Lenovo g505s high APU and GPU temps!

richcoat26

Distinguished
Oct 3, 2014
1
0
18,510
I recently purchased the g505s with AMD's A10-5750 as I read that it is capable of playing most games although the newer games needed to be on low or medium settings. For £400 I thought bargain if that's true and it is to an extent, it plays battlefield 3 on high settings and it even plays dayz on low settings which surprised me! But it gets hot, really hot!

I use various temp checking programmes and all report the same temps. The APU gets to around 90 degrees C and the the 2 GPU's get to between 80-85 degrees C. On 2 occasions the APU has hit 95 degrees C and the laptop just switched off with no warning.

To limit the high temps I bought a highly recommended laptop cooling pad with 2 fans but this had no effect, probably due to the g505s only having 1 small vent underneath. So to reduce temps slightly I limited the processor state to 99% so the laptop wouldn't go into turbo mode. I also turned game settings down to low-medium. This has had a small effect but not much, temps still reach around 85 degree c for APU and the GPUs still get into low 80's. After a while the left side of keyboard gets so warm it uncomfortable to use.

I've read conflicting reports online to the Max safe operating temp of the A10 5750. Some websites say its 74 degree C while others say 105 degree C! I believe the 74 degree C must be wrong or my laptop would shut off sooner than it is to protect itself from heat damage but I'm only guessing.

I have the latest BIOS update and the laptop is free if dust as its only a month old. Does anyone else have this laptop and if so what temps do you get while gaming?

Lenovo are happy to take a look under warranty but if they find no actual fault then I get charged £44 admin costs! Don't want to send it to them if all g505s laptops get this hot while gaming.



 
Solution
There's a good chance that the laptop received a bad "paste job" from factory (meaning the thermal compound application was poor). These laptops tend to run on the warm side per default, though.

If you send it to Lenovo, you can request that they use a better thermal compound, if available. It might cost you, but it shouldn't be much. Or you can clean their paste and use your own (IC Diamond or Gelid GC-Extreme are recommended), though you not only risk your warranty, you also risk accidental damage to the laptop.

There are all sorts of cooling mods that can be applied, but ultimately they all require opening the system and consequently put the laptop and warranty at risk. Nonetheless, they can definitely help in heat dissipation.
There's a good chance that the laptop received a bad "paste job" from factory (meaning the thermal compound application was poor). These laptops tend to run on the warm side per default, though.

If you send it to Lenovo, you can request that they use a better thermal compound, if available. It might cost you, but it shouldn't be much. Or you can clean their paste and use your own (IC Diamond or Gelid GC-Extreme are recommended), though you not only risk your warranty, you also risk accidental damage to the laptop.

There are all sorts of cooling mods that can be applied, but ultimately they all require opening the system and consequently put the laptop and warranty at risk. Nonetheless, they can definitely help in heat dissipation.
 
Solution

sirgallium

Estimable
Apr 1, 2015
1
0
4,510
I just wanted to let you guys know that at least with my Lenovo G505s, all of the standard performance programs such as CPUID and other information gathering tools will report the temperatures as much higher than they actually are.

To get an accurate reading you need to download AMD OverDrive

http://www.amd.com/en-us/markets/game/downloads

I agree that it does get hot though when playing games, and it sounds like your readings were correct if it shut down from heat.
I plan on modifying the vent underneath for better airflow.