Ok, just to pad this thread out a bit.
I wasn't satisfied with a GPU temp of 102c after playing Skyrim for a couple of hours on my Vortex II 15.6"... so I set to work trying to improve things.
First thing was the fan table
Using this thread I first updated my EC/KBC firmware from 1.00.11 to 1.00.13 then and my BIOS from 1.01.10 to 1.01.14. Laptop BIOS release notes are pretty vague at the best of times, but "Updated fan table & other minor updates", "Fan table has been changed & other minor updates" and "Modify fan table" are all mentioned over previous releases, so there must be something useful in it all!
After flashing the EC/KBC firmware and BIOS, I removed the underside to expose the CPU/GPU heatsinks and fans. There was a bit of dust and hair on the radiator fins and fan blades, but nothing horrendous. I gave them a good clean nonetheless.
As Overclockers.co.uk had Arctic Cooling MX-4 on offer for 6 quid (it's back up to £9 now, sorry), and they're only about 10 miles from me, I decided I would remove and re-paste the CPU and GPU heatsink assemblies. I'm not saying PCS hadn't done the job properly, I just wanted to make sure it was done how I would have done it myself.
Turns out the CPU heatsink was fine, but the GPU had hardly any thermal compound at all. I know it's supposed to be applied "sparingly" but there really was barely a sliver. A bit disappointing as I had added £9 to my order for the upgraded paste, but no big deal.
Additionally, the thermal pads that sit between the 6990M memory chips and main heatsink assembly were poorly aligned, with one memory chip only being about half covered.
So, MX-4 applied, thermal pads re-seated, what are my temps like now? Well, I'd never run FurMark before my "meddling" so I don't have a before/after comparison to make, but seeing as Skyrim was pushing my GPU to 102c, the fact that FurMark now pushes it to "only" 97c is big improvement, especially when you consider that FurMark is more more intensive than Skyrim could ever be.
Furmark
HWInfo, CPU-Z, GPU-Z
So tl;dr = Vortex II temperature problems? Flash your BIOS, clean your fans out and re-apply your thermal paste
I wasn't satisfied with a GPU temp of 102c after playing Skyrim for a couple of hours on my Vortex II 15.6"... so I set to work trying to improve things.
First thing was the fan table
Using this thread I first updated my EC/KBC firmware from 1.00.11 to 1.00.13 then and my BIOS from 1.01.10 to 1.01.14. Laptop BIOS release notes are pretty vague at the best of times, but "Updated fan table & other minor updates", "Fan table has been changed & other minor updates" and "Modify fan table" are all mentioned over previous releases, so there must be something useful in it all!
After flashing the EC/KBC firmware and BIOS, I removed the underside to expose the CPU/GPU heatsinks and fans. There was a bit of dust and hair on the radiator fins and fan blades, but nothing horrendous. I gave them a good clean nonetheless.
As Overclockers.co.uk had Arctic Cooling MX-4 on offer for 6 quid (it's back up to £9 now, sorry), and they're only about 10 miles from me, I decided I would remove and re-paste the CPU and GPU heatsink assemblies. I'm not saying PCS hadn't done the job properly, I just wanted to make sure it was done how I would have done it myself.
Turns out the CPU heatsink was fine, but the GPU had hardly any thermal compound at all. I know it's supposed to be applied "sparingly" but there really was barely a sliver. A bit disappointing as I had added £9 to my order for the upgraded paste, but no big deal.
Additionally, the thermal pads that sit between the 6990M memory chips and main heatsink assembly were poorly aligned, with one memory chip only being about half covered.
So, MX-4 applied, thermal pads re-seated, what are my temps like now? Well, I'd never run FurMark before my "meddling" so I don't have a before/after comparison to make, but seeing as Skyrim was pushing my GPU to 102c, the fact that FurMark now pushes it to "only" 97c is big improvement, especially when you consider that FurMark is more more intensive than Skyrim could ever be.
Furmark
HWInfo, CPU-Z, GPU-Z
So tl;dr = Vortex II temperature problems? Flash your BIOS, clean your fans out and re-apply your thermal paste
