Is This Laptop Too Hot?

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Morikitsune

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Aug 21, 2013
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So I have an HP pavilion DV7-3180us, and as soon as I got it I noticed it seemed to run pretty warm. Some research I've done leads me to believe that this model had a rather bad overheating problem due to poor cooling design, but I've also head that the Intel i7 Q720 mobile gets quite hot as far as processors go. I've been trying to keep my laptop running as cool as possible, and since I didn't buy it new, and don't have a warranty, I did clean out the fan (there was quite a bit of dust) but in my mind it's still running on the warm side. When idling it sits around 45-50 degrees C, browsing the net causes it to go up to 54-57c, gaming causes it to hover around 75-80c, and after I ran an intelburn stress test for 30 minutes it maxed out at around 85c. So I'm wondering if these temperatures are still unusually hot? or is this as cool as I can expect this computer to get?
 
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miggtt699
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miggtt699

miggtt699

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Aug 31, 2012
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I really do think in that scenario, that's about the best it's going to get. I'd say in an extreme case, change the thermal paste, but even then... I don't know... The design as you said is already making the ship sink... So if you would like to try, get high quality thermal paste and re-apply it to your CPU. It might change, it might not, but if you're really bothered about the temperature that much, the thermal paste is only about 25$ for a really good one. So I'd give it a try if I was that concerned.
 
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PyjamasCat

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It's pretty common to see laptops get that hot, especially older models. Too hot for the laptop would be the point where it shuts down automatically. Too hot for you would be what you want to put up with when it is on your lap, table, where ever you have it.

If the temps concern you, you could by a cooling pad or make your own. I used to use an HP Pavilion DV6 (2006 I think?) and it used to get very hot, sometimes it would hit mid 90s. I decided to make my own cooling pad.

I simply cut holes in an old shoe box, (but you might want something flatter), one on the back as an intake for a fan and one underneath the laptops CPU intake. I used a spare 12v fan and wired it to a printer pwoer adapter. It is also possible that you could use a 5V fan and use a USB connection. With the box alone the average temps were reduced 5°C and with the fan, down another 5.
 
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Morikitsune

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I did consider getting a cooling pad, I've also considered re-pasting the CPU and GPU, if these temperature levels are indeed still dangerous to my motherboard I think that's what I might do. This laptop is 3 years old so it might need new cooling paste. I should also mention that the fan doesn't speed up any considerable amount until it gets around 80c, which made me wonder if I should update the BIOS. I've also noticed that the GPU never really goes above 60c; it's the CPU that gets so warm.
 
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miggtt699

miggtt699

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Check if there are any options on the BIOS like Smart fan control or something along the lines of "Fan". If there is, either disable it or enable it, if it's disabled, enable it, if it's enabled, disable it and see what happens.

Since the laptop is 3 years old, I'd really think about changing the thermal paste.
 
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PyjamasCat

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You could also remove dust and hair that has accumulated over the years. Most people recommend compressed air, but I've used the vacuum/hoover on low before. Just note that the vacuum may not do as well as the compressed air. It might be good to check your advanced power settings in control panel to see if active cooling is enabled or if it is set to passive.
 
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Morikitsune

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I used an air compressor to clean out the fan, it was a bit dusty and cleaning it seemed to lower the temp around 5c. As far as power options it is on active cooling and I've tried fiddling with the maximum processor state (even lowered it to 10%) but it didn't make any difference. I usually run skyrim for a few hours to try an strain the processor and at 10% I didn't even notice a difference in performance, and it was still hovering between 75-80c; so I'm not sure that changing that option even does anything.
 
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