New Acer Aspire v17 Black Edition GTX 960m Overheating Problems?

I just bought and received Acer Aspire v17 Black Edition and started playing some games on it.

I always check the bottom of the laptop once in a while with my hand to make sure it isn't overheating.

When I checked after some gaming today, the surface was extremely hot so I downloaded the Core Temp software to check what the exact temperatures were. I found out that the temperature of all 4 cores ranged from 85 Degrees to 95 degrees celsius when gaming. I've done some research online and was informed that temperature at this range have the risk of causing internal damage. CoolBoost is on, Active cooling is on. Core Temp might be displaying the wrong temperature anways. Is this normal or abnormal?

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-Justin

zonderous,

Are you sure those temperatures are not in Fahrenheit, that is like 200 degrees F...

According to the documentation this notebook should not start having problems with overheating until around 104 degrees F.

Usual questions apply, of course:

You are using this on a flat suface?

It's not sitting on your lap?

zonderous

Hello, sorry for the late reply. I was waiting for the cooler to arrive.

All temperatures are in Celsius, according to Core Temp application.

Even with the cooling pad that I bought, the laptop reaches past 90 degrees celsius.

I am using the laptop on a flat surface, and certainly do not use it on my lap at all.

If what you say is true regarding start of overheating problems at 104 degrees F, then my laptop definitely has some kind of an issue.

Thank you, and hoping for a positive reply back,

zonderous

blackice55

hello! From my experience this laptop cpu seem to have problem when turbo boost is activated. Go in the power plan and avanced setting in windows and put the cpu utilisation at 80%. your temperature should be around 80-85 when you are gaming now and you should not see any performance lost in game. I come to the conclusion that the cooling systeme in this laptop is not capable of propely cool down the cpu when turbo boost is activated.

zonderous

hey blackice55, thanks so much! That actually helped me out.

The real problem is, why is the laptop not capable of properly cooling down the cpu? Wouldn't that be a defect in manufacturing the laptop? That means the laptop is not running fully functionally.

blackice55

I suspect that our overheating problem are not isolate on this model. I would like to see if other people with this laptop have the same problem than us. Meanwhile I think that if our cpu stay around 85c when gaming it should not damage the hardware.

Pocopony22

I think those related by the author are normal temperatures. In several revisions I looked before adquiring this laptop, it's said always the same, that it was abnormally cool in the keyboard respect to the high temperatures reached when gaming, that are around 90ºC. In the opposite you have the Lenovo with same card, same CPU but less clocked, so only reaching 70-75º, what is translated into lower speeds and benchmarks gaming.

The case is that every of the laptops with this thinness are imposible to be cooled. So when the hot doesn't exit up like it happens in Lenovo, that burns your fingers, it exits down like in our loved Acer VN7-591G, or even worse, exits everywhere like it happens in HP Omen. Asus ROG overheats too, may be the alienwares be the only doesn't heat too much but they are thicker and heavier and much more expensive for the same specifications, the same as MSI.

Elixio

I have to agree with Pocopony22. I think the main issue in cooling effectiveness here is the form factor of the case. Being so thin I imagine there isn't much space to allow cooler ambient air to convey the heat out of the system. Although I often wonder why manufacturers don't utilize some dynamics like air multiplication and a "jet" engine effect to use the thinness to create a more forceful air flow... I'm sure there is some reason I am not thinking of since I do not design notebooks for a living. LOL. Anyhow based the data sheets for the 4720hq, the safe max operating temp is 100C and while the 960M is not listed in data sheets I suspect it could handle 90/95C safely. While I personally do not condone such temperatures nor would I settle for those, in theory the processors are safe, the only thing I question is the boards and other components near these since everything is so tight.

In the end would I run my CPU at 100C for 4 or 5 hours? No way, I would do like blackice55, throttle the CPU myself (since that way I can adjust my efforts based on a controlled throttling, rather than having to adjust on the fly if the CPU throttles on it's own) and keep the temps down a bit.

Follow these simple guidelines to extend the longevity of your device:

Play in area with cool ambient temps, not outside on a summer day.
Use a cooler unit. Find one with fans that you can adjust the airflow (if you use your cooler on more than one device) or buy with an appropriate air flow direction based on the system cooling flow.
Utilize CPU throttling in a controlled manner.
Give your computer a rest once every few hours.
Let the CPU idle and cool before shutting off. It doesn't take long with the fans running, but can remain hot significantly longer if shut down immediately.
BUY ADH warranty. Spend a few hundred bucks now so you don't have to spend another 1-2k later...Device dies from not following 1-5, always have a contingency plan.

Regards,

-Eli

Note: Edited safe temp for GTX-960M since it's temps are not listed in the data sheets.

blackice55

I totaly agree with you Elixio that Hight temperature on this kind of notebook is totaly normal. What is not normal is the fact that the Cpu is getting so hot that its start to trottling himself after only 10 minute in game when turbo mode is activated. Good new! I think someone in an other post have found the problem.

http://community.acer.com/t5/V-and-VN-Series/Aspire-Nitro-VN7-591g-54WZ-in-game-freezes/m-p/327998#U327998

apparently the power supply is giving to much voltage to the cpu and by dropping the cpu voltage just a little it gonna prevent it from overheating without affecting the performance even in turbo mode.

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