Operating temperature of nVidia mobile GPU

I have a Dell XPS M1330 notebook PC (Intel T9300 CPU, RAM 4GB, Windows Vista Home Premium OS) with a nVidia GeForce 8400M GS GPU. Recently Dell replaced the GPU and the motherboard due to display failure under the Dell extended nVidia warranty. I understand that the high rate of mobile nVidia GPU failure is related to insufficient heat dissipation. Consequently I am more attentive to the operating temperature of my replacement GPU. I am trying out a trial version of Everest Ultimate and it indicates that the GPU's temperature is about 56-60 Celsius (©) at idle (no video tasks running), about 66-73© when watching a DVD movie, and 72-80© when playing a flight simulator video game. These measurements were taken with a notebook cooling pad running concomitantly, which I began using after the GPU was replaced and now use constantly. The cooling pad (Titan Model TTC-G4TZ) seems to lower the temperature consistently by 2-4© at idle and 6-8© (sometimes 10©) under load.

1. Are the temperature ranges I described for the GPU under the different conditions within expected range, lower than expected, or higher than expected?

2. What are approximate safe temperature ranges for this nVidia GPU at idle and under load?

3. Do safe operating temperatures for mobile GPUs differ significantly from desktop GPUs?

Thanks for any opinions and suggestions.

PG

 

Those are actually pretty good temperatures, especially for that chip. Hope it lasts.

 

1. they're ok, but it's hard to say exactly how the temps are without the ambient (room) temperature
2. they run safely at 90 deg C, but I prefer less than 70-80
3. they should have similar thermal thresholds since notebook GPUs are based off of the desktop ones

 

Thanks for your input. The PC is used almost 100% of the time in a room with 21-24 deg C ambient temperature.

 

The temperatures are not that bad! Good job!

 

Thanks to both of you--as well as sgogeta4--for your thoughts. One underlying concern I did not mention is that my Intel T9300 CPU is an engineering sample (ES) and the Dell tech discovered that it lacks a temperature sensor, which I understand is characteristic of many ES Intel CPUs. The tech strongly recommended that I replace the CPU with one that has a working temperature sensor, but I hesitated as the ES CPU seems to working well for me otherwise. Given that I am also skittish about used CPUs and their reliability and my reluctance to spend the $$$ for a new one just yet, I decided to try a cooling pad first and see if it would control the GPU operating temperatures well enough. I might be excessively parsimonious--aka cheap --but at least now I feel more at ease with my GPU operating temperatures and relying on the cooling pad. However, if I become convinced that I am risking damage to my PC, I'm open to replacing the CPU, even if it means buying a new one.

 

Did you undervolt your CPU? If you do and you have good contact for cooling, I doubt it will ever overheat, but it is always a risk since you don't know your temps. Using HWMonitor, you can approximate your internal temps by looking at the ACPI's Thermal Zones. Your CPU temps should be between the TZ00/01 (NB/SB, I believe) and TZVL/R (case around CPU).

 

I have the XPS M1210, which also suffers from the same problem. In fact, I would bet that the M1210 suffers from worse heat dissipation issues due to its smaller size.

I've ordered thermal grease that's synthesized from diamond powder, which has 5x higher heat conductivity than silver, which is used in some high end thermal greases.

I also plan on installing two of these under the belly of my laptop after cutting some vents into it with a dremel:

http://www.jarothermal.com/web-settings/catalog/AD/1.pdf

There is a perfect spot for them where the WWAN card goes, which is also directly on the bottom side of where the NVIDIA GPU is.