Question My first gaming laptop is getting reeeally hot! Is there any alternative ?

[Rumblefishx]

Hi there !

Guys, I've been facing a kind of frustrating situation. I just bought my first gaming laptop, however, I'm afraid of using it considering the high temperatures it gets during gameplay.

My laptop is a Dell G15 5520 with the following specs :

Intel i9 12900h
16GB RAM DDR5 4800MHZ
GEFORCE RTX 3060 6GB

I noticed that while running games like witcher 3 I got between 89-95 degrees with spikes till 97 degrees in my processor. I got these temps even while using laptop stands with cooling pads and an excellent elevation/angulation from the tabletop. When I deactivate turbo boost I can enjoy witcher 3 running while my processor just reaches 56 degrees, however, I just have 2.5ghz of clock and it bothers me a lot.

I was looking for other alternatives like undervolting and/or underclocking, however, it seems that my i9 is locked and I can't find any voltage or clock options available on my BIOS. I went even beyond and also tried throttle stop and intel tunning utility and in both tools I can't change anything related to processor voltage or clock.

Are there any alternatives I can try ? How bad are my temps ? I'm suffering any risk by playing at those temps I mentioned before ?

Thank you all.

 

[rgd1101]

laptop can usually handle around 100c

 

[JeffreyP55]

Hi there !

Guys, I've been facing a kind of frustrating situation. I just bought my first gaming laptop, however, I'm afraid of using it considering the high temperatures it gets during gameplay.

My laptop is a Dell G15 5520 with the following specs :

Intel i9 12900h
16GB RAM DDR5 4800MHZ
GEFORCE RTX 3060 6GB

I noticed that while running games like witcher 3 I got between 89-95 degrees with spikes till 97 degrees in my processor. I got these temps even while using laptop stands with cooling pads and an excellent elevation/angulation from the tabletop. When I deactivate turbo boost I can enjoy witcher 3 running while my processor just reaches 56 degrees, however, I just have 2.5ghz of clock and it bothers me a lot.

I was looking for other alternatives like undervolting and/or underclocking, however, it seems that my i9 is locked and I can't find any voltage or clock options available on my BIOS. I went even beyond and also tried throttle stop and intel tunning utility and in both tools I can't change anything related to processor voltage or clock.

Are there any alternatives I can try ? How bad are my temps ? I'm suffering any risk by playing at those temps I mentioned before ?

Thank you all.

The fastest CPU that comes with a Dell G15 5520 is an i7-12700H 12th Gen. 97 sounds too hot but I don't know very much about the rig. Gaming + Laptop? Many do it but not me.

Dell G15 5520 Gaming Laptop – Laptop Specs

laptoping.com

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hi there !

Guys, I've been facing a kind of frustrating situation. I just bought my first gaming laptop, however, I'm afraid of using it considering the high temperatures it gets during gameplay.

My laptop is a Dell G15 5520 with the following specs :

Intel i9 12900h
16GB RAM DDR5 4800MHZ
GEFORCE RTX 3060 6GB

I noticed that while running games like witcher 3 I got between 89-95 degrees with spikes till 97 degrees in my processor. I got these temps even while using laptop stands with cooling pads and an excellent elevation/angulation from the tabletop. When I deactivate turbo boost I can enjoy witcher 3 running while my processor just reaches 56 degrees, however, I just have 2.5ghz of clock and it bothers me a lot.

I was looking for other alternatives like undervolting and/or underclocking, however, it seems that my i9 is locked and I can't find any voltage or clock options available on my BIOS. I went even beyond and also tried throttle stop and intel tunning utility and in both tools I can't change anything related to processor voltage or clock.

Are there any alternatives I can try ? How bad are my temps ? I'm suffering any risk by playing at those temps I mentioned before ?

Thank you all.

Hey there,

Other than what you have done, there is very little else you can do. Most gaming laptops are designed to run hot, but when the CPU is that hot, the fans can be very annoying when playing games. You could try change thermal paste. Not the easiest thing to do, but not too difficult either. This 'could' help reduce temps by a 5c or so. The thermal paste that comes with most laptops is generic stuff. So something like Noctua NT H2 would be great.

Unfortunately, Dell lock there bios' to prevent undervolting. Very annoying. Because it works really well.

Did you use Intel XTU or Throttlestop to try undervolt?

 

[geofelt]

I see many complaints about gaming laptops not performing well.
Usually gaming while plugged in.
One common cause is thermal throttling.
Laptop coolers must, of necessity be small and light.
The coolers are also relatively underpowered.
If you run an app such as HWMonitor or HWinfo, you will get the current, minimum, and maximum cpu temperatures.
For intel processors, if you see a max of 100c. it means you have throttled.
The cpu will lower it's multiplier and power draw to protect itself
until the situation reverses.
At a lower multiplier, your cpu usage may well be at 100%
What can you do?
First, see that your cooler airways are clear and that the cooler fan is spinning.
Use a windows balanced power profile, not the performance profile.
Set a minimum cpu performance to something like 20%

It is counter-intuitive, but, try changing the windows balanced power profile advanced functions to a max of 90% instead of the default of 100%
You may not notice the reduced cpu performance.

 

[Rumblefishx]

I did exatcly everything you guys suggested apart from changing thermal paste. I afraid of loosing guarantee or even breaking something.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

I did exatcly everything you guys suggested apart from changing thermal paste. I afraid of loosing guarantee or even breaking something.

Well, yes, you void the warranty. You also could break something. BUT, it can be done if you take it slowly, and do it properly.

Here's a guide: Dell Precision 5510, 5520 Disassembly, fan cleaning and thermal paste replacement - YouTube

I understand the 5510 and 5520 are exactly the same internally.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Once you get used to it you will become an expert at assembling/disassembling your laptop.