Overheating due to Summer Weather?

[TheKurtster]

I purchased an ASUS ZenBook Pro today.

It's really nice and super fast.

It features a i7 6700HQ, 960M, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD.

However, AIDA64 is noticing that it's currently overheating and therefore throttling the CPU. 

I'm not sure if it's because of the heat of the Canadian Summer (We are currently in a heat wave) and that I don't have AC in my house.

I'm really hoping that it's not a manufacturer defect.

Any thoughts?

[KingKeith55]

Probably a defect. Unless your house is like 40 degrees then I doubt that it would be affecting it that much. 

[TheKurtster]

2 minutes ago, KingKeith55 said:

Probably a defect. Unless your house is like 40 degrees then I doubt that it would be affecting it that much. 

It's averaging 56C and maxing out at 86C at load.

It's currently almost 30C in the house.

[KingKeith55]

2 hours ago, TheKurtster said:

It's averaging 56C and maxing out at 86C at load.

It's currently almost 30C in the house.

Yeah that sounds to me like they didn't apply the thermal paste correctly or didn't apply any at all. I have an old laptop that I need to change the paste on and it runs actually hotter due to it being one of those old shitty Intel i3-XXXM series. It actually shuts off when doing any sort of benchmarking and gaming because it gets too hot.

 

It might just run hot on its own though, go look up some benchmarking tests or something on that laptop or cpu and gpu models.

[TheKurtster]

4 minutes ago, KingKeith55 said:

Yeah that sounds to me like they didn't apply the thermal paste correctly or didn't apply any at all. I have an old laptop that I need to change the paste on and it runs actually hotter due to it being one of those old shitty Intel i3-XXXM series. It actually shuts off when doing any sort of benchmarking and gaming because it gets too hot.

 

It might just run hot on its own though, go look up some benchmarking tests or something on that laptop or cpu and gpu models.

I've had a fan in front of it for the past 15-20 mins and the temps have dropped to about 48C at the lowest at idle.

I'm rerunning AIDA64 and it's getting up to 80C average (with it topping out at 87C) at load.

The throttling has also reduced from 11% to 4%.

[KingKeith55]

1 minute ago, TheKurtster said:

I've had a fan in front of it for the past 15-20 mins and the temps have dropped to about 48C at the lowest at idle.

I'm rerunning AIDA64 and it's getting up to 80C average (with it topping out at 87C) at load.

The throttling has also reduced from 11% to 4%.

The throttling still isn't a good sign. Like I said, try searching some benchmarks and see if yours match up.

[TheKurtster]

34 minutes ago, KingKeith55 said:

The throttling still isn't a good sign. Like I said, try searching some benchmarks and see if yours match up.

The only thing I manage to find is about the previous generation model.

Regardless, it seemed to suffer from the same issue.

Notebookcheck.net said that the CPU would fluctuate around 2.6 - 2.7GHz with core temps around 84C doing just a CPU stress test.

That was on an i7 4710HQ. I have an i7 6700HQ.

However, I was getting the same result.

It also said that it would run even further under spec when running both GPU and CPU benchmarks, 1.8GHz to be exact.

So naturally, I fired up FurMark as well.

It ran under the the base 2.6GHz but it ran at the lowest 2.2 - 2.3GHz, still better than what was reported.

I also noticed that my CPU was having little fluctuations (see attached image) and that now AIDA64 was only reporting a 1% throttle.

Temps remained the same and it peaked around 85C just like the review.

They seem to think it's a firmware imposed limitation the 85C max.

But, judging by this review (the only one I've found that managed to review the thermals this extensively), this machine seems to run a bit toasty.

And at this point it can't be the 30 (before humidity) degree weather when it's had a fan pointed at it for over an hour.

[D2ultima]

4 hours ago, TheKurtster said:

It's averaging 56C and maxing out at 86C at load.

It's currently almost 30C in the house.

That's not high enough ambient temps to throttle a 6700HQ. My sister barely cracks 65c on hers.

