Need advice on keeping my laptop cool during gaming, please

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Wolfdale75

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
133
Hi Guys,

OK, I am not actually overclocking my CPU, but I wasn't sure where else to put this thread since it's largely about cooling. Here are my laptop system specs:

Chassis and display:

Manufacturer: Quanta
Model: NL5E
Proteus Series: 15.6" Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Key hardware:

Intel® Core™ i7-8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (8.0GB GDDR6)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz DDR4 SODIMM (2 x 8GB)
Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIe NVMe, 2TB (Windows drive, also Steam drive)

Power and battery:

Proteus Series 230W AC Adaptor
Proteus V Series Lithium Ion (7180mAh)

Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)

**

Actually, I have several questions I'd like to ask, if I may? Could someone please help with the following?

1) What's the easiest/best way to monitor CPU and GPU temps while in-game? (See them on-screen real-time, or at least read a report about them once you're done gaming?)
2) I can see from my Control Centre app, that just after I have done gaming, my CPU is around the 80 degree mark, so I am assuming it's getting even hotter than this in-game. How bad is this, especially over time? I read in the specs for my CPU that the Tjunction is 100 degrees. It's getting this hot, even though it's sitting on a large, USB cooling pad.
3) How could I get my system to run cooler while gaming? I read things like switch off Turbo Boost (but wouldn't that ruin game performance?) and reduce video quality details in games (AA, texture quality, etc.)?
4) Finally, I notice my battery has been discharging around 5-6% during a major gaming session (around 2 hours or so) even though I'm running plugged in. Is this something to worry about?

Thanks for your advice!

Cheers, Ed
 
1)MSI afterburner in game or HWInfo running in the background will list your high/low/average temps for you to see after gaming session
2)That is somewhat hot, but pushing a laptop hard will heatsoak a cpu and if your seeing 80 right away it may not be hitting 100. It is laptop cooling so the cpu is not going to immediately drop the way it would if it was watercooled for example.
3)If it is a newish laptop, and you are already gaming in a place where it gets air then there is not much you can do short of turning down settings in game or taking apart the laptop and replacing thermal pads with paste. Again, 80 after a heavy session does not sound bad for a laptop.
4)Dont know about this one.
 
For your question #3, there are three things you should look into with a gaming laptop, and from my experience this is the order you should do them in if you can:

A.) Repaste the heatsinks. Often, the manufacturer's thermal grease is "good enough," but there are real gains to be had by switching to a high-performance paste. This could be pretty simple or very complicated depending on how your laptop is built. It may be as simple as removing the back cover and then removing the heatsink, or it might involve mostly disassembling the thing.

B.) Download and learn how to use ThrottleStop to undervolt your CPU. Just like a CPU can often run faster at stock voltages, it can also often run the same speed at lower voltages. Your results will depend on the silicon lottery, but even a -100mv offset will result in significant reduction in heat output. Other than undervolting, there are also other mitigating things you can do like disable turbo. NOTE: If your laptop is relatively new, you may not be able to do this without cracking your BIOS. OEMs have been disabling undervolting at the BIOS level for the last couple of generations in order to mitigate the Plundervolt security exploit. If you have to mod your BIOS, it is doable and there are resources to help. If you still can undervolt, you should make sure not to update your BIOS, as any update published in the last year will likely disable undervolting for you.

C.) Use MSI Afterburner to undervolt/underclock your GPU. This may or may not be very helpful depending on whether your laptop shares heatpipes between GPU and GPU. If it does, then undervolting your GPU might not net you any thermal benefit because it's still going to reach heat soak due to the CPU's output - that's been the case with both my Nitro 5 and my Dell G7.

For your question 4, I don't think it's anything to worry about. Your power brick might be a bit undersized if your laptop is having to dip into battery during a plugged-in gaming session. That's basically what's happening there - your PC is dissipating more wattage than the brick can provide.
 
Many thanks SmokedBrisket and VanGogh for your detailed and helpful replies.

