Gaming Safe temperature for a notebook graphics card?

[Jotokun]

I own a Dell Studio 1555 laptop computer, which has an ATI Radeon 4570 in it. This computer is less than 5 months old. I've noticed when doing anything graphically intensive, it gets rather hot, much more than I would consider safe for a CPU. However, I cant find a clear answer with google so I thought I'd ask here.

The card idles around 60c, and under load goes up to 100c. Is this ok, or do I need to repair it?

While an answer specific to this card or a similar card would be prefered, a general answer is also appreciated.

 

[Overman1977]

Do you have any way of controlling the fan speed for the graphics card? Try going to the ATI website and see about downloading a program that will let u do it. My desktop has an ATI GC and Catalyst came with a program to control the fan speed.

 

[Jotokun]

I dont have a way of controlling the fan. ATI's website doesnt support notebook parts and refers me to Dell's site. I have the latest driver from there but there's no option to control the fan in the catalyst control panel. I've tried a program called Speedfan, but its not detecting my fan at all.

 

[DeviousTom]

If you haven't already tried, get a can of compressed air and clear out some vents (make sure you're using the fine nozzle), probably best if you open up the laptop a little and use the compressed air in there, but blowing through the vents from the outside should be fine too. I've heard tons of miracle stories with compressed air.

 

[YourHero]

ATI site is silly. My moms got a x1200 on her notebook. It says it doesn't support it. Got the drivers for x1xxx and GUESS WHAT? The drivers work perfect on them.

 

[Njrg]

A safe temperature? Its gotta be under 9000 for sure.

 

[YourHero]

A safe temperature? Its gotta be under 9000 for sure.

what? Anyway, the gfx is no doubt integrated so its all 1 temp. If the whole thing stays below 80c, you should be fine. 90c+ is critical. The average desktop gfx card gets to 70 - 90c when in a full load depending. I know my 4850 gets to 70c at best, and not often. Get hardware monitor to see your temps. 9/10 times a program wont detect the gfx temp because there is no sensor.

 

[mrfatso]

i dont know my own laptop does get pretty hot, anyway, for me, it's safe as long as it isnt hot enough to cook my hand, before that happened, i treat it as i am enjoying a sauna.

 

[GreatCrippler]

There are ways of making normal Radeon drivers work for a laptop, but unless you're gonna try to play WoW or something on it, I wouldn't bother. 100 is pushing it, but not gonna fry the laptop... might fry your lap... I'd look for something external... They make pads that you put under the laptop to keep them cooler. Might try that.

 

[Jotokun]

If you haven't already tried, get a can of compressed air and clear out some vents (make sure you're using the fine nozzle), probably best if you open up the laptop a little and use the compressed air in there, but blowing through the vents from the outside should be fine too. I've heard tons of miracle stories with compressed air.
Thanks for the suggestion, it brought it down to 95. Its still a little high but that it worked at all surprised me considering I haven't had the machine for long and so I didnt even think about stuff life dust.

QUOTE(GreatCrippler @ May 15 2010, 10:17 AM) There are ways of making normal Radeon drivers work for a laptop, but unless you're gonna try to play WoW or something on it, I wouldn't bother. 100 is pushing it, but not gonna fry the laptop... might fry your lap... I'd look for something external... They make pads that you put under the laptop to keep them cooler. Might try that.

Looks like I"m going to find a good cooling pad then. Thanks for the idea, I completely forgot those existed. As for making desktop drivers work on a notebook, I don't really understand why someone would want to do that. The notebook drivers work perfectly fine, so why play with fire?

 

[Originality]

If it's telling you that the temperature is reaching 100C, then it might be the case that the GPU has no thermal paste on it (as was the case with my media laptop). For the life of me I can't work out why they wouldn't use it, but still...

You might want to think about getting a professional to open it up and see about what can be done to get some good thermal paste in it. It can drop the temperature by a lot (15-45C depending on conditions and paste).