How do I solve this crazy heating issue on my Helios 300 (PH315-51)?

My laptop's CPU temps get insanely high. I'm talking 95C+ kinda temps. My CPU temps have been high for the past couple of months or so but I did not pay much heed to it because it never really affected me a lot. That is until my computer started randomly shutting down in the middle of CSGO, starting about a week earlier. Here's what's happening.

So I'd start the game (while being plugged in, of course) and almost immediately the temperature would start spiking. Then about a minute into the game, the whole computer just shuts down, no warning nothing. The top panel is hot like a skillet on a oven and I have even touched 99C while playing of late. One observation I had was that, if I played the game with my laptop disconnected, then by default, as I am capped at around 30 fps or so, the temps don't go beyond 80. However, as soon as I plug my adapter back in, 95 and above it is from there on out.

1. I have tried under-volting my CPU (using Intel XTU). That didn't go well. These are the temps after applying a 140 mV undervolt. Here are some screenshots :

This is before I started the stress test :-

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/cz/6plvg1h1t03x.png

This is literally 5 seconds into the test :-

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/9u/tarrqd60hwd4.png

FYI, I have tried using ThrottleStop as well and the results were pretty similar. I have also tried undervolting my GPU, for what its worth and tried running the game with a combined CPU+GPU undervolt but that didn't make much difference either.

So is it a bad driver or BIOS or something like that? [PS: I have latest BIOS]

PS : I opened up my laptop to see if cleaning would help but it was mostly clean from the inside.

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ArsenioB

im having the same issue as well. idle temp is around 40-60c. this happened after a windows update on my helios 300(2019). did you find any solutions bro?

MaverickNathan1

ArsenioB said:

im having the same issue as well. idle temp is around 40-60c. this happened after a windows update on my helios 300(2019). did you find any solutions bro?

No, dude. I'm on the same boat as you are. I have no idea as of now.

Commodore_1995#

Perhaps this link can help you: Red-Sand ThrottleStop Undervolt Profiles Pre-Made — Acer Community

MaverickNathan1

egydiocoelho said:

Perhaps this link can help you: Red-Sand ThrottleStop Undervolt Profiles Pre-Made — Acer Community

Hi. This did not work unfortunately. The game spiked the temps to 98C and basically completely froze. At that point I had to hard restart in order to get the computer working again.

Commodore_1995#

Is your notebook under warranty? its temperatures are incredibly hot.

MaverickNathan1

egydiocoelho said:

Is your notebook under warranty? its temperatures are incredibly hot.

No, my laptop is not under warranty anymore. Its 2 years old at the moment. At this point, I can't even take it for servicing anywhere because of the pandemic situation, so my only hope is for some software based solution as of now, if that is even possible.

By the way, could you take a look at these?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/52/nmzk51vy539s.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/pl/haxtg67i4mqe.jpg

I found greenish white thing cotton-candy like substance wedged under the heatsink right at the point where it meets the radiator (as you can see in this image above). Is it some sort of thermal compund? I extracted a little of it (as this thing also looked very dusty) as I didn't want to remove it thinking it was gunk if it really isn't.

Commodore_1995#

This shouldn't be there. Isn't it just a layer of dust that has accumulated?

I suggest you check this video carefully and taking precautions to avoid damaging the hardware:

https://www.youtube.com/Ph2ibK79zd8

https://www.youtube.com/aPUCYUiGWZQ

MaverickNathan1

Hi. I'm gonna repaste my CPU and GPU with some TG Kryonaut. I'll use the videos you provided here as reference, of course. I'll post back here if it makes any difference but that's gonna take two weeks.

Commodore_1995#

OK! But do the procedure carefully and always disconnect the lithium battery before performing the procedure.

Padg

Before repasting your CPU, check your Windows power plan. Acer have provided settings, under advanced settings I changed the maximum processor state from 100% on both plugged in and on battery to 90% and System cooling to passive.

When playing games, this dropped my CPU temp from 90c to 55c.

Hope this helps.

Commodore_1995#

Were there any drops in fps @Padg?

MaverickNathan1

Padg said:

Before repasting your CPU, check your Windows power plan. Acer have provided settings, under advanced settings I changed the maximum processor state from 100% on both plugged in and on battery to 90% and System cooling to passive.
When playing games, this dropped my CPU temp from 90c to 55c.
Hope this helps.