1 hour ago, TheKurtster said:

I've had a fan in front of it for the past 15-20 mins and the temps have dropped to about 48C at the lowest at idle.

I'm rerunning AIDA64 and it's getting up to 80C average (with it topping out at 87C) at load.

The throttling has also reduced from 11% to 4%.

Also, 86-87c is not the thermal throttle point for Skylake. That's 95c+. You should be able to run much higher... that's a firmware-imposed limit.

51 minutes ago, TheKurtster said:

Regardless, it seemed to suffer from the same issue.

 

It ran under the the base 2.6GHz but it ran at the lowest 2.2 - 2.3GHz, still better than what was reported.

Because ASUS doesn't make good laptops excepting their top end ROG model. All the smaller ones are mediocre at best, and their QC & QA is awful.

 

This is because Skylake is MUCH cooler than Haswell, and your clockspeed is lower than the 4710HQ as well. 2.3GHz up from 1.8GHz (in their A/C controlled testing room) is most definitely within expectations considering the differences.

 

My advice to you? Return it. DO NOT ATTEMPT A REPASTE. THIS BREAKS YOUR WARRANTY ENTIRELY. Buy a new one if you really wish to keep ASUS and see if it works better, but nothing else. DO NOT RMA THE MACHINE. You're in for a world of crap if you do. And whatever you do, do not inform them that you ran Furmark on it. If the new one works, great. If it does not, well... return it again. But my suggestion is to find another machine somewhere. There must be one within your budget that'll work ok. Though, I would say, if the Zenbook is an ultrabook size (I haven't looked too heavily at them) then you probably don't want the i7 HQ line. A ULV is best for that form factor. If you want something with some more grunt, you're best getting a slightly thicker machine. 

[TheKurtster]

1 minute ago, D2ultima said:

That's not high enough ambient temps to throttle a 6700HQ. My sister barely cracks 65c on hers.

Also, 86-87c is not the thermal throttle point for Skylake. That's 95c+. You should be able to run much higher... that's a firmware-imposed limit.

Because ASUS doesn't make good laptops excepting their top end ROG model. All the smaller ones are mediocre at best, and their QC & QA is awful.

 

This is because Skylake is MUCH cooler than Haswell, and your clockspeed is lower than the 4710HQ as well. 2.3GHz up from 1.8GHz (in their A/C controlled testing room) is most definitely within expectations considering the differences.

 

My advice to you? Return it. DO NOT ATTEMPT A REPASTE. THIS BREAKS YOUR WARRANTY ENTIRELY. Buy a new one if you really wish to keep ASUS and see if it works better, but nothing else. DO NOT RMA THE MACHINE. You're in for a world of crap if you do. And whatever you do, do not inform them that you ran Furmark on it. If the new one works, great. If it does not, well... return it again. But my suggestion is to find another machine somewhere. There must be one within your budget that'll work ok. Though, I would say, if the Zenbook is an ultrabook size (I haven't looked too heavily at them) then you probably don't want the i7 HQ line. A ULV is best for that form factor. If you want something with some more grunt, you're best getting a slightly thicker machine. 

If I were to return it, NCIX would charge a 15% restock fee.

They'll replace it, because I also got the 3 year extended warranty, but they won't take it back without me losing money in the process.

 

It seems either way I'm screwed.

I was never going to attempt a repaste, mainly because I don't have a Torx T5 screwdriver and that I do value the warranty.

I read the reviews for it and it sounded great but after buying it the heat leaves something to be desired.

I was originally going to get a Dell XPS 15 but was put off by the people saying that Dell had poor QC and QA.

Now I'm hearing that ASUS is just as bad.

I've almost never had a positive experience with Windows Laptops (or Mac's running Windows for that matter).

I just wanted something decently powerful for my College Systems Technician course so I didn't have to rely on Remoting into my home PC.

I just feel like I'm stuck in a bad position.

