I Need Help On Cooling And Laptop Temperatures

Chillord

I currently have the Acer Nitro 5, 8 gb ram, i5-8300h, and a gtx 1050 ti. It seems like the fan blows really loud even when it doesn't need to. I monitor the fan speeds using nitrosense, the preinstalled app that lets me control the fans, to which i have on auto, but in all honesty, i have no idea what the temperatures mean. In idle or while using the web, both the CPU and GPU fans are quiet and spin at about 2000 rpm and the CPU temperature averages at 45 degrees Celsius. When playing any game however, no matter what quality, the CPU fan kicks up to 5000 rpm and above, and the temperature going over at a average of 90 degrees Celsius. The GPU temperatures seem fine and the usage on the GPU are really low. Could someone explain how the CPU and GPU work, and how the temperatures on my CPU always go so high, where as the GPU doesn't as much? It seems I can run most of the games i play on the near to max or max settings, like LoL, fortnite, and overwatch, but I turn it down to the lowest because i assume it affects the CPU temperatures, but i think i'm wrong. I've noticed that the higher the graphics, the more usage on the GPU but I really can't say for sure because i don't understand how it works in the first place. Could someone explain how this all works? Thanks you!

tobimaru

Try using a program called Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) to undervolt your 8300H. From the factory, they can run hot and in a laptop there is very little airflow to exhaust all that heat. In general, all you're going to be doing is adding a negative value offset to your core voltage. I have my i5-7300HQ undervolted -0.120v right now using Intel XTU. You may get less or more and it's a good idea to stress test the system thoroughly before you settle on a specific undervolt.

Another step you can take is repasting the CPU/GPU inside the laptop with a better thermal compound. The compound used from the factory is ideal for mass production, but you can get better on the consumer level. I use Noctua NT-H1 off Amazon and saw a reduction average of 10-15C (load) across the board. Idle temps fluctuated only a few degrees, but that is not the area of concern. Note; this will void your warranty as you are disassembling the laptop.

Another thing to check is your BIOS revision. This is not a guarantee, but I have noticed Acer does well in improving system performance with BIOS updates which can often result in cooler overall temps. In particular, make sure you are enabling CoolBoost to maximize the fan profile under load.

tobimaru

Try using a program called Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) to undervolt your 8300H. From the factory, they can run hot and in a laptop there is very little airflow to exhaust all that heat. In general, all you're going to be doing is adding a negative value offset to your core voltage. I have my i5-7300HQ undervolted -0.120v right now using Intel XTU. You may get less or more and it's a good idea to stress test the system thoroughly before you settle on a specific undervolt.

Another step you can take is repasting the CPU/GPU inside the laptop with a better thermal compound. The compound used from the factory is ideal for mass production, but you can get better on the consumer level. I use Noctua NT-H1 off Amazon and saw a reduction average of 10-15C (load) across the board. Idle temps fluctuated only a few degrees, but that is not the area of concern. Note; this will void your warranty as you are disassembling the laptop.

Another thing to check is your BIOS revision. This is not a guarantee, but I have noticed Acer does well in improving system performance with BIOS updates which can often result in cooler overall temps. In particular, make sure you are enabling CoolBoost to maximize the fan profile under load.

Chillord

Thanks for the reply! I looked into it and used XTU to undervolt my laptop by -0.165v as it would go no further without crashing. I'll also definitely consider getting a better thermal compound if I decide I would like to void the warranty. What I need someone explain to me is why are the temperatures lower on a stress test with 100% cpu use, vs playing a game of overwatch on high settings with only less than 40% cpu use? That makes no sense whatsoever unless the gpu has a part to do with so. 

This is my laptop while playing a game of overwatch on high, with temperatures averaging at high 80's and cpu usage being less than 40%

This on the other hand, is just a simple 5 minute stress test using the XTU tool. The cpu usage is clearly at it's max however the average temperature is only around the mid 70's. Could someone care to explain?

Red-Sand

Since the CPU and GPU share heat pipes it's not strange that heat increases when both are in use.

tobimaru

Here you can see the heatsink of the Nitro 5. Red-Sand is correct, the CPU and GPU share pipes and fans. It's actually a pretty decent heatsink, but as you've noticed when the GPU is worked on top of the CPU, the thermals rise faster and higher. Whereas if the CPU is solely in use, the heat is dissipated quite well.

It's loud as hell but in NitroSense if you give your fans the 'Max' profile when gaming it should dramatically reduce temps. -0.165 is a big undervolt! If that is stable, I'm impressed!

Chillord

Ah, that makes much more sense. This whole time I thought the fans were on opposite ends, thank you very much for showing me that. And yes -0.165 turned out to be unstable and I currently trying out -0.155. Thank you for the replies!