GPU Temps are too Hot - I want to play Diablo 3!

Hello!

I have been having issues with various video games (most recently Diablo 3) where as I am playing, the game will stutter and lag for a 20 second stretch, and then it will run fine for about 5 minutes, and then it will lag severely for another 20 or so seconds.

I thought that heat could be the problem: so I downloaded HWinfo64 to determine what could be the problem. Turns out my GPU was running at 85C when I was playing Diablo 3. Now after trying to research the problem (just using internet etc.) it is now running at 78C.

I tried using this guide to control the GPU fans manually: *GUIDE* -Unofficial AW fan control- - Alienware Arena Forums

It didn't appear to work.... I set the fans to run at 3900rpms @ 80C+ but when I clicked "save and close" I didn't hear a difference in the fan speeds... when I go back to the section it appears that my settings were not in affect.

Anyways: I'm trying to find a program that allows me to see what my fan speeds are in real time. Any ideas?

Also: Is there an alternative Nvidia Driver that I should be using? Currently I have: "8.16.11.8681"

In the past I tried updating my drivers normally off of the nvidia website, but I kept receiving the blue screen of death. Has there been any updates? Can alienware m15x users use better drivers? Or are will still screwed...

My Specs:

8800m GTX
Intel Core2 Duo 2.5
Win 7
4g ram
64-bit

Anyone having any similar problems?

 

Have you cleaned the computer out as of late? If not, you should (dust in the fans, etc) that would help. May want to re-paste the GPU as well if you have not done so already.

 

That is a super good idea. I'll be sure to do that.

Also just an update: it turns out that when I play video games, the GPU runs at around 100C

I am pretty sure that is 100% really bad, yes?

 

lol yes that's way too high. Max I get with D3 with the 560m is about 80. Depending on how long you have had your laptop I would follow hunters idea and take the back panel off the laptop, accessing your heatsink and fan area and clean it out with pressurized air. Additionally, if your laptop has been around for a minute it might not be a bad idea to check your thermal pads on your GPU and repaste if necessarry. I try to make a point to do this once every 6 months or so and it usually keeps my temps running low. I need to get new pads myself soon. Theres plenty of guides on this site for repasting and/or replacing pads.

 

Again thanks for all your help.

Honestly I think the problem is that the fans are simply not running high enough.

Can anyone point me into the right direction in terms of being able to physically ramp up the RPMs on my fans manually? Again, I've been trying to use HWinfo64, and it does not appear to be making the fans run any faster...

After dusting the fans my in game temps are at around 90C. So an improvement, but I imagine this still is not good enough.

Thanks for your quick replies! So much appreciation.

 

90C is still too hot. I would re-paste, the fans going faster would not make much of a difference (maybe 3-4C if you are lucky). Did you clean out the heat sink vents when you did the fans as well?

 

I sprayed air into the fans themselves, and then I sprayed into the vents from the outside so that the fans started spinning. There was def a lot of dust that I got out.

Unfortunately the local radioshack doesn't carry the heating pad / paste that I need. SO:

Could I theoretically downclock the the GPU so that the temps go down more drastically?

I'll for sure get to the heating pad issue eventually, its just that I have to order it online so it might take awhile.

Thanks!

 

It would be a good idea to run ThrottleStop while gaming. Some laptops will severely throttle the CPU as soon as the GPU starts getting hot. A ThrottleStop log file should show both types of clock modulation throttling at 100%. Anything less than 100.0% in the log file is a sign that your CPU is being throttled to a fraction of its rated speed.

Copy and Paste some log file data to Pastebin.com if you would like me to have a look. Remember to engage GPU monitoring in the ThrottleStop Options window. A log file is a good way to see exactly what is going on.

Under volting your Core 2 can reduce overall system temperatures which can prevent the slow downs that you are seeing without sacrificing any performance.

 

I've been having the same sort of troubles with my 8800gtx, in an identically specc'd machine as I posted on your other thread. The card is running way to hot, as others have told you, but this is partially because the .81 drivers seem to run the card wide open all the time. I switched to the .82 and according to hwinfo64, it runs at various speeds as needed, and using the sensor utility it seems much cooler overall. The fan control utility within hwinfo works very well - I've sped up the fans on all increments over 40C, to where its running at max when it hits 80c, and again this helps, but in the end the 8800gtx seems to be just too hot a card for playing d3 in a laptop. I'm looking now at the 9800m gt, a 3600m card (which is the quattro version of the 8800gtx - nearly identical), and at the AMD/ATI 3870 which I've heard makes a nice replacement. Issues overall are: power consumption - the 8800 and 9800 take 65w, the 3600 takes 70w, and the 3870 takes 55w. This pretty much translates into heat the card will produce, as cards with a higher power draw get hotter. It's possible to go as high as a gtx 260m in the machine if you have the m15x, but I think it'd have to be seriously underclocked and undervolted to last any length of time...this option scares me a little though I like the idea of a newer card.

 

Why wouldn't the 4850m 2.1 work? Or would one lose HDMI?

I am watching this thread to figure out what video card I'm going to put in too.

I rebuilt my area 51 x15m, put 1900x1200 lcd since i bought mine mangled, hinges and all were broke right off. Figured would fix up and sell it. But I like this laptop and selling my xps 17" I5 instead. Just need to know where the Bluetooth is located at too but have another thread for that.

 

Read through the thread "9800m GT going out already?"

 

I had to install an older Ati driver and the crashes in D3 stoped!

 

For the Area 51 m15x best mod I did for it..... Cut the yellow wire so the fan always runs full blast, lot easier than the other cooling mods I did for it. The single heatpipe in there was never a good cooling solution but with the fan on high it does make quite a big difference