Question XPS 15 9530 with i7-13700H Runs Hot Under Stress

[Crag_Hack]

Hi my new XPS 15 is running quite hot under 100% CPU with AIDA64. I personally could care less about squeezing every last ounce of performance out of the machine I much prefer the computer to run cooler instead. From what I've read and heard the new Intel and AMD CPUs can tolerate much greater temperatures than those of 5-10+ years ago, even up to 100 C. After a stress test with AIDA64 the CPU climbed to 90 C after 2 minutes the other day and 95 C today. Under normal loads the computer appears to be fine, idling in the 40s. I have three questions:

1. Is this anything to be concerned about? Are modern CPU's designed to tolerate these high temps and are their lifespans at all impacted by high temps like these under stress?

2. Are temps up to 90-100 C considered normal under load?

3. Is there anything I can do to keep the temps lower? Argus Monitor doesn't appear to be able to change the fan curve, Dell Power Manager apparently isn't supported so I can't change the thermal management options, and I'm not sure if capping the CPU frequency in power options would work since a brief inspection of CPU frequency in task manager while running the stress test shows frequencies way below the max frequency.

Thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

1| No
2| You can try and undervolt but it's within spec
3| Replace thermal paste and pads with higher quality paste and pads. You can undervolt using ThrottleStop. You can lift the rear the of the laptop using an eraser place in the middle underneath the part where the laptop's hinge is. Use airconditioning.

 

[hotaru.hino]

1. Is this anything to be concerned about? Are modern CPU's designed to tolerate these high temps and are their lifespans at all impacted by high temps like these under stress?

This is nothing to be concerned about. Modern CPUs are designed to get close to their maximum operating temperature. Which for the i7-13700H, is 100C.

2. Are temps up to 90-100 C considered normal under load?

For a laptop of this type, yes.

3. Is there anything I can do to keep the temps lower? Argus Monitor doesn't appear to be able to change the fan curve, Dell Power Manager apparently isn't supported so I can't change the thermal management options, and I'm not sure if capping the CPU frequency in power options would work since a brief inspection of CPU frequency in task manager while running the stress test shows frequencies way below the max frequency.

A few things to try:

• Use Intel XTU to lower the power level or the maximum clock speed, but I'm not sure if it works with Dell XPS laptops.
• Adjust the "Maximum Processor State" in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings -> Change Advanced Settings -> Processor Power Management. Intel CPUs tend to adjust the boost clock speed in relation to the percentage here.
• Enable the option to disable turbo boost at an OS level by opening a command line prompt as an administrator and running this command:
  powercfg -attributes sub_processor perfboostmode -attrib_hide
  
  This will show an option in Processor Power Management as mentioned previously under "Processor Performance Boost Mode"

Note these all can potentially reduce the performance of the laptop, but there's not much else you can do.

I also don't recommend changing the thermal paste. It's likely using a Honeywell PTM7950 TIM or similar which is considered high performance, low maintenance. Laptop cooling systems generally don't apply the same mounting pressure as desktop cooling systems, so you need a thick TIM to prevent pump-out and/or periodic reapplications.

You could also opt for one of those laptop cooling pads, but unless it's blowing air more or less directly into the bottom vents or a significant amount of heat is being transferred to the chassis, these won't really do much.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@Lutfij Thx sorry to take so long to respond been really busy. I'll try and figure out throttlestop and see how it works.

@hotaru.hino Thx as well...

This is nothing to be concerned about. Modern CPUs are designed to get close to their maximum operating temperature. Which for the i7-13700H, is 100C.

You mean they are designed to get up to, not close to, correct? As you can see here I hit 100 C before the fans started ramping up during a stress test (stopped the test after that); looks like thermal throttling.

 

[rustigsmed]

easy way here

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhaZqc_mMbE


i have a 13700h too and it always wants to boost up to 5ghz when it's not necessary in gaming. I agree the temps are annoying. while the silicon is designed for it and it is 'in spec' modern thermal pastes don't really seem to last with these high temps, the main issue is pump out. so there is a reason to try and reduce the temps. i ended up taking mine apart upgrading ram, and the nvme (ditched win11 for PopOS) and also applied PTM7950 to cpu and gpu. temps come down a little bit and get better over time with ptm but its good to know there will be no future pump out - set and forget.