Questions about temps on my first laptop.

[fluxcapacitorMB]

I just got a new Dell 15 3511. It's the 1135G7 2.Ghz, 12GB RAM, 512SSD, Iris Xe model. Running Windows 10, starting a Cybersecurity Bootcamp in 3 weeks and they recommended 10.

So far very impressed, quite a bit faster than my old 3rd Gen i5 Desktop.

My question is mainly about temperature, heat, and Coretemp. First is Coretemp going to be accurate on this system/Architecture? If it is, I think I'm running waaaaaaayyyy too hot. Coretemp is reporting temp peaks of in the 90c's! If the max temp (TjMax) of this CPU is in fact 100c, why o' why would it be getting this hot?! I even picked up a laptop cooler from Microcenter, an Enhance gaming cooler just to get some air moving underneath this thing. I think it's rated at like 180cfm or something. I'm also not doing anything crazy getting these temps, just web browsing mostly. Sometimes I'm watching x265 MKVs w LAV Decoder set to DXVA Hardware decoding. But I see very little difference between regular usage and watching HD vids. MKVs are all 1080p. I have also blown a can of air thru the grills on the bottom of the machine while it's off.

So assuming that these temps are accurate, is there a way to disable Intel SpeedStep and its auto-overclocking? I don't see any CPU settings in the BIOS or anything about SpeedStep.

As I mentioned in the subject this is my first laptop. Been building air cooled gaming desktops for 20 years. If anyone can offer any guidance here I would be very thankful. Thank you.

 

[Commodus]

Might be accurate, but my question is... does it feel hot, and does the fan spin up? If it's only warm (or even cool) and largely quiet, then Coretemp might not be telling the truth.

If it is truthful, either the fans aren't kicking in or the cooling on that system just isn't that good. It's an Inspiron, and that's Dell's mainstream line... frankly, I don't expect much from Windows laptop makers in that category.

 

[Cy_kkm]

On notebooks, always install latest BIOS updates, especially if the model is new. This is different from "if it works, don't fix it" approach more often taken with desktops. There is a lot of thermal management code there. I've seen fans running much quieter after a BIOS update. On a Dell, coincidentally.

Notebooks are designed to safely run hotter than desktops. Think of it: a notebook, from a thermal design perspective, is the same total 10 gram of sliced and power-hungry silicon as a desktop, only crammed into a small case without these bulky whisper-quiet Noctua coolers... In particular, Iris Xe silicon shares the package with the CPU (a package is the housing with a shared set of pins and thermal evacuation plumbing, which may house a single silicon chip, or multiple; the Xe is a separate chip). If you bought a new notebook, unmodified, leave it do its thermal thing. The CPU and GPU protect themselves from exceeding the Tjmax by dropping clocks. By disabling SpeedStep, you'll probably get a machine which is as hot, only slower: thermal processes happen on a different timescale than computation. If you allow your CPU to step up for 1ms when needed, you'll get the most computational oomph out of it.

When you build a PC, you need to verify that you did all the thermal joints right, not too little or too much paste, correct and equal torque when installing coolers, etc. Laptop components are mostly BGA packages soldered to the mobo PCB, and for most components this is the only path of heat evacuation from the chip. Solid copper planes in the BGA board in contact with silicon connect via dozens or hundreds of solder joints to solid copper planes in the mobo PCB. Only the CPU/GