[Predator G9-793] CPU Temp. & Fan Noise

chunkdit

Hi all!

 

I purchased the above laptop 8 days ago to play "Heroes of the Storm" and "World of Warcraft". I am not using the laptop for high-end gaming - just some relaxed session with my old gaming buddies.

 

I experienced high CPU temperatures and fan noise during full load. I called the acer customer service today and I actually had to activate the Nvidia 3D setting for "World of Warcraft". The CPU temperatures went down from 90-95 degress to 70-75 degrees (rare 80 degrees). Are these temperatures acceptable?

 

The fans are quite loud as well. When I start the game they start working immediately. Is there an option to control the fan speed?

 

I would appreciate your feedback.

 

Many thanks & best regards

Christian

AVJim

It sounds to me Christian as if your temperatures are entirely within spec especially if your mostly below 80c.  Thermal throttling doesn't kick in on your CPU until you hit 100c.  Sounds like the NVidia tweak took some of the pressure off the CPU and put it on the GPU where it probably belongs. 

 

Whenever you pack a lot of heat-producing powerful hardware into a tight space like a laptop chassis your going to get some cooling-system noise...I understand what your saying but I will say the noise doesn't bother me at all...a lot of laptops are much louder...and the excellent cooling systems in these laptops allow me to game at an intense level for as long as I like without overheating. 

 

One thing you can do easily to reduce temps and fan noise further is to undervolt your CPU using the Intel Extreme Tweaking Utility and/ or put a higher quality layer of thermal paste on your CPU and GPU.  There are numerous youtubes on both subjects should you decide at some point to do some tweaks.

 

 

chunkdit

Many thanks for your feedback. I read about changing the thermal paste, yet the laptop is new and I wasn't sure if opening it up and changing the paste is the right thing to do. I would be afraid of damaging the laptop too. I will have a look at some guides.

How do I undervolt the CPU and how does that affect the performance of the CPU?

AVJim

Yes I think you will be just fine with the OEM paste.  Repasting adds a margin of safety etc. but it isn't necessary unless you are throttling.  The undervolting of the CPU slightly will not affect the performance of the CPU at all.  If overdone it would affect the stability at some point but there are step by step videos on how to do it using the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility.  It should lower your temperatures considerably and again this would mean not openening the system to repaste.

 

Here is a link to a youtube that shows exactly how to do it.  This fellow has a lot of great videos about the G9 and G5 predator laptops including one showing how to repaste the CPU and GPU on a G9 as well as an undervolting guide...check it out here...I highly recommend Bob of All Trades channel to all predator owners.  Great Channel...

 

here is a g9 17" teardown for repaste:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVEpuZNWLxw&list=PLU3n5VGqlV9W-qn7vGG3UrTkkvCUAddYs

 

here is an undervolting guide video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7OdTmylZNQ&list=PLU3n5VGqlV9W-qn7vGG3UrTkkvCUAddYs

 

 

Here is a link to Bob's channel home:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbEoN5yTDhuZ5C72Vrsl4-Q

chunkdit

Great feedback - many thanks! I checked out his channel and lowered the Core Voltage Offset by 0.120! It is indeed reducing the CPU temperature. Instead of running the game up to 120fps I capped it at 65fps, which seems to help too - I am not sure.

 

Once again: many thanks for your help. I am sure I will come back to this thread in a couple of weeks.

AVJim

Sounds good man enjoy!  Limiting the framerates will as you mentioned also lower overall temperatures as the CPU's and GPU's in these laptops share the same heatpipes and therefore interact thermally.

chunkdit

Hi AVJim! Playing "World of Warcraft" has been much more enjoyable over the last three weeks. Today I downloaded "The Witcher 3" - started the game and the CPU temperature went to 93-96c straightaway. The fan noise is not acceptable.

 

I had to add the game to the Nvidia 3D settings once again - why? Yet even after the game is listed the GPU runs smoothly at 65 degrees and the CPU is working like crazy. Do you think it is time to get in touch with the Acer customer support?

 

I think I shouldn't be forced to open the laptap, change the thermal paste and lose my warranty on a brand new product?!

AVJim

I've pretty much solved my heating issues by using the Intel Tuning Utility to undervolt my cpu a little.  The Witcher is one of the most demanding games out at the moment so I'm not surprised it's heating up.  With the Undervolt my cpu rarely gets above 85c and usually stays under 80c.  That's playing the following...Battlefield 1, Quake Champions, Doom, Titanfall2, Overwatch, Unreal, GTA5, ghost recon, project cars, world of tanks, war thunder.  I hate the thought of opening mine when its this new! LOL

chunkdit

I undervolted mine already - that's the problem. Yes, the game is demanding - yet I paid big money for a machine that is not working as it should, at least from my point of view. I will call the customer support.

FuchsHH

CPU temp 93-96c for Witcher 3 is much too hot! I get 65-70c playing it on highest settings, DSR 3K resolution, undervolt -0,150. 

chunkdit

Thanks for the feedback. I had a chat with the German customer support yesterday morning. They asked me to send them the laptop. Yet they haven't heard of an overheating issue when it comes to the Predator laptop range - sounds weird.

 

We will see. I will keep you guys posted.

chunkdit

Hi all! After waiting for 9 days I got my laptop back today. The report says that Acer changed the thermal unit. I downloaded "World of Warcraft" and just played a couple of minutes. To be honest: I think the problem got even worse. I already undervolted the CPU by -0.140: the CPU and GPU both jump up to 65-70c after launching the game. Before I sent the laptop to Acer I played on smoother temperatures and had my main issues with games like "The Witcher 3". I am not even sure if it is worth downloading these games now.

 

On top of that the laptop is making a buzzing noise whilst I am gaming. I lifted the laptop to find out where the noise is coming from. I assume it is the thermal unit!?

 

I am somehow disappointed. Or are my expectations just too high?

FuchsHH

You are using "Intel Extrem Tuning Utility" for undervolting, right? If you do a 2 minutes stress test. What are your max temperatures?

ven98

Chunkdit I know same thing happened to me but even worse. I assume that they just don't know how to re-paste the laptop. I don't understand the point of even sending the laptop for a repair to Acer anymore, because instead of fixing the issue they are making it much worse. Well, the only reason is not lose warranty. I hope they fix your laptop, as they couldn't fix mine.

 

I suggest you to open up the laptop, if they didn't stick any void stickers at the back of yor machine as they did with mine, check if you still have the void stickers on the screws of the heatsink over the CPU and the GPU. If there aren't any repaste it yourself. If you are worried about the 'buzzing' noise, send it back to them.

 

Your expectaions aren't high, you are expecting what is to be expected from this laptop, but their service is just useless.

chunkdit

First of all: thanks to both of you for your support.

 

I ran a 2min stress test using the "Intel Extreme Tuning Utility". The max. package temperature I saw was 54c. The laptop passed the test.

 

Throughout the night I downloaded "The Witcher 3" and started the game. The game runs at 70-75c CPU temperature - which is 20c lower after the repair. With "World of Warcraft" I am sitting at 65c on average.

 

The buzzing noise comes on and goes off whenever it wants - I can detect where it is coming from. I don't have it while writing this post though.

 

I assume checking the void stickers and changing the thermal paste myself might be a way forward.

Sevillano

I have Predator G5 793 with i7 6700hq and GTX 1060 6GB and while playing Battlefield 1 today temperature hit 99C. After lowering Procesor stats in Power options to 60% temperature decreased to 77C max at peak. I resolved the problem for now but I think that this is not a final solution. Temperature shouldent be so high no matter what and it would be nice to use 100% of procesor, not 60%. (though there is not much difference in FPS during the gaming) Temperature at idile is never higher than 40C.

 

Temperatures at undervolted procesor with Intel XTU was around 85C while playing Battlefield 1 and even this is too high.

SirKameron

I have the same CPU temperature problem with my G9-793 (i7-7700HQ, Geforce GTX1070). The only way to reduce the temperature during gaming is to undervolt (can't go further then -120 without instability) in combination with lowering the procesor stats in the windows power options to 60-80%.

 

I write Acer and they want that I send the laptop for repair. I'm not sure if this will make sense when I read this discussion. I think about sending them a good thermal paste together with my laptop...

 

 

Rares95

---

SirKameron wrote:

I have the same CPU temperature problem with my G9-793 (i7-7700HQ, Geforce GTX1070). The only way to reduce the temperature during gaming is to undervolt (can't go further then -120 without instability) in combination with lowering the procesor stats in the windows power options to 60-80%.

 

I write Acer and they want that I send the laptop for repair. I'm not sure if this will make sense when I read this discussion. I think about sending them a good thermal paste together with my laptop...

 

 

---

About to do this myself. For me the problem is that there is way too much of a difference between 2 of the cores ( +10-15*C in full load). Will send it in with some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.

WillyWongka

I would caution you about sending it in for them to repaste. With mine they didn't screw the heatsink onto the CPU/GPU and so there was a ginormous airgap between them, causing it to idle up to over 90 degrees Celsius.

 

I'd just do it myself if I were you.

ven98

Usually there is a law in USA(I don't know about other countries) which lets customers open a device and fix it themselves, and stcking void stickers is actually illegal. In other words void stickers mean nothing. I am not very familiar, what would happen if you open the laptop and after some time the CPU brakes. Repasting it yourself is the best option, but that depends on you whether you are ready to take the risk losing the warranty.

WillyWongka

In the UK they slapped a void sticker onto my laptop after the repair because it wasn't there before. The warranty means practically nothing here other than being able to send it to them so they can turn the CPU into a nice grill.