[GL702VM & similar] Solution to Performance issues / Overheating / Throttling / Whine

[onjax]

Hi guys, I bought GL702VM and was upset with its ability to handle games and high load. I had immediate temperature jump to over 85 jump and throttling / frame drops in games. So I decided to understand how to improve things, even though, I already lost my warranty due to my experiments, but at least I can answer for everyone, that:
- the main problem of this notebook is inefficient, insufficient cooling system with too thin fans, too small heatsinks, vent holes in a wrong places (aside, not above the fans).

To prove this, I first changed the thermal interface to liquid metal. That doesn't solve the issue. This proves, the thermal contact is ok, but heat dissipation is bad. Second, I ran stress tests with back cover removed - helped a lot, about 15-20 degrees off. The proves that air intake is wrong in this system.

I also removed an antidust tape with holes covering all the intake holes. That helped by around 5 degrees and also brought down air noise.

Then I came to idea of downvolting CPU and GPU, thanks to devs of ThrottleStop and MSI Afterburner, we can do this with relative ease.

The result: Fan noise reduced by half. Temp drop is huge. More speed due to ability of CPU/GPU to properly boost to max speed.

For your information - CPU is responsible for about 30% of heat, GPU - for 70%. So best idea is to undervolt the GPU, but for best results go for both.

THE GUIDE - CPU
Variant A - Install Intel Xtreme Tuning Utility

• Go to Advanced Tuning tab and Change Dynamic CPU Voltage Offset to negative value (move slider to the left). -100mV is a good starting point. Leave Mode to Adaptive.
  
• Apply changes.
  

My CPU holds -150mV well.

Variant B - Install Throttle Stop 8.3 or above

• On main window click FIVR button
  
• Under CPU Core Voltage move Offset Voltage slider to the left. -100mV is a good starting point. The lower value the less heat.
  
• Click Apply. On the same window you can save settings to make them apply every time you start the app.
  

THE GUIDE - GPU

• Download and Install MSI Afterburner 4.3 or above
  
• In settings turn on Unlock voltage control and Unlock voltage monitoring
  
• Close MSI Afterburner
  
• Download my Voltage Profile for GTX 1060
  
• Extract profile to some folder and then copy file to "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner\Profiles". Click continue as Administrator when Windows asks permission to write.
  
• Run MSI Afterburner, click on profile 1 (out of 5). Then press Ctrl+F. (1 - least heat, but may be unstable for some... 2, bit more voltage etc till 5.)
  
• You will see my Voltage Curve (screenshot). What you'll see that it's flat until 1050mv. that means. 1050 will never be used, so will never be used any voltage except 831mV @ 1860 MHz and below.
  
• Click apply to test this curve
  
• If this curve is not stable for you - edit it to your taste: Click on 831mV dot and move it lower, so that lower freq will be used for that voltage, and for 1860 freq next available voltage will be used. Etc. Work with leftmost voltage dots to make everything stable.
  

This curve drops heat of GPU by at least 30%, which is huge.

THE GUIDE - COIL WHINE
Workaround described here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/975530

Perform only these steps as Administrator:
1. At a command prompt, run the following command:
reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Processor /v Capabilities /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0007e066
2. Restart the computer.
3. Run ThrottleStop v8.3 or above and uncheck C1E. Click save.

In theory, it will make CPU a bit hotter while system is idle, because it disables some advanced C-states, but i didn't notice that in monitoring app.
That solved like 99.9% of the noise, and in addition, disabling C1E in ThrottleStop solved noise issue completely.

[pppttl]

( MAD ) wrote:
Ehi man,
bad news for me.

I tried your solutions (playing "Prey") but I didn't notice significant changes, maybe 2-3 degrees.

My default settings were (with Turbo Boost active):

OPTIMAL MODE + XTU -0,095 + Onjax'profile 3 on Afterburner --> Gpu: 86° - Cpu: 85°

ADAPTIVE MODE + XTU -0,095 + Onjax'profile 3 on Afterburner --> Gpu: 84° - Cpu: 83-84°

In both cases, my machine looks more like a toaster than a laptop, thermal throttling is always clear playing non-stressful games (FIFA18) too.

Only effective solution seems to turn off the Turbo Boost but I paid for that and I can't accept a so stupid alternative! :eek:

MAD
GL702VMK

Yes, you paid for it, but disabling turbo doesn't make any difference in games. With turbo on and throttling I actually had worse performance. However, if you want to retain full turbo speed, I suggest repasting with Thermal Grizzly. My local Asus service shop did it on mine for 20 bucks without loosing warranty. After my warranty expires I will do it myself.

[__MAD__]

pppttl wrote:
Yes, you paid for it, but disabling turbo doesn't make any difference in games. With turbo on and throttling I actually had worse performance. However, if you want to retain full turbo speed, I suggest repasting with Thermal Grizzly. My local Asus service shop did it on mine for 20 bucks without loosing warranty. After my warranty expires I will do it myself.

You're right, but probably in 2-3 years we'll need more power (cause new games) and Turbo Boost will be decisive.

I'm dissapointed for this and I accepted with reserve the "alternative metode" (turn off Turbo), because it seems just a temporary solution......

Repasting, in my case, it'is not possible. I asked for thermal repasting to Asus service shop closest to me but they answered repasting operation is not "safe-warranty". It's all over with.

ps: I'm just thinking of reselling.....

MAD

[pppttl]

( MAD ) wrote:
You're right, but probably in 2-3 years we'll need more power (cause new games) and Turbo Boost will be decisive.