 

 

[Imglidinhere]

Well you bought a boutique notebook like the ZenBook, something that wasn't designed for gaming in mind, and are surprised that the cooling is insufficient. The XPS 15 would be a much better buy for your needs in every way. At least the XPS 15 doesn't throttle as far as I'm aware.

[D2ultima]

Just now, TheKurtster said:

It seems either way I'm screwed.

 

 

 

I was originally going to get a Dell XPS 15 but was put off by the people saying that Dell had poor QC and QA.

Now I'm hearing that ASUS is just as bad.

 

 

 

I just feel like I'm stuck in a bad position.

Unfortunately it seems that way.

 

ASUS has *THE WORST* QA/QC I've ever seen on notebooks. And I've seen OriginPC sell someone a $1000 i7-4940MX CPU in a P377SM-A WITHOUT APPLYING ANY THERMAL PASTE TO THE CHIP. Just absorb that for a bit. HP/Acer/Dell on the other hand simply design a lot of systems badly. Bad QC is how good the parts quality is (how likely a dead/broken motherboard/GPU/etc is) and bad QA is how likely you are to get a broken out-the-gate machine (you just gotta look up ASUS to see their track record for that one). In terms of base design, ASUS' models are generally above Dell/HP/Acer/etc, but they're not the best.

 

I feel you, though you should try to get NCIX to replace it until a working one is found. If you don't find a good one within a few laptops, eventually they might waive the restocking fee for you if the replacement warranty is through them specifically, because it'll cost too much to keep giving you laptops. But you have a fair claim if the CPU keeps throttling. I suggest asking them first though. And make sure you spin it as your monitoring programs are reading CPU thermal throttle, because as far as laptops go (and yes, this is going to sound really bad) throttling turbo boost but not under base clock in normal operation is not often considered "unacceptable".

 

Always do a ton of research before buying a specific model man.

[TheKurtster]

4 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

Unfortunately it seems that way.

 

ASUS has *THE WORST* QA/QC I've ever seen on notebooks. And I've seen OriginPC sell someone a $1000 i7-4940MX CPU in a P377SM-A WITHOUT APPLYING ANY THERMAL PASTE TO THE CHIP. Just absorb that for a bit. HP/Acer/Dell on the other hand simply design a lot of systems badly. Bad QC is how good the parts quality is (how likely a dead/broken motherboard/GPU/etc is) and bad QA is how likely you are to get a broken out-the-gate machine (you just gotta look up ASUS to see their track record for that one). In terms of base design, ASUS' models are generally above Dell/HP/Acer/etc, but they're not the best.

 

I feel you, though you should try to get NCIX to replace it until a working one is found. If you don't find a good one within a few laptops, eventually they might waive the restocking fee for you if the replacement warranty is through them specifically, because it'll cost too much to keep giving you laptops. But you have a fair claim if the CPU keeps throttling. I suggest asking them first though. And make sure you spin it as your monitoring programs are reading CPU thermal throttle, because as far as laptops go (and yes, this is going to sound really bad) throttling turbo boost but not under base clock in normal operation is not often considered "unacceptable".

 

Always do a ton of research before buying a specific model man.

I did extensive research on the Dell XPS 15 but in the end was put off by its higher price tag and what sounded like both bad QA and QC.

The ZenBook Pro was more of a 24-hour research thing and I thought that because it had similar specs but was made by ASUS (a company who I thought would be more reputable), I'd have better peace of mind.

If I had known what I know now, I would've gone with the XPS 15.

I won't be able to get to NCIX for a few days as the folks need the car but I'll be making a trip back as a very unsatisfied customer.

[TheKurtster]

8 minutes ago, Imglidinhere said:

Well you bought a boutique notebook like the ZenBook, something that wasn't designed for gaming in mind, and are surprised that the cooling is insufficient. The XPS 15 would be a much better buy for your needs in every way. At least the XPS 15 doesn't throttle as far as I'm aware.