Hey, I did change the processor state to 90% when I was trying to diagnose the problem myself. That didn't help, unfortunately. Didn't try changing the system cooling, though. I guess I'll try that. Thanks.

Commodore_1995#

Post the result here.

MaverickNathan1

egydiocoelho said:

Post the result here.

Did not help. I also extracted that gum like thing from underneath the heat pipe and while that seemed to bring down idle temps by a couple degrees, under load, the CPU is still pushing 96. Otherwise, changing settings in the power profile (system cooling or processor state) did not help with temps. Still waiting on the thermal paste. Will post back after repasting.

Commodore_1995#

OK! When replacing the thermal paste, post the result here.

MaverickNathan1

Okay, so I did the thermal paste replacement finally and in (kinda) solving this problem, I found out a bunch of things.

First things first, TG Kryonaut is a great paste. Highly recommended to anyone having thermal issues that can benefit with a re-pasting.
So, this first screenshot shows Intel XTU stress test temps after re-pasting.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ra/fxig36tnr7gz.png

As you can see, the CPU temp, that used to shoot up to 95 the moment I used to start up this test, now sits at 78 - 82 tops under full synthetic load by Intel XTU. So far so good, right? Well, here's where things get weird.

I fired up Counter-Strike and well, initially, I faced a couple of freeze issues still. At this point, I was sure that that was no longer because of thermals. In playing the game further however, something weird happened. These are my temps after a 10 minute round.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/4w/8i9lrhjacxru.png

CPU utilization barely touches 45 percent but temps still shoot up at 94.

However, it doesn't stay there. It keeps fluctuating like you can see in the graph here, in a range between 86 - 94. The following screenshot shows the temperature fluctuations during a match.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/73/lyefd1lom1qj.png

This is extremely weird because I fired up AIDA64 and applied full synthetic load on both the CPU and GPU. Here are those temps.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/n7/ho0iz2eubcdk.png

So I need an explanation as to why the temps are same under 100% load and 37% load.

On the bright side, the game is working fine now. FWIW, the temperatures are still spiking to 97 but aren't staying there. It is going down to high 80s fairly often and I have also experienced higher framerates, overall. So, in conclusion, I can play the game now but things are still toasty.

PS : Point to note here, when the CPU is stressed all by itself, it almost never goes beyond 80 (Intel XTU). These 90+ temps happen only when CPU and GPU are stressed at the same time (Gaming or AIDA64).

Commodore_1995#

After replacing the thermal paste, have you tried to uninstall the predator sense and msi afterburn? Also, access the bios and press f9 to restore and then press f10 to save and exit. This way, you will be resetting the bios parameters.

davidsilva

MaverickNathan1 said:

Okay, so I did the thermal paste replacement finally and in (kinda) solving this problem, I found out a bunch of things.

First things first, TG Kryonaut is a great paste. Highly recommended to anyone having thermal issues that can benefit with a re-pasting.
So, this first screenshot shows Intel XTU stress test temps after re-pasting.

As you can see, the CPU temp, that used to shoot up to 95 the moment I used to start up this test, now sits at 78 - 82 tops under full synthetic load by Intel XTU. So far so good, right? Well, here's where things get weird.

I fired up Counter-Strike and well, initially, I faced a couple of freeze issues still. At this point, I was sure that that was no longer because of thermals. In playing the game further however, something weird happened. These are my temps after a 10 minute round.

CPU utilization barely touches 45 percent but temps still shoot up at 94.

However, it doesn't stay there. It keeps fluctuating like you can see in the graph here, in a range between 86 - 94. The following screenshot shows the temperature fluctuations during a match.

This is extremely weird because I fired up AIDA64 and applied full synthetic load on both the CPU and GPU. Here are those temps.

So I need an explanation as to why the temps are same under 100% load and 37% load.

On the bright side, the game is working fine now. FWIW, the temperatures are still spiking to 97 but aren't staying there. It is going down to high 80s fairly often and I have also experienced higher framerates, overall. So, in conclusion, I can play the game now but things are still toasty.

PS : Point to note here, when the CPU is stressed all by itself, it almost never goes beyond 80 (Intel XTU). These 90+ temps happen only when CPU and GPU are stressed at the same time (Gaming or AIDA64).