I'm dissapointed for this and I accepted with reserve the "alternative metode" (turn off Turbo), because it seems just a temporary solution......

Repasting, in my case, it'is not possible. I asked for thermal repasting to Asus service shop closest to me but they answered repasting operation is not "safe-warranty". It's all over with.

ps: I'm just thinking of reselling.....

MAD

I think in 2-3 years the GPU will be the bottleneck, not the extra cpu speed.

[Yokali]

( MAD ) wrote:
Ehi man,
bad news for me.

I tried your solutions (playing "Prey") but I didn't notice significant changes, maybe 2-3 degrees.

My default settings were (with Turbo Boost active):

OPTIMAL MODE + XTU -0,095 + Onjax'profile 3 on Afterburner --> Gpu: 86° - Cpu: 85°

ADAPTIVE MODE + XTU -0,095 + Onjax'profile 3 on Afterburner --> Gpu: 84° - Cpu: 83-84°

In both cases, my machine looks more like a toaster than a laptop, thermal throttling is always clear playing non-stressful games (FIFA18) too.

Only effective solution seems to turn off the Turbo Boost but I paid for that and I can't accept a so stupid alternative! :eek:

MAD
GL702VMK

Did you reboot your system? the change is over the frequency, if you can while playing see your frequency you should see lower frequencies with adaptative mode and more % usage of your GPU, have you noticed that?

[__MAD__]

Yokali wrote:
Did you reboot your system? the change is over the frequency, if you can while playing see your frequency you should see lower frequencies with adaptative mode and more % usage of your GPU, have you noticed that?

Yeah, I did (reboot)....unfortunately with no success.

thanks anyway!

Cheersss

MAD

[orlando9164]

Hi guys

I'm not English/American, so I'm sorry for the incorrect language eventually.

I bought a GL503VS in Christmas, it is a beautiful machine, really.
I runned heavy softwares, and it manages them greatly.

Now, in these last days I began to use it for game, the first one is the witcher 3.

My problem is the frame rate, I can't get over 40fps with mid-settings, Hairwork disabled, I also tried to use the modality "In Window without edges", to disable the G-Sync, but I didn't meet any differences.

I've uninstalled in Safe Mode the driver of the GPU with Display Driver Uninstaller, and then I've reinstalled them from the NVidia site; then I redo the same and I tried also with the desktop drivers, but nothing.
I checked also all the energy power settings in the control panel and that ones of the Nvidia control panel.
I made a clean install of Windows, and I also reinstall the BIOS (from BIOS settings), but without any results.

The clock of the core is ok, it is around 1640MHz, the temperatures around 60°/70° C.

I don't know what I can do, I'm sure that the frame rate is too low for a machine like this, so there is at least a problem.

I've also made benchmarks with Userbenchmark and RealBench 2.56, both with very low scores for the GPU.



Here the result of Userbenchmark:




And here of RealBench:




(I saw that the score of this PC should be around 17000)



Two important curiosities:
1) in december, when I was searching a computer to buy I saw this computer on the official page; the page is this: https://www.asus.com/it/Laptops/ROG-Strix-SCAR-Edition/Tech-Specs/ , but there was also the GL503VS model, now it is not there! A similar thing in the US page.

2) going in the Support section of Asus website, and searching the model, not only the section of the model has not any preview picture (all recent PCs have a preview picture!), but also the last BIOS version is the 300, while the other models of the same family (GL503VM and GL503VD) have the 304.



Do anyone of you meet the same problem? Eventually have a game to check this thing, or if I can try another thing to do?

[martynooo]

So i was playing GW2 when my GPU crashed. Reason was 100% usage, however the game doesnt even reach 70 normally. What am I doing wrong? It is pretty stable most of the time. Here's a screenshot of the curve https://i.imgur.com/5MRsKqJ.png

[stmDooD]

orlando9164 wrote:

My problem is the frame rate, I can't get over 40fps

hi. Check nVidia GeForce Experiece software. Do you use whisper mode? If yes - go to nVidia control panel/manage 3d settings/program settings, choose your game (the witcher 3) and select frame rate on WhisperMode (default is 40fps). Or just disable WhisperMode, but I recommend you to keep WhisperMode enabled. After each driver update - check framerate on nVidia control panel. If you can't find this settings - I can make some screenshots.
p.s. english is not my native language. I hope you understand me.

[joaocarlosr]

So I tried undervolting and the tape thing and it did almost nothing, last week I drilled the back, right under the fans, and bought some mesh to cover it up and the temps wont go past 75ºC playing PUBG or GTA V which is really better than the 85ºC I was getting before.

I'm still looking for a repaste but I don't know if it is worth it, some people say the default one is good enough.

I've been searching and found out about liquid metal repasting and from what I read it really reduces the temps by a lot (There is a guy on YT called Linus Tech Tips that did a liquid metal repaste on a gtx 1080 laptop and he decreased the temps 20ºC lower).

What do you guys think? Is a repaste worth it? Is a repaste with liquid metal even better than a normal repaste?

[stmDooD]

joaocarlosr wrote:
What do you guys think? Is a repaste worth it? Is a repaste with liquid metal even better than a normal repaste?

You have 75C - it's ok. Just repaste with mx2 or mx4 thermalpaste. It's much more cheaper and no problem after few months (you know that liquid metal reacts with copper, but copper much more slower degrades than aluminium). After repaste your temp (in game) should be ~70C, with liquid metal may be ~62-65C. Google it "liquid metal compatibility with copper heat sinks" and make conclusions.
p.s. english is not my native language