I didn't buy the ZenBook for gaming though. I bought it for VM work and Networking as part of college course.

[D2ultima]

4 minutes ago, TheKurtster said:

I did extensive research on the Dell XPS 15 but in the end was put off by its higher price tag and what sounded like both bad QA and QC.

The ZenBook Pro was more of a 24-hour research thing and I thought that because it had similar specs but was made by ASUS (a company who I thought would be more reputable), I'd have better peace of mind.

If I had known what I know now, I would've gone with the XPS 15.

I won't be able to get to NCIX for a few days as the folks need the car but I'll be making a trip back as a very unsatisfied customer.

Well good luck, man. If you ever do return it for any reason and just eat the cost and you want a workhorse-type machine (especially on the CPU) don't go back for an ultrabook type. Get something with at least decent cooling. 

[TheKurtster]

Just now, D2ultima said:

Well good luck, man. If you ever do return it for any reason and just eat the cost and you want a workhorse-type machine (especially on the CPU) don't go back for an ultrabook type. Get something with at least decent cooling. 

Thanks. I was hoping to get something thin, light and powerful but it seems like you have to make a choice.

[D2ultima]

Just now, TheKurtster said:

Thanks. I was hoping to get something thin, light and powerful but it seems like you have to make a choice.

Yeah. It's a choice most people don't seem to get has to be made. Either they don't care about throttling (most don't even notice) or they have buyer's remorse (the AMOUNT of Razer Blade defenders because they spent like $2800 on it is ASTOUNDING) and won't admit that their machines are bad for anything otherwise they'll feel bad or something.

 

The smaller you go, the less you have to dedicate to cooling. The lighter you go, the less you have to dedicate to cooling. It's just plain physics. Skylake is very cool, especially at lower clockspeeds, but it doesn't mean much when you've got a sub 1" thick machine actually stressing the system. It's one thing if it's a CPU-only laptop like Clevo's N350DV models or something, but when you've got a dGPU in it and it's meant to be an ultrabook, you're not going to have fun running anything strong on it.

[TheKurtster]

17 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

Yeah. It's a choice most people don't seem to get has to be made. Either they don't care about throttling (most don't even notice) or they have buyer's remorse (the AMOUNT of Razer Blade defenders because they spent like $2800 on it is ASTOUNDING) and won't admit that their machines are bad for anything otherwise they'll feel bad or something.

 

The smaller you go, the less you have to dedicate to cooling. The lighter you go, the less you have to dedicate to cooling. It's just plain physics. Skylake is very cool, especially at lower clockspeeds, but it doesn't mean much when you've got a sub 1" thick machine actually stressing the system. It's one thing if it's a CPU-only laptop like Clevo's N350DV models or something, but when you've got a dGPU in it and it's meant to be an ultrabook, you're not going to have fun running anything strong on it.

I didn't even care for the dGPU. I just wanted the Quad Core i7. I thought the dGPU would be a little bonus. I'd much rather have just the Quad Core i7 and no dGPU because I don't plan to do any gaming on it whatsoever. It was purely for work. I have a Gaming PC at home.

[D2ultima]

Just now, TheKurtster said:

I didn't even care for the dGPU. I just wanted the Quad Core i7. I thought the dGPU would be a little bonus. I'd much rather have just the Quad Core i7 and no dGPU because I don't plan to do any gaming on it whatsoever. It was purely for work. I have a Gaming PC at home.

Mmm yeah. I think a N350DV would've done you a lot better. Unfortunately it's a bit too late now I guess. But next time you know what to look for. If you're in canada and you're in tertiary education, check out Eurocom's more workstation class machines. They offer 10% discounts to people in education.

[TheKurtster]

Just now, D2ultima said:

Mmm yeah. I think a N350DV would've done you a lot better. Unfortunately it's a bit too late now I guess. But next time you know what to look for. If you're in canada and you're in tertiary education, check out Eurocom's more workstation class machines. They offer 10% discounts to people in education.