I will test my temps with HWInfo, thanks, first I need to learn how to set it up. I've reduced the AA and other quality settings in the game, and am getting 121 fps in the in-game benchmark. But my system is still running very hot and I have discovered is actually getting to at least 90 degrees, so very close to the throttling down threshold.

My system was made with CoolerMaster Mastergel on the CPU, I paid extra for this over the standard thermal paste; I'm wary of messing this deeply in my system, so I don't think I'd dare try to re-paste it.

Thanks, I'll have a look into the undervolting approach, though I'm also a little wary of this (mainly due to inexperience). My system is about a year old but it came with a very antiquated-looking and restricted BIOS.

Next I'll look in how to disable TurboBoost, as that seems to be a prime cause of the high temps.

Will update you later - cheers! Ed
 
Wolfdale75 said:
Thanks, I'll have a look into the undervolting approach, though I'm also a little wary of this (mainly due to inexperience). My system is about a year old but it came with a very antiquated-looking and restricted BIOS.

Next I'll look in how to disable TurboBoost, as that seems to be a prime cause of the high temps.
Click to expand...
Don't stress about undervolting. The worst thing you can do is cause your system to become unstable and crash, at which point you just restart and try again. The nice thing about Throttlestop is that it applies the undervolt via software, so you don't need to go poking around in the BIOS and you can change it on the fly for testing. It also lets you enable and disable turbo boost with a checkbox. Good software!
 
Is this a new problem or has the laptop always run hot? If this is a new issue it points to hardware.
 
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Many thanks, VanGogh. Throttlestop has saved the day. Just checked "disable Turbo Boost" and bang, my laptop now games much cooler and quieter! OK, my fps is down from 121 to 85, but this is a price worth paying and I seriously doubt my eyes would notice the difference, anyway. Now, my CPU is not getting any hotter really than around 75 degrees. I assume there's no long-term adverse effect - somehow - from disabling Turbo?

Smoked Brisket: yeah, it's always run very hot with fans maxed out on certain games like Total War titles.

Thanks guys!
 
I will say this to get things out of the way, it is a laptop. If the cooling solution is subpar or adequate you are limited to things you can do. You can do everything listed above and gain 1c or more.

Also, I would highly recommend researching the chassis, compare it to other folks and see if you better/good/bad than the rest. Could be that you need to do these recommendations. Or, you are the same/better than the rest and have to accept the results. Saves time, money, and possible heartbreak if you accidentally break something (mainly related to repasting).

1) As others have said MSI Afterburner.

2) CPU will be fine, however, the solder or other components that live around it might not like high heat for extended periods of time (same as the GPU).

3) Before repasting the CPU and GPU make sure you will not void any warranty from your place of purchase/service center. Also, it might be a lot of delicate work so take your time. BTW, do know if the components are reachable with the bottom cover removed? Or, is the setup inverted (board has to be remvoed)?

3.1) I would try as othes have suggested first, undervolting the CPU/GPU. It will take some testing to see where the the sweet spot is for best power/temps to performance.

4) You can reach out and see if they sell a beefier PSU. Also, if this laptop is always plugged in, are you planning to fully discharge your battery? I think general consensus was either twice a month or once a month. Let the battery “cycle.”
 
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I use one of those platforms with a fan built in. It seems to help keep temps lower and keeps the whole chassis cooler to the touch.
 
I undervolted my laptop with an i7-8750H, didn't notice any performance difference but I DID see about a 20'C reduction in temperatures, which was absolutely necessary given how much I was gaming on the laptop at the time, using the laptop keyboard that almost got too hot to type on otherwise...

I know its not your exact model of laptop but you can probably follow the same guide I used:

 
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I don't personally recommend pasting a laptop with the very best thermal pastes. Because----they tend to be wetter and prone to pump out. You will get better temps for a month or two. But I have often seen the really nice pastes go back to being hot again, after about two months. and that's because of pump out.

I recommend something like Arctic Silver Ceramique, for a laptop. its meant to be a long term solution and will still peform better than most of the stuff which comes stock.
 
I wonder if there's a cooling pad which you can swap in your own 120/140 fans? That'll help better rather than using weak usb-powered stuff you can buy.
 
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