IdeaPad Y570 thermal questions

I hope that this is right place to post this thread and if it isn't, I apologize in advance. So, I recently got a Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 and I admit that I'm being a little paranoid about how laptops regulate temperatures in general. I noticed that there are four thermal management modes, and when I kept it at the default setting, the fans sped up/slowed down to keep the temps as stable as possible, even when surfing the net, which isn't terribly CPU intensive.

What worried (and still worries) me was all that fluctuation of high, med, and low fan spinning, giving the impression that the fans will wear out that much quicker. Whether this is true or not, I don't know. This is the first laptop I've owned and after spending $800 on it, I want it to last as long as possible. So for the time being, I switched the mode to "Super Silent", which slightly under clocks the GPU and CPU to reduce heat, while having a slight performance impact.

I also unnecessarily freak out about the temps as well, but so far I've never seen the GPU or CPU exceed 74/75 degrees Celsius (roughly 165 Fahrenheit). The programs I use are more CPU intensive than they are GPU intensive, but I've only used them in one-hour increments. Should I get a laptop cooler to reduce how often the laptop fans spin up/down? If so, what is the best bang for the buck? I prefer not to exceed $50 on a cooler.

Right now I keep the laptop elevated (about 1.5") for increased airflow, but like I said before, I really shouldn't be excessively worried about having any heat-damaged components from regular use. Thanks for taking the time to read this

Manufacturer: Lenovo/IBM
Model: IdeaPad Y570
CPU: Core i7 2670QM 2.20GHz
GPU: nVidia GT555M 1GB GDDR5
RAM: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM
OS: Windows 7 Home 64-bit
HDD: 500GB 5400 RPM

 

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74/75C on the CPU after doing CPU intenvise work for an hour is fine. I personally would never keep my fan on silent. I prefer to keep things as cool as possible which is why I always have it on max. But even when browsing it rarely speeds up. I usually am chilling low 40s when browsing and what not. After extended gaming, that is when I am in the 80s which is still no where near its thermal limit.

Fans can go bad, but it is a lot easier and cheaper to replace a fan than it is to replace the CPU or GPU or motherboard or heck the whole laptop. Fans are rated for multiple 10s of thousands of hours which means you'd have to run in non stop for like ever for the bearings to wear out. Just keep it clean of dust and you wont have issues.

As for a cooling pad, get the Cooler Master Notepal U2. Cheap and very good.

 

Sorry.... I just have a tendency to freak out when it comes to temperatures, as this is the first laptop I ever owned (well, there is the Chromebook CR48, but that's more of a netbook). It won't happen again

The problem with keeping it on Super Silent is that programs that are relatively CPU/GPU intensive appear to run full speed, BUT, after a few minutes, the framerate will dip from 60 to 30 for a few seconds, go back up to 60, then back to 30 (whilst causing audio to slow down) continuously, giving me the impression that something's getting undervolted or throttled. With Efficient Thermal Dissipation, there are no framerate drops, but the constant fan speed fluctuation freaks me out big time, however, now that you mentioned that these fans can last tens of thousands of hours, I really shouldn't be super worried about them going out anytime soon. And you're right that it's better to replace the fans than to replace the CPU, motherboard, etc. As for coolers, aluminum is the way I want to go versus plastic, as metal is more effective at dissipating heat (much like a heatsink), would that Notepal U2 keep temps down when running something like Skyrim on medium settings? I'm deciding between that one, and this sucker right here - http://tinyurl.com/7t2jhv9
But getting back to these heat management modes, is it detrimental for me to use something intensive and then suddenly decide to switch to using something not as intensive?

As long as it has an on/off switch, replaceable USB to USB cable, and adjustable fan speeds, I'll be satisfied with any heat reduction.

Thanks for the quick response!

 

The U2 is I think is one of the best coolers you can get. It is all aluminum, the fans can be placed anywhere you want them as well. Again I would not worry about the fan speeding up and slowing down, it is no big deal. Just do all you can to keep that thing cool.

 

Well, I got a cooler, which I made sure had aluminum, adjustable fan speed, and a huge 140mm fan. Sure, the fan can't be replaced, but I think it should do a good job. And to set the record straight, I had a heck of a time deciding between the Cooler Mast Notepal U2 and the Cooler Master Notepal X2 as both had very positive reviews. The problem with the former is there is no on/off switch and no adjustable fan speed, whereas the other had both. Again, it was a hard decision to make because both have their pros and cons.