[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.

[FULLMETALJACKET]

HolographicSun wrote:
Which paste do you suggest me to use? The one they used seems awful, I don't know what that is so I am unable to find the same one.

It never throttles, but that's what worries me 'cause it reaches 97°C easily, wish there was a way to manually throttle it, I prefer a loss in performance than my temps over 90°C. I know it won't die in a couple of days, months or years but I intended to use this laptop for at least 5 or 6 years and not just for gaming. I think the hardware (GTX 1060, i7 7700HQ and 16gb of RAM) will hold until then, but I don't think the CPU will last that much, or some other component close to it.

They usually apply something like K5pro on the vrms and regular thermal paste on the dies. It doesn't matter which one you use, as long as it is some good quality paste. The thermal compound is not the weak link on this thermal solution, but rather the heatpipes and heatsinks. They're just too small. That's also why most of the times you see almost no improvement when using liquid metal on these things.

It will last a lot more than 5 or 6 years. My old Lenovo y510p reaches 97c on gpu2 after just a minute of gaming, and it's still running absolutely fine since 2013. Needless to say, it's completely obsolete for gaming today. It can barely run GTA5 (which has near perfect sli scaling) and it's totally useless for anything that doesn't support sli.

There's really not much you can do about it. Undervolt both cpu and gpu, raise the back of the laptop from the table, manually set the fans to 100% and repaste, since you already opened it. You could also underclock the cpu and gpu but hell, that would be like buying a 300hp sports car and putting a brick under the gas pedal. Makes no sense having the power there but not being able to use it, imo. In that case you would do better with a 1050ti laptop. Cheaper and runs cooler out of the box.

[HolographicSun]

FULLMETALJACKET7 wrote:
They usually apply something like K5pro on the vrms and regular thermal paste on the dies. It doesn't matter which one you use, as long as it is some good quality paste. The thermal compound is not the weak link on this thermal solution, but rather the heatpipes and heatsinks. They're just too small. That's also why most of the times you see almost no improvement when using liquid metal on these things.

It will last a lot more than 5 or 6 years. My old Lenovo y510p reaches 97c on gpu2 after just a minute of gaming, and it's still running absolutely fine since 2013. Needless to say, it's completely obsolete for gaming today. It can barely run GTA5 (which has near perfect sli scaling) and it's totally useless for anything that doesn't support sli.

There's really not much you can do about it. Undervolt both cpu and gpu, raise the back of the laptop from the table, manually set the fans to 100% and repaste, since you already opened it. You could also underclock the cpu and gpu but hell, that would be like buying a 300hp sports car and putting a brick under the gas pedal. Makes no sense having the power there but not being able to use it, imo. In that case you would do better with a 1050ti laptop. Cheaper and runs cooler out of the box.

Thanks for the reply! I am not really experienced so Idk which one can be considered a good quality paste. Do you have any suggestions about it? Do I have to put a different paste on the vrms and a different one on the CPU/GPU? If so, why? Do I have to put it also on the heatsink? I am actually scared 'cause I never repasted anything and it was my first time opening a laptop this way.

Also do you think the factory paste you see in the picture is dried out? If so, could that be the reason of my CPU temps getting higher?

[FULLMETALJACKET]

HolographicSun wrote:
Thanks for the reply! I am not really experienced so Idk which one can be considered a good quality paste. Do you have any suggestions about it? Do I have to put a different paste on the vrms and a different one on the CPU/GPU? If so, why? Do I have to put it also on the heatsink? I am actually scared 'cause I never repasted anything and it was my first time opening a laptop this way.

Also do you think the factory paste you see in the picture is dried out? If so, could that be the reason of my CPU temps getting higher?

I would recommend Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or Arctic MX-4. Any other name brand should work just fine though. As for the vrms, you can either use K5pro or thermal pads. K5pro is easier to use but not so easy to find depending on where you live. If you're going to use thermal pads, you have to measure the gaps between the heatsink and the components and buy the pads accordingly.

The paste looks fine as far as I can see, but don't mix two different types of paste like that. Clean it all up really well then apply new paste. If you decide to remove that protective plastic thing, be careful with the passive components around the die when cleaning. You can easily knock them off the substrate.

[HolographicSun]

FULLMETALJACKET7 wrote:
I would recommend Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or Arctic MX-4. Any other name brand should work just fine though. As for the vrms, you can either use K5pro or thermal pads. K5pro is easier to use but not so easy to find depending on where you live. If you're going to use thermal pads, you have to measure the gaps between the heatsink and the components and buy the pads accordingly.

The paste looks fine as far as I can see, but don't mix two different types of paste like that. Clean it all up really well then apply new paste. If you decide to remove that protective plastic thing, be careful with the passive components around the die when cleaning. You can easily knock them off the substrate.

Thanks again! I ordered both the Arctic MX-4 and the K5 pro. Will update my temps after repasting (but I won't remove the plastic thing or use thermal pads). Have one last question though. I was checking some youtube videos and saw that many use the same paste for GPU/CPU and the vrms. Looking at the factory paste on my laptop looks like they also used the same kind of paste for everything. Do you think I can use the Arctic MX-4 on the vrms too? Or is the K5 pro really that better?

