HP Envy 17 running too hot?

lolpc

Honorable
Dec 30, 2012
4
0
10,510
Hello people, early this year I bought a HP Envy 17 for gaming and it has been working flawlessly so far, it does get quite hot though when gaming more demanding games such as Hitman Absolution, Skyrim, BF3 etc. the basic specifications are as follows:

Intel i7 720QM 1.60GHz
8GB DDR3 RAM
ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5850 1GB
2x 500GB 7200RPM HDD

I realize that the Envy models have a reputation for getting hot, but I wanted to hear if these temps are too hot for my GPU and CPU while gaming:

NOTE: These are the highest recorded temps when playing Hitman Absolution on high settings!

CPU (Tj. Max 100C):
Core 1: 94C
Core 2: 94C
Core 3: 95C
Core 4: 94C

GPU: 80-90C

Should I start getting worried, or can the hardware take these temps?

Thanks a lot!

 
Solution
Absolutely. Ambient temps play a part in any PC's ability to cool. Some people resort to custom water cooling solutions even.

http://www.asetek.com/laptop.html

25 C really isn't that hot, though (just below 80 F). I'd say when you get into the 30s C/high 80s F is when it begins to be noticeable, but then again, maybe your dorm room is hotter and stuffy. :(

Do you have a chilling pad for it? That might help a bit.
Yep, those are way too hot. Are you experiencing any throttling yet with those temps? 80 C - 90 C on the GPU is fairly normal, but your CPU is definitely getting too warm. Ideally, you don't want to exceed 88 C on either CPU or GPU, and I consider that a little high, even (though it's still normal and "safe").

It probably needs cleaned and needs new thermal compound.
 

lolpc

Honorable
Dec 30, 2012
4
0
10,510


Yes I am.

It was too long ago I had similar heat problems, where it would go around 80-90C on the CPU and I changed the thermal paste (I used Arctic MX-2, a silicone based paste if I recall) and that worked great, cooled it down significantly. But i can't imagine that, that paste could have already worn off since it was no more than 2 months ago (I also thoroughly cleaned it too). I haven't cleaned it since, but even still I find it hard to imagine that the inside of the laptop could be full of dust again, after only two months.

What should I do? I can't afford to even think of a new computer or to have a professional look at it, and the Steam summer sale is almost upon us :hot:
 
Check your paste, first. It's likely not excessively dusty, but you'll find out what it's like when you open it up. Even though you did a paste job recently, not enough may have been applied enough, or it could have been applied improperly.

Also, when you put the heat sink back on, be sure to put enough pressure. Too light and the heat won't transfer properly; too tight and you may end up damaging something. Just make sure it's firm when you reapply it. :)
 

lolpc

Honorable
Dec 30, 2012
4
0
10,510


I took it apart and gave it a thorough cleaning today, but to no avail.

I don't know if this could be the culprit or not, but the could the general temperature outside and inside my dorm room cause these high temperatures? When I changed the thermal paste it wasn't really summer weather yet as the temperature outside was just around 15-18C, now it's around 25+ though, and my tiny dorm room gets really hot. I don't have AC and after the afternoon sun has left its mark, I sweat like a pig. My question is, could summer, coupled with Envy's already high temps, be the reason for this overheating?
 
Absolutely. Ambient temps play a part in any PC's ability to cool. Some people resort to custom water cooling solutions even.

http://www.asetek.com/laptop.html

25 C really isn't that hot, though (just below 80 F). I'd say when you get into the 30s C/high 80s F is when it begins to be noticeable, but then again, maybe your dorm room is hotter and stuffy. :(

Do you have a chilling pad for it? That might help a bit.
 
Solution

lolpc

Honorable
Dec 30, 2012
4
0
10,510


Thanks for all the help, but I found a solution, and it worked! :D After several internet searches I found that some Envy users claim that by going into Catalyst Control Center and changing PowerPlay settings to maximize battery life on both battery and plugged in. For some unexplainable reason (Maybe you have an explanation :) ) this lowers the temperature generated by both CPU and GPU, but it doesn't significantly lower performance. After playing Max Payne 3 on high settings for a couple of hours, the highest temperature recorded on the CPU cores was 84C and 82.5C on the GPU.

Thanks again for taking the time to try and help me, much appreciated!
 

Lemlur

Estimable
Sep 24, 2015
2
0
4,510


lol 95! i run 100 max on 3 of y cores and 95 on the other!
 

Lemlur

Estimable
Sep 24, 2015
2
0
4,510


i love it when desktop users complain of 30-40degs gaming, mine runs at 100 degrees on all cores BUT this does not seem to really impact performance to any noticeable degree...
 

Roberto_Bianchi

Estimable
Nov 26, 2015
1
0
4,510
SOLVED!!!

