[SOLVED] Laptop with Normal Temps - but Scalding Cover Temp

May 11, 2020
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Greetings,

I am rather curious about one thing that I have noticed on my laptop recently.
While a gamer - sort of -, I'm also a temperature enthusiast and can't stop checking that my values are in normal range. As such, you can expect me to look at temp software and touch my laptop all day long. With this occasion, I noticed this interesting thing that I can't seem to explain.

So, first of all, for some specs and details:

The laptop is an Acer Aspire 7 (A715) with .. from what I recall, a metallic (I think Aluminum case) - i5-7300HQ 2.5 up to 3.5 Boost (however, I manually underclocked it because it wouldn't go under 3.4.-3.4 even when browsing or watching a video and that got me worried - how: I basically set the Maximum Processor State in Power Options to 99%; you can tell me if I should keep on doing this or not; if I leave it on 100% the laptop seems to get also hotter even though the performance while gaming or doing any other task is literally the same; and I mean, literally), and the GPU is a GTX 1050 2GB, with 4GB DDR4 of RAM to which I added another 8.

I also run with a secondary screen - a 24 inch I think AOC monitor connected to the laptop. The laptop itself is plugged in all the time and stands on a 5-fan cooler with 6 speed ranges (I usually keep it on level 3, quite cool air).

I used Core Temp and now currently using HWiNFO for temperature measurements. Since I recently started to play a more demanding game, I booted these two more often.
Normal gameplay (as in not a lot of things happening on the screen) sends my CPU and GPU max into 75 degrees with an average of 69-70 (from start of game until end of session). Naturally, when more things start happening, the CPU gets as high as 81-82 (but not higher) and pretty much the same happens with the GPU (80-81 and not higher), even if the intense sessions last for a long time.
So, as you can see, my temps are in quite normal ratings - some forums said that both Intel and nVidia come with a power cap, so to say, of maximum 100 degrees, while some said that an nVidia GPU is set for a max tj of 85 degrees. I'm still in the limits.

These being said, my main issue is the fact that one particular part of the cover, namely above the laptop's keyboard - from F5 to F12 - gets extremely hot, up to a point where I cannot hold my fingers there without going yikes. The laptop is around 2 years of age, and has always been on a cooler and with me with external mouse and keyboard. That part of the laptop - above the keyboard - is pretty much the only part of the laptop that gets hot. I should also mention the rather bad design of the laptop - there are no side vents, only on the laterals of the back of the case that are slightly tipped outwards.The air coming out from those vents seems to be quite cool.

So, my question is - what could be causing the case to get that hot and, if I continue with my gaming (because it gets quite hot even if the temps stay within the 70-75 mark) will this affect the laptop's health?

Feel free to ask any other questions that may be of help for you and thank you in advance to those that took their time to answer me!

edit 1: I forgot to mention that the case part in question does cool down quite fast, surprisingly, and that the cover in that area doesn't have any marks, heat signs, and so on, even though I've been basically gaming on this laptop since I got it, with mostly demanding games.

edit 2: I always forget something: there are little to no effects on performance while high temps or scalding hot case; I can freely watch an YouTube video, browse stuff on my laptop's screen, with the usual slower loading, of course, but nothing major that would get me annoyed.
 
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Solution
Ok, so I am coming back with some updates, since more people may be facing this particular issue.

I did the CPU undervolt thing mentioned above. It works like a charm - while keeping the CPU boost off and also undervolting with according to the CPU's model, I am seeing temperatures of MAX 75-76 degrees after several hours of continuous gaming/CPU pressure.
There are times when the temperature won't go above 70 degrees even with plenty of stuff on the screen, so to say.

However, this undervolting of the CPU didn't seem to fix the issue of the scalding hot laptop case - so I thought of something else. Given this new thing I learned about - CPU undervolt -, I thought it may apply to GPUs as well.

So after a brief search I found out...
Might be bad design, fan blocked with dust. Replacing thermal paste and cleaning the fan manually would probably solve the issue but this will void warranty.

While thinking about that (and since you already disabled turbo boost) do a slight undervolt, intel XTU is very safe and good program for undervolting laptop cpu:s, this guy pretty much explains the basics, you can start with -100mv and see how it goes. This is not dangerous and quite opposite it might give some longevity for your cpu(not that it matters since cpu will last longest of the components anyway):
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7OdTmylZNQ
 
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May 11, 2020
3
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10
Ok, so I am coming back with some updates, since more people may be facing this particular issue.

I did the CPU undervolt thing mentioned above. It works like a charm - while keeping the CPU boost off and also undervolting with according to the CPU's model, I am seeing temperatures of MAX 75-76 degrees after several hours of continuous gaming/CPU pressure.
There are times when the temperature won't go above 70 degrees even with plenty of stuff on the screen, so to say.

However, this undervolting of the CPU didn't seem to fix the issue of the scalding hot laptop case - so I thought of something else. Given this new thing I learned about - CPU undervolt -, I thought it may apply to GPUs as well.

So after a brief search I found out that stock graphics cards run above the mHz (I think that) they should be running if needed - sort of a GPU boost. For example, my GTX 1050 should have been running at a maximum of 1493 mHZ - however, during gaming sessions, it would reach the 1700s, so I grabbed MSI Afterburner and have that a tweak, locking the CPU mHz at 1480.
The result?

Same as with the CPU - my GPU is now seeing temperatures of max 74-75 while gaming, with little to no impact on the game's performance and no FPS drops. The game or certain areas may take some more time than usual to load, but the FPS was not affected.

And I think the fact that the GPU was doing extra work was also causing the laptop case to get very hot in that one particular area. While it does still get hot now as well, it is far from being scalding and much more bearable to the touch. The fan may not be doing a great job or simply the GPU doesn't have enough cooling power to keep the external parts cool - or simply the heat is absorbed by the case.

Anyway, now that both the CPU and GPU don't go over 75 degrees while gaming, I think a bit of heat to the case won't do wrong since the two main parts of my laptop are way under threatening temperatures.
 
Solution
Glad you got it running cooler, there is a problem with newer laptops which are hitting constant near tjmax temperatures (as a normal behavior) with heavy thermal throttling. In few years we will see these laptops fail with different array of problems, just after warranty has expired.

However im not talking about your laptop 80-85c is still fine but most i7 laptops nowdays run near or over 100c on the cores.
 
May 11, 2020
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Oh, true - I've already seen that happening in some Asus ROGs of my friends: bad cooling system, some of them even had their case above the keyboard grow white dots due to the constant amount of heat that part was receiving.
It's curious mainly because, same as with my laptop, the main unit (excluding the screen) is quite thick - unlike some of the newer notebooks/ultrabooks - and looks like it could do a good job at sending heat out of the laptop.

But well, it seems like, for now, we just gotta take really good care of our laptops xD.

Also, thank you very much for your initial reply - it helped me figure out some stuff and learn some as well. You're my teacher when it comes to undervolting! :D

Thank you again!