[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.

[Matze2k0]

TxGrin wrote:
With realbench i never got past 154 deg, 67 c..

Good Temps. My 702VMK still reaches very high temps using realbench. I'm suprised that the 702VSK with a GTX 1070 has better heat management.

[sansandreas]

I'm having trouble getting MSI afterburner to load the provided profile. The 1-5 profiles are greyed out after dropping the file in the folder and unlocking everything as instructed and also googling various fixes (to no avail). I'd rather not edit the curve myself. Any ideas?

[StarJack]

sansandreas wrote:
I'm having trouble getting MSI afterburner to load the provided profile. The 1-5 profiles are greyed out after dropping the file in the folder and unlocking everything as instructed and also googling various fixes (to no avail). I'd rather not edit the curve myself. Any ideas?

On Page 82 I posted the solution to this:

You'll notice Afterburner is creating a profile file with the exact same name as the downloaded file. Edit the downloaded file and copy the contents into a buffer and then open the profile file created by Afterburner, delete all contents, and paste the contents of downloaded file into it and save.

Sorry if that sounds convoluted. You may have to edit the security of the file you are pasting into, so you can edit and save it.

StarJack

[sansandreas]

StarJack wrote:
On Page 82 I posted the solution to this:

You'll notice Afterburner is creating a profile file with the exact same name as the downloaded file. Edit the downloaded file and copy the contents into a buffer and then open the profile file created by Afterburner, delete all contents, and paste the contents of downloaded file into it and save.

Sorry if that sounds convoluted. You may have to edit the security of the file you are pasting into, so you can edit and save it.

StarJack

That did it. Thanks so much man.

[Kvwilliams]

Edd Luq wrote:
Guys, I've been following this guide and it's done wonders for my temperatures, just one thing; I removed the dust covers in the intake holes but I saw on the processor side some tapes on top of the dust cover. It looks like fiber and I also noticed that this intake is right above the Wifi card. Is this a conductive tape of some sort? I don't want to remove it if it somehow helps the wifi card get better signal but it is covering a big part of the hole.

Any help on this would be appreciated as I have not heard this tape mentioned in any of the previous posts.

I wondered about the exact same thing at the time I had my back cover off. Like, why would that tape even be there on top of the vent and it does look weird for tape (perhaps conductive?). I ultimately decided not remove the tape or even the dust covers for that matter since the results of the drilled holes and undervolting turned out so well. But as dwyt326 said (and others who must've removed it to remove the dust covers), haven't reported any noticeable detrimental effects. Maybe leave it for last so you can see if you can achieve desirable temperatures first?

[Edd_Luq]

Kvwilliams wrote:
I wondered about the exact same thing at the time I had my back cover off. Like, why would that tape even be there on top of the vent and it does look weird for tape (perhaps conductive?). I ultimately decided not remove the tape or even the dust covers for that matter since the results of the drilled holes and undervolting turned out so well. But as dwyt326 said (and others who must've removed it to remove the dust covers), haven't reported any noticeable detrimental effects. Maybe leave it for last so you can see if you can achieve desirable temperatures first?

Thanks, I decided to leave the tape I just moved it to a side so it wouldn't block the vent. I hope that doesnt affect anything.

I also did some testing and wanted to share my findings as I dont recall anyone going in-depth with the fans' RPM.

Using the ROG gaming center I noticed that the GPU fan would reach speeds of 4400 RPM but taking the cover off would allow it to go to max speed at 5000 RPM, same for the CPU going from 5000 to 5600 RPM without the cover. I came to the sad conclusion that the airflow is poor by design and that drilling is really the only way to fix it. I was against it at first but I move around a lot and take this laptop with me quite often so bulky vacuum coolers were definitely a no for me.

Drilling the bottom cover has fixed temperature issues and I rarely go over 80C now and never throttle any more and I dont even have to raise the laptop with a book as some suggested. If anyone is still on the fence about drilling your laptop, do it, it'll help tremendously and you dont even need power tools, I did mine with a screw driver and only took me about an hour to measure and punch the holes. My hands are sore as hell though hahaha.

[StarJack]

The new GL702VMK BIOS v303 is out today folks. Hopefully there are some changes improving heat and performance. I'll do some testing and report my own findings back.

StarJack

[pppttl]

StarJack wrote:
The new GL702VMK BIOS v303 is out today folks. Hopefully there are some changes improving heat and performance. I'll do some testing and report my own findings back.

StarJack

Great news! I have the skylake model, but I am looking forward to your test results

[Leader2light]

GL702VM here. I am running at 85c cpu and 89c gpu. Is this going to burn out or can chips take these temps. So far no issues, but want to think long term. We do get 1 year warrenty right?

Wont system auto shutdown so burnout is not a risk?

[pppttl]

Leader2light wrote:
GL702VM here. I am running at 85c cpu and 89c gpu. Is this going to burn out or can chips take these temps. So far no issues, but want to think long term. We do get 1 year warrenty right?

Wont system auto shutdown so burnout is not a risk?

On other forums they say it's fine under 90, but it's depressing, I agree. You can use some tweaks to lower your temps:

1. Cut holes under the vents on the bottom cover. (this voids warranty, however you can order backplate replacements)
2. Update your bios (this makes a very significant difference)
3. Undervolt your cpu & gpu
4. Turn off Intel turbo boost when gaming
5. Use a decent notebook cooler (e. g. CM Notepal U3 Plus)

These tweaks are listed in order of impact on lowering the temperatures.

I use/applied 2-5. tweaks and was able to keep my temps under 80, usually in the mid 70's.

On the warranty: I think it depends on the country or the store you bought in, mine has 2 years. I think it should last at least 2 years with high temperatures but if you want to prolong it's life you can use these tweaks.