Overheating with a watercooler

[PurpleGary]

System:

Chassis & Display	Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)	64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

Any idea why when playing Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition the CPU is still spiking at 96 C (Averaging at 78 C but that includes some non-gaming time). GPU reaches 70C.

 

[SpyderTracks]

System:

Chassis & Display	Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)	64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

Any idea why when playing Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition the CPU is still spiking at 96 C (Averaging at 78 C but that includes some non-gaming time). GPU reaches 70C.

Can you post the full specs but leave out your windows license?

 

[PurpleGary]

Can you post the full specs but leave out your windows license?

Chassis & Display	Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)	64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive	4TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W) Partitions: 200GB, 800GB, 3000GB
2nd M.2 SSD Drive	2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W) Change to: 4TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W) Partitions: 2000GB, 1000GB, 1000GB
Memory Card Reader	Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor	1 x 330W AC Adaptor Change to: 2 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable	2 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery	Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste	LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card	Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Bluetooth & Wireless	GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options	1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS

Operating System

Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Hopefully, there's something in there for you to work on.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Has anything changed, have you reset windows or clean installed, is control center installed correctly?

 

[PurpleGary]

Nothing has changed and the control center is installed correctly and it is working, whether correctly I couldn't tell you. I've noticed in the SPC setting I could limit the CPU temperature if I was to set it up, but I'm worried about the other settings involved and whether this would be damaging to the system in any way. Photo shown

The other day I noticed a graph option to change the speed of the fan based on the heat of the CPU/GPU, and I had the ability to change the settings, but I can't find it anymore.

 

[Scott]

Is this a new behaviour, or has it been this way for as long as you've been checking it?

The 13900HX is still a very powerful CPU so it's not surprising that it needs all the cooling you have for it.

I wouldn't rely on the gaming side of things to accurately assess if there's an issue though. Only laptop I used to see mid 90s with GTA IV, it was a killer for CPU temps for me.

If you could do a check with 3DMark (Any of the benchmark tests should do, there are free options).

After that, give Prime95 a run for a stress test. 10 minutes should cover it to bring the CPU up to maximum temperature.

Do these tests with the watercooling running and without the water cooling running separately. I would have a half hour between the testing to let everything normalise. That should give us an indication of the performance of the watercooler.

 

[PurpleGary]

So I did the 3DMark test first without the water cooler and 2nd with as shown.

As for Prime95, I'm no expert but whatever I set I too it wasn't happy about it and after about 6 minutes my laptop totally locked up and pressed and held the power button to get out of it, not even the task manager was responding.

Oh, and I guess that the water cooler version did say I scored better than 96% of all results is a good thing?

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I did the 3DMark test first without the water cooler and 2nd with as shown.

As for Prime95, I'm no expert but whatever I set I too it wasn't happy about it and after about 6 minutes my laptop totally locked up and pressed and held the power button to get out of it, not even the task manager was responding.

I think you've just duplicated the one image

 

[PurpleGary]

I think you've just duplicated the one image

Thanks now corrected.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks now corrected.

I don't think your cooler is working properly, should be far lower temps than that with it enabled.

 

[Scott]

Thanks for running, can you send the links to the runs rather than screenshots? Means I can scan through the temps & timings etc.

The temps at the very end of the watercooled run are really throwing me.

Could you try the Firestrike extreme one? It has a longer CPU test in the middle and a good combined test too that should stress things. Remember to send the links.

Prime95 crashing would suggest to me that the power/cooling is imbalanced. Could be something simple like the paste not being great, or the heatsink, or could be some sort of configuration.

Will look at negating the configuration next.

 

[PurpleGary]

Thanks for running, can you send the links to the runs rather than screenshots? Means I can scan through the temps & timings etc.

The temps at the very end of the watercooled run are really throwing me.

Could you try the Firestrike extreme one? It has a longer CPU test in the middle and a good combined test too that should stress things. Remember to send the links.

Prime95 crashing would suggest to me that the power/cooling is imbalanced. Could be something simple like the paste not being great, or the heatsink, or could be some sort of configuration.

Will look at negating the configuration next.

I'm not too sure what links you are referring to maybe these:

I scored 18 898 in Time Spy

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 65272 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

I scored 21 368 in Time Spy

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 65536 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

I scored 25 508 in Fire Strike Extreme

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 65536 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

 

[PurpleGary]

I saved the results which basically is the graph, hope you have a program that can view it.

It appears I can't upload it here though.

 

[Scott]

I'm not too sure what links you are referring to maybe these:

I scored 18 898 in Time Spy

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 65272 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

I scored 21 368 in Time Spy

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 65536 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

I scored 25 508 in Fire Strike Extreme

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 65536 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

That's exactly what I was looking for. Will have a scan now

Edit: I can't see the graphs. I didn't realise that you couldn't access them for other users

 

[Scott]

Having a look at the scores and the images, it definitely looks to me like it's overheating a bit on the CPU. With the first Timespy run the Avg speed is very low. The avg temp isn't too bad, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

I don't know if there are any power limitations with the laptop not in watercooling mode (I don't think there are, as it's an optional extra).

The performance of the laptop with the watercooler is good. This is just on a benchmark run though, which won't stress anything too much.

See if you can get 3 minutes worth of Prime95. Make sure you are running HWMonitor the whole time and send a screenshot of the result after the test. I wouldn't bother with the non-watercooled result just now... stick with the water cooler.

After the test, wait 10 minutes and see if you can find an option to maximise all fans/watercooler pump etc. It'll be noisy, but it'll confirm if there are any fan curves or anything needing tuned. With everything maxed on the cooling front, re-run the same test for 3 minutes.

There certainly isn't any power limitations in effect, not anything outwith what they should be at least, as it's running quite well when not thermally limited.

 

[PurpleGary]

So I have no idea what I'm doing with Prime95, however, I ran it well over time and it didn't get above 87 degrees as seen here with the run and the graph separately that was using the auto feature on the water cooler. The laptop was turned off for quite a while before I did the increased fan test, speaking of which the only controls I have showing are Auto (which I normally have it on) Balanced (which I used this time) Quiet and Quieter. So the first 2 pictures are the first run the 3rd for the shortened increased fan speed run. When I play games i have the control center set the water cooler to Turbo Mode is this correct?

I've also noticed there's a later version of ControlCenter on your downloads section to the one I have mines 5.1.49.2 the later one is 5.1.49.11 is it okay to install this?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've also noticed there's a later version of ControlCenter on your downloads section to the one I have mines 5.1.49.2 the later one is 5.1.49.11 is it okay to install this?

So long as it's for Windows 11, then yes, should be fine.

 

[PurpleGary]

Thanks Spyder, it was and is now fully working, hopefully for the better as the previous version was a bit temperamental at connecting and letting me access the controls.

 

[PurpleGary]

I know this has been a while since I brought my overheating to your attention, but I believe I have the workings of a solution.

The CPU used to reach 100 degrees C. Now it only reaches about 80 degrees C due largely to the fact I'm in a room that's naturally warmer than most, so obviously if the room temperature is about 25 to 30 degrees it pulls in heated air. now it's cooler it's not so bad. Also, I'm over-riding the CPU fan by boosting it to max while gaming only) in the SPC settings, now a maximum of 80C and an average of 57C.