7970M Target Temperatures...

I imagine it's been beat to death, but what are the optimal temperature thresholds for this GPU in the M15x? Going for obvious long-life of the GPU here....

Replaced the reused pads today with new quality thermal pads and managed to dropped the temps from a peak of 83C in my Heaven Uniengine benchmark after one pass to 74C peak after multiple passes.

Battlefield 4 managed to peak to 80C, averaged 68C.

Running 1.000v vBios now, the 0.975v gave me boot errors every now and then. 0.950v gave me errors more often than the 0.975v.

Using Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound, got IC Diamond on the way.

Have heard a few different opinions on what are peak temps.... So looking for some realistic figures to shoot for. Right now if I can keep it under 80... I'm happy.

 

Arctic Silver used to be best paste around but that was looong time ago you know. There are much better pastes there like IC Diamond. If you want to compare temperatures then maximum temperature of my two GTX 880M in SLI was about 77C in nearly constant 100% usage (Dying Bugged Light engine). Im sure after repaste your temperatures should be close to 77-78C

If you will keep it below 85 you don't have to worry about anything. It'll just work. If you'll keep it 85-90 then it'll work but reduce lifespan of the GPU so remember about repasting every six months or when you notice higher temperatures. If you want to be sure then apply Phobya XT thermal pads (7W/mk). They're far better than stock ones.

 

I'd say all your temps sound reasonable but I never used to let me card get over 80 degrees, with my cooling mod I rarely exceed 75 degrees running a modest OC. The Dell 7970M has a thermal shutoff value of around 85-86 degrees so avoid that at all costs. Its horrible when your laptop just shuts off while gaming. ICD is great and I use Phobya Ultra 5W/mk 1.0mm thermal pads. I used 0.975v for a long time, its very stable at stock clocks. Did you use svl7's vBIOS patcher and atiflash?

I'd agree with you that anything below 80 is fine. Lower is obviously better but you might need to do a cooling mod (like the one in my sig) in order to achieve lower temps, particularly if you want to overclock.

 

If you have problems with each other, take it to PM or don't say anything at all. If you truly have an issue with someone's posts, PM me or another super mod and we will talk.

 

I have zero problem with him, just the misinformation he keeps posting in this forum, encouraging people to upgrade when there is plenty of life left in this great laptop.

 

Thanks guys...

For a cooling mod, I normally run my laptop with the bottom cover removed, and it sits on my laptop cooler. Works nicely. I think I'll modify it so it has a more direct air flow into the heat sinks. My laptop normally never moves but when it does it's nice to just throw the bottom cover on as I toss it into the bag.

I'll share as I work on it.

 

Stock cooling at 1V should be at around 80C max load in games with the fans running at full speed. OP your cooling is running well. Don't worry.

Undervolted the card is a great performer. It performed best for me when I had it undervolted which was most of the time.

Of course if you do DIY modding on the bottom like we have then you can easily shave another 10-15C off again but it shouldn't be necessary other than "perhaps" giving the card a little more stability at higher OCs something the M15x isn't great at anyway due to weak GPU power circuitry. You can't overvolt without severe instability. Dual PSUs might help you out in that situation but again still not guaranteed.

Best to leave it stable and at stock.

 

Definitely eased my mind!

I'm discovering that if I just jump into a game without first using HWiNFO to crank up my fan speeds my system will run hot. If I throw the slider to 7000RPM and set manual for both fans the computer stays happy. They do speed up normally just apparently not to max potential.... Known issue or am I suffering something one off?

I'll likely keep it stock besides for the under voltage, although I'm not always seeing consistent gains in GPU performance. I'm kinda hoping it's CPU/PSU related (740QM/150W). Still things to get too.

 

Could be GPU throttling, need to get a right-angle adapter or remove centre pin. Also 100% the 740QM will be holding you back in a few situations. GPU will be waiting on CPU to complete its tasks before it can progress. Bottlenecking sucks. Never was this more obvious than on State of Decay. If I launched the game without opening throttlestop I knew about it instantly....lagging and jerky as hell. Start throttlestop and as smooth as a baby's bottom.

 

Yeah a 740QM definitely holds back the 7970M. Heck, my 740QM bottlenecked my 5870M in games like BF3, and a 7970M is easily 3x as fast. Also a 150W PSU is cutting it too close for a 45W CPU + 100W GPU.

 

Agreed, OP needs bigger PSU.... A 210W/240W one won't hurt!.. As for 740QM, OP should upgrade to 920XM... The 740QM is just too weak nowadays!

 

Yup... All in the pipe works when money allows.

Any ideas why my fans aren't spooling up as far as they should be? I know they aren't running 7000RPM but the computer will overheat if I don't manually adjust them up to peak RPM in HWiNFO.

 

I thought max rpm was like 4500? Could be wrong. Could be you haven't applied thermal pads in the right way and the vram is overheating? Can't remember when temp diode is on 7970M. Is the card a Dell or Clevo with Dell vBIOS?

 

Dell card, with Dell vBios.

Yeah realistically the fans are only running 4000-5000 RPM. I just ramp it up to 7000RPM in HWiNFO for simplicity.

CPU - 4200RPM reported by HWiNFO
GPU - 5000RPM reported by HWiNFO

The computer will run ice cold if I crank the up the fans before I jump into a game. But if I don't she will take no time to hit the 80* mark. I imagine it's not as terrible since I added the new 7wmk thermal pads.

 

Here is an interesting one.... Temp sensors...

In HWiNFO, and GPU-Z, I have one sensor reporting temps for the GPU. But I noticed there is this one off sensor just randomly named Temp 0 under my Alienware M15x column, that specific one will run the same temps as my GPU, but oddly always be 3C-5C higher.... This the diode or memory perhaps?