[FULLMETALJACKET]

HolographicSun wrote:
Thanks again! I ordered both the Arctic MX-4 and the K5 pro. Will update my temps after repasting (but I won't remove the plastic thing or use thermal pads). Have one last question though. I was checking some youtube videos and saw that many use the same paste for GPU/CPU and the vrms. Looking at the factory paste on my laptop looks like they also used the same kind of paste for everything. Do you think I can use the Arctic MX-4 on the vrms too? Or is the K5 pro really that better?

Regular paste on the vrms is not really ideal because usually there's a gap between the heatsink and the components. Regular paste isn't thick enough to fill that gap without dripping out over time. k5pro is more like a jello kind of thing.
From the factory it usually comes with k5pro on the vrms and regular paste on the dies. Don't even think about using k5pro on the cpu and gpu.

[HolographicSun]

FULLMETALJACKET7 wrote:
Regular paste on the vrms is not really ideal because usually there's a gap between the heatsink and the components. Regular paste isn't thick enough to fill that gap without dripping out over time. k5pro is more like a jello kind of thing.
From the factory it usually comes with k5pro on the vrms and regular paste on the dies. Don't even think about using k5pro on the cpu and gpu.

First off, thanks a lot for the help! I would have never take the courage to repaste without your advices.

Repasting worked pretty well. Gotta be honest, I did it twice. First time I wasn't satisfied with the result, as I was still getting my CPU up to 93°C with Forza Horizon 4. So I repasted again putting a bit more paste on both CPU and GPU. Now my CPU never goes over 81°C, it usually stays on mid 70s, so it's a huge -15°C difference. My GPU temp also decreased by 5-6 degrees, usually staying at low/mid 70s up to max 78°C on most demanding games. This is with CPU undervolt -125mv and a light GPU overclock (+215, +200). I also noticed what's being said in the first post. When the GPU temp increases CPU temps increase too. I forgot to say that my room temperature is 30°C, sometimes even a bit more (no AC), so I hope to get lower temps in the next months.

I am actually surprised repasting worked. Have one last question now: how often should I repaste? The Arctic MX-4 package says it can last for 8 years (but I doubt...). What about the k5 pro? Is there any negative effect of repasting too many times?

Btw I also noticed something weird on my CPU that I never saw on any other CPU (on youtube videos). There is this green small part you can see in the picture. I don't know what's that but it doesn't seem normal to me.

[FULLMETALJACKET]

HolographicSun wrote:
First off, thanks a lot for the help! I would have never take the courage to repaste without your advices.

Repasting worked pretty well. Gotta be honest, I did it twice. First time I wasn't satisfied with the result, as I was still getting my CPU up to 93°C with Forza Horizon 4. So I repasted again putting a bit more paste on both CPU and GPU. Now my CPU never goes over 81°C, it usually stays on mid 70s, so it's a huge -15°C difference. My GPU temp also decreased by 5-6 degrees, usually staying at low/mid 70s up to max 78°C on most demanding games. This is with CPU undervolt -125mv and a light GPU overclock (+215, +200). I also noticed what's being said in the first post. When the GPU temp increases CPU temps increase too. I forgot to say that my room temperature is 30°C, sometimes even a bit more (no AC), so I hope to get lower temps in the next months.

I am actually surprised repasting worked. Have one last question now: how often should I repaste? The Arctic MX-4 package says it can last for 8 years (but I doubt...). What about the k5 pro? Is there any negative effect of repasting too many times?

Btw I also noticed something weird on my CPU that I never saw on any other CPU (on youtube videos). There is this green small part you can see in the picture. I don't know what's that but it doesn't seem normal to me.

Good to hear that! Many times the problem is just bad heatsink seating. If it overheats right after repasting, just retry a couple of times and it might solve the problem.

The paste should last at least 2-3 years. There's no negative effect of doing it too often, but don't worry about it until you start to notice the temperatures rise again.

That green stripe is just the substrate. They probably use that same plastic thing for different chips with different die sizes. That's normal.

[CharmingAdept]

2 year old paste from the factory...


my modded case holes


clean dies and checking thermal pad sizes


this was my first laptop paste job...
OKAY heres where the post starts. i chose to double up on my thermal pads in certain areas as when i was cleaning off old paste on the CPU/GPU heatsink, i applied slightly too much pressure enough to feel the metal flex... so people should be careful its easy to be a little rough when cleaning the heatsink. other than that this pasting job was decent, i had much better temps but repasted a few days later anyway, and got similar temps. i maybe hit 80c after 2-3 hrs of PUBG 144hz its much better (~100fps)

i also use a laptop cooler stand, and the most important thing you can do to increase performance was repasting, over the case mod and the laptop stand.

[Equus_Ligneus]

Anyone having battery issues?

Mine seems to be discharging whenever it's not plugged in -- meaning after just letting the laptop sit turned off without the charger in.

Here's a picture of the battery log generated by my laptop,

Defect battery? Is it possible to order a new one and replace it?

[FULLMETALJACKET]

Equus Ligneus wrote:
Anyone having battery issues?

Mine seems to be discharging whenever it's not plugged in -- meaning after just letting the laptop sit turned off without the charger in.

Here's a picture of the battery log generated by my laptop,

Defect battery? Is it possible to order a new one and replace it?

Run hwmonitor and see if it's reporting the same values.

You can find a replacement on ebay for cheap.