CPU go b00m. Sorta.

[Etra]

So, I noticed in FFXIV my CPU slowly creeps up to 85C and then throttles itself to cool down. I use a cooling pad for it (it's pretty much one giant fan under the thing, and the pad itself is aluminum to help pull heat away from the laptop), as well, but it doesn't help as much as I would hope. If I turn on a fan and point it right at the laptop, this problem doesn't occur at all.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? Everything is updated and I did open up my laptop and clean it out with compressed air. Surprisingly, it wasn't dusty at all besides a few specs here and there. Would it be bad for my laptop to just take off the bottom panel housing the CPU and let the cooling pad just blow onto it?

(And, yes, I know the thing is old. But it does run FFXIV at 35-50 FPS on low. I see no need to replace it.)


Notes:
CPU: Intel 2.5GHZ Dual Core
Idle Temp: 41C
ViDock2 used as external GPU -- internal laptop GPU does not process anything
Aluminum cooling pad

Edit: I just noticed with the new patch download, even the patcher makes my CPU go insane... No other games do this. -_____- Not even APB made my PC this hot. Guess it's a game problem?

[DakAttack]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Starcraft 2 had a similar issue with CPU temps. If you're running a laptop you probably wont find a great way to keep it cool. CPU coolers are typically a metal that draws heat away from the CPU through direct contact, then disperse the heat into the air around the metal, and typically involve a fan to keep air moving through it. If your aluminum pad can make direct contact with the CPU that would probably help, but I haven't yet seen a cooler made from aluminum so I'm not so sure how well it'll draw the heat away.

[Etra]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Urgh.

I never had an issue with SC2 making my CPU temp high. I just tried it out again and capped off around 68C while playing. As for the pad making direct contact with the CPU... No idea how I would get that to work and it sounds like it would crush my CPU. lol

[DakAttack]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

I guess your next best option would be to underclock the CPU. With a lower voltage it shouldn't run so hot.

[Etra]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

I guess your next best option would be to underclock the CPU. With a lower voltage it shouldn't run so hot.

I really wish I knew how to do that, but all the programs I download to do it don't seem to work with Windows 7 64-bit... And going into the BIOS scares me. xD

[Etra]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Double post, gogo!

So I took off the old thermal paste (which was all dried up) and added in some Arctic Silver 5. So far, my CPU temps haven't changed at all. xD It's only been about 9 hours since I did, though... 191 more hours till I know if it works!? xD

[TheGrandMom]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

I don't think this is a laptop game. I have a friend that wants to play it on his laptop and I keep trying to talk him out of it. Excessive heat lowers the life expectancy of your laptop, so taking the chance and just running it anyways is a risk. Not one that I'd want to take but its really up to you.

As far as cooling goes, its much more difficult with a laptop and you have very few options. Open it (if you are comfortable with that) and make sure all the dust is blown out of the fans, openings, parts, etc. When you have it open, make sure the fans are actually working correctly. You can also do this by running a stress test on it. You could try Fur Mark. Let your laptop cool down, then start up Fur Mark and run a stress test. Listen to the fans, they should be running and increasing in volume as the test stresses your system. You could go into the bios and set the fans to run constantly. They usually cycle on and off to save on battery life but doing this would have them on full time. Personally I don't think it would be of much help.

You have a cooling pad, and I'm going to assume that it works well, so thats taken care of. I think you are aware of placement so that there is air flow and such. I had a gaming laptop and I used to put it on a wood tv tray without the legs to make sure the vents weren't blocked. Little did I know that the mugs of hot chocolate I was sitting next to one vent would cause the heat to rise significantly. lol But it sure kept my hot chocolate warm! Just make sure that the hot air gets out and the cool air gets in.

I don't know, laptops are just more difficult to deal with.

[Etra]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

@TGM

I did open it back up again today after I got home from work (I had this nagging feeling that I didn't apply the Arctic Silver 5 correctly.) Low and behold, there was a line straight down the middle that didn't have any on it. Reapplied it to the heat sink and CPU... Then noticed a huge ass tuft of hair inside the fan against the orange thinger and got rid of it.

Started up the laptop and now it's running at 33C even while browsing the internet (was 45C yesterday night, then 50C while browsing the forums, oddly.) We'll see how this goes. I'm afraid to run any games on it in-case that'll screw up the thermal paste 'cause I just put it on again, but I'm so bored. xD

It's 2 years old, and I just need it to hold out until I know if I'm going to Korea or Japan for awhile again. If not, then Desktop here I come! Won't know till next year, though. x_x Worst comes to worst, I turn on my stupidly loud but effective fan to cool it and keep my headphones on the entire time.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Yay! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Etra]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Yay! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Thanks! :D So far so good... Used to be 75C while playing Lost Saga (which is an amazing game, I might add.) Now 50C max.

[Aeni]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Thanks! :D So far so good... Used to be 75C while playing Lost Saga (which is an amazing game, I might add.) Now 50C max.

My GTX 460 climbs steadily to 73 and just stops there. Kinda scary It did jump to 87 once and never again. When it did that though, game crashed, so I know there's some issues with heat dissipation. This case of mine is really small (Dell failware) and I'll eventually need to move the innards to a bigger and cooler case. I'm not sure how to take CPU temperature readings. I'm not even sure if this POS Dell mobo even has sensors to take readings from.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

Do you have an Intel? If so you can use:

Intel® Desktop Boards - Intel® Active Monitor

If you have an Asus mb, they usually have some software on the disc that comes with it for monitoring temp. I use Asus most of the time so thats what I do. Not sure if MSI does but I'd think most of the larger manufacturers do, so check the website of your board manufacturer. Otherwise there should be some freeware out there that you can use.

[DakAttack]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

While we're on the topic of CPU coolers, does anybody know of any good ones that allow interchangable fans? They almost never come with a fan that's decently strong, so I'm forced to buy something new, but CPU coolers usually use some kind of custom fan that I can't replace.

[Mhurron]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

I assume you mean in a desktop machine? The thermaltake I have uses a standard 92mm case fan I believe. I'm sure they make others that use standard case fans.

[Raydeus]

Re: CPU go b00m. Sorta.

I loved the Cooler Master V8 series, but I don't remember if they used standard fans (although I think they did.)