I completely forgot about Eurocom. Their offices are 15 minutes from my house.

[TheKurtster]

1 hour ago, D2ultima said:

Mmm yeah. I think a N350DV would've done you a lot better. Unfortunately it's a bit too late now I guess. But next time you know what to look for. If you're in canada and you're in tertiary education, check out Eurocom's more workstation class machines. They offer 10% discounts to people in education.

Doing yet another AIDA64 run as I write this.

Hitting max 82C now on average.

And floating between 2.6 - 2.83GHz.

Not sure if that's good but after a BIOS Update, it seems to cap out at 91C and then throttles up to 13%.

Super bummed.

I might go fight back for my money and reevaluate my options.

[D2ultima]

18 minutes ago, TheKurtster said:

Doing yet another AIDA64 run as I write this.

Hitting max 82C now on average.

And floating between 2.6 - 2.83GHz.

Not sure if that's good but after a BIOS Update, it seems to cap out at 91C and then throttles up to 13%.

Super bummed.

I might go fight back for my money and reevaluate my options.

Yeah. Good luck man. I hope you can find something decent. I tried to check out the Eurocom Commander for you but it's way too expensive. Like $1700 CAD out of the box. And it has no dGPU. I understand it comes with a dock but that's still base specs with like a single stick of RAM or something. You may want to look elsewhere, unfortunately.

 

If you don't find any other machines, try contacting HIDevolution and see if they'll source a N350DW or N350DV for you without killing your pocket. I think that machine is probably exactly what you want; it's the price that's the problem.

[Pendragon]

4 hours ago, TheKurtster said:

snip

If a quadcore is all your looking for, the E5470 with the i7-6820hq is on sale right now at 1600 cad. This is Canada btw. I live there too. Go on the sales chat and pretend your lost and get them to discount it further. The sales team can discount any notebooks further (got an extra 150 off) and you'll have a pretty sick deal on your hands. My friend made them throw in a 12000 battery as well. I couldn't ): So if you get like 100 off, 1500cad for this beast is a pretty sick deal.

http://www.dell.com/ca/business/p/latitude-e5470-laptop/pd

 

If all you need is the quad core. If you need a dGPU ugh, Canadian prices man. Importing from US and paying shipping and import tax ontop of warranty issues is so cheese. 

[TheKurtster]

9 hours ago, D2ultima said:

Yeah. Good luck man. I hope you can find something decent. I tried to check out the Eurocom Commander for you but it's way too expensive. Like $1700 CAD out of the box. And it has no dGPU. I understand it comes with a dock but that's still base specs with like a single stick of RAM or something. You may want to look elsewhere, unfortunately.

 

If you don't find any other machines, try contacting HIDevolution and see if they'll source a N350DW or N350DV for you without killing your pocket. I think that machine is probably exactly what you want; it's the price that's the problem.

I was able to determine that the temperatures in my room reached a peak of 40C last night and as well today.

I've been sitting here in the basement (the coldest room in the house) and am currently sitting at 41C after watching a few 4K YouTube videos.

I still have not seen the temps go lower than 39C (Which is miles better than last night)

Ran another instance of AIDA64 and it's topping out at 75C on Power Saver and 85C on Max Performance.

The idles are much improved from working in my hot room last night.

[D2ultima]

1 hour ago, TheKurtster said:

I was able to determine that the temperatures in my room reached a peak of 40C last night and as well today.

I've been sitting here in the basement (the coldest room in the house) and am currently sitting at 41C after watching a few 4K YouTube videos.

I still have not seen the temps go lower than 39C (Which is miles better than last night)

Ran another instance of AIDA64 and it's topping out at 75C on Power Saver and 85C on Max Performance.

The idles are much improved from working in my hot room last night.

Yeah, ambient temperature makes a massive... and I do mean MASSIVE... difference. However machines designed to work in a 25c or less environment to barely avoid thermal throttle aren't the way to go. I hope you get a resolution that satisfies you.