I had the same problem and I was going to buy the thermal compound and (probably) do some damage.
Using settings POWER SAVING the temperature went down a lot and for a normal use it would be around 55 to 65 degrees Celsius.
But after I installed Windows 10, the temperature also in POWER SAVING mode went up to a constant 68 - 75.
As you might know, you cannot use 3D acceleration in the virtualization machine (like Virtual Box or VMware) if in your HP you use POWER SAVING.
So, my problem was that when I used the MAXIMIZED POWER settings it went up to almost 100 degrees Celsius when I tried to virtualized using VMware.
I was giving up and I saw a video of how to change the thermal compound. But on that video the guy showed also the amount of dust that was collected in the fins of the cooler.
I did not want to open the laptop, so, first I took the vacuum cleaner with the small brush at the end of the hose.
I sucked for 10 minutes thoroughly everywhere.
Then I took some duck tape to close all the possible holes and after that with the vacuum I sucked on the vents where the fan is positioned.
Some big pieces of dust came between the grill and I took it out. Kept sucking for another 5 minutes all the possible way. Removed the duck tape and sucked another time.
Put the machine back and "voilà".
Using POWER SAVING the temperature running Windows 10 is 40 degrees in idle and 42 to 48 degrees during normal use.
Using the MAXIMIZED POWER settings, in idle stays at 44 degrees, right now I have it and using Chrome it went to 47 degrees. When I use VMware virtualized machine with 3D acceleration support the temperature goes between 50 to 65 degree.

So, before when it was at 65 -70 it was the normal temperature under POWER SAVING while now is the hottest.

Now I can feel air blowing from the vents of the cooler (before it did not come out probably because it was jammed by dust).

This simple cleaning reduced the temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius.
I suggest to try that before buying the thermal compound and disassembling your laptop. It could just work.
I hope this was useful.
Roberto Bianchi
 

RisingSun8

Prominent
Mar 25, 2017
1
0
510
Glad you got it sorted! I use the HP as a test machine for software and I had the same issue...I found a few solutions

Causes
1. Dust
2. Windows update (For some reason when it runs, the fan goes mental)
3. Run from admin powershell or cmd powercfg /energy
Note | Powercfg will run a quick test and spit out a report for you, of all the various energy issues it has detected. It won't fix them, but the report will provide enough information to troubleshoot with lots of help from Google

Solutions
1. Remove back and clean dust or your tried and proven method of the vacuum
Note | I would caution that using a household vacuum may have unintended consequences. Dust if left uncleaned clings together becoming large enough to catch itself on the circuitry and as it gets vacuumed out may dislodge or damage critical components. It always best to remove the back casing and only clean the fan, plus it will allow you to thoroughly clean it

2. Chill pad or some other external cooling surface for it to rest on helps.

3. Now the strange one, that I can't explain. Install Intel's extreme tuning utility (XTU) its a free overclocking tool. You may already be familiar with it, but for some reason it seems to regulate heat once installed. Plus, it will provide you detailed information with regard to temp and allow you to overclock the CPU, if you wish....

4. Intel provides two other drivers that may or may not be pre-installed but worth updating as they help considerably cool the PC
a) Intel ® Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (Intel® DPTF)
b) Intel Collaborative Processor Performance Control (CPPC)

Note| Both help manage and extend access your access to settings that control power/energy consumption. The reason I prefaced the last solution with ..'depending on what you use it for'...is because with installing Intel XTU and have access to the CPU and GPU tweaking options, both these drivers may not give a gamer that 100 degree burn on the CPU, as they limit this level of overheating. Again with XTU you can play a balancing act overriding those limitations

Note_2 | If you are a Gamer, which I'm not....that 100 degree burn either means you need to upgrade your system to suit your needs. As the CPU should be sub 70 degrees majority of the time and only breaching that for short bursts which the CPU regulates. There are many registry tweaks that can be done to get you the same performance as you get with 100 degree burn i.e. increase worker threads. Also, the two main reasons for that 100 degree burn are
a) GPU configuration - its not being used on all graphics tasks that its designed for...but note GPU will never perform all of the graphics related tasks...some will still be done by CPU...but if you overheating then its more than likely the GPU is far less than it share
b) DISK I/O caching that is built into windows is very conservative,,,and if you test disk i/o speed on your SSD you'll see what I mean. Its barely scratching the surface of what the SSD is capable of and this is why the CPU is overheating. Its cache write happens far more frequently than it needs to as its buffer is too small. I would explore using a third party caching software i.e. Primo cache or a ram disk.. You can also tweak the cache directly, by using a free tool from Windows Sysinternals called cacheset.....but those settings don't carryover to a reboot so you'll need to set it each session and it won't give you the same blistering speed as using a third party caching software

Hope that helps someone...I know this is a late reply to an old thread. I still have the HP as experimental unit, but I've moved from HP...I've had too many issues with them over the years. For me Asus laptops are first class, followed by Dell