeedFan. I found out shortly after that my GPU was reaching upwards of 95C after just 5 minutes of play and almost 70C idle. Yesterday I went out and bought a Targus cooling pad. At first I thought I had fixed the problem because both idle CPU and GPU temps dropped significantly (GPU down to about 45 to 50C idle).

Here's the new problem. Now my GPU is still reaching 95C+ while gaming. At the suggestion of friends, I tried lowering my NVIDIA 9800M GTS settings (on the overclocking screen) to get lower temps without success (meaning I could lower settings but the temps remain unchanged). I also blew canned air into the computer's vents (do I need to completely open it up and try to clean it out? I've had this laptop for just under a year).

Anyways, sorry for being long-winded. I would appreciate any advice!
 
I also own a Sager laptop...very nice products. I love mine.

Ya...the GPU is running to hot...95c is very warm. Every once in a while I take the bottom off and completely clean it out. You will be amazed at the amount of dust that accumulates in a laptop.

I have awesome temps on mine and this is what I did.

I took off the bottom and took off the heatsink. It uses one large copper heatsink for the CPU and GPU. The copper heatsink had some dark spots from time. Copper will do this from normal air. I took steel wool and shined it up nice. I cleaned off the TIM that was applied...it was kinda messy and they used way too much. Once everything was cleaned up nice I applied Arctic Silver 5.

It dropped temps way down...worked great actually.
 
I have a couple questions regarding you reply.

1) What is the "heatsink?" Is it clearly labled? I have installed new parts on desktops before and switched keypads on my old Dell laptop, so I am capable of openning and putting back to together a computer (at least for minor repairs). However, I don't know much about the inside other than just following directions.

2) Does it matter if there are dark spots? Does this affect performance in some way? (can't see that it would but i dunno)

3) What is "TIM?"

4) Is Arctic Silver 5 a cooling spray? Where can it be purchased for cheap? (or is standard canned air sufficient)

Edit: Btw: thanks for the quick reply and advice!
 
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1. The heatsink is the copper radiator looking thing that dissipates heat.

2. The dark spots are caused by oxidation...they really don't matter. I just wanted to rough up the surface and have it nice and shiny:D

3. Thermal Interface Material. It acts as a heat transferring material. It bridges the gap between the CPU, GPU and the heatsink.

4. This is OCZ Freeze...it can be used and works well also.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835202006&Tpk=OCZ freeze
 
Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'm gonna give your ideas a shot later when I get home.

Btw, this morning a received a reply from Sager tech support regarding this issue and they said similar things (with exception to the thermal compound).

However, he/she did mention that hitting "FN + 1" will help. I did this and my comp fans started going crazy fast. Had no idea this was possible lol (I thought I had already maxed those fans). So as advice to anyone else with a similar Sager model give that a try too.
 
Wow ok, I thought my results might be interesting to others!

I used three primary methods to lower my comp temp.

1) I bought a cooler with two fans to sit under the laptop
2) I found out how to max my internal fan speed
3) I opened it completely up and used compressed air and cue tips to clean out the fans and shot out a load of black dust.

The numbers below represent the methods listed here that I tried and the corresponding GPU temp in celcius

Idle
Methods: none: 54C
Methods: 1: 45C
Methods 1 and 2: 43C

Full Load (COD WAW near max stats)
Methods: ANY were all overheating: 95C+

Idle
Methods: 1, 2, and 3: 36C

Full Load (COD: WAW near max stats)
Methods: 1, 2, and 3: 57C!!

As you can see, cleaning had the largest affect and dang am I happy now! In fact, I can probably safely overclock on a small scale now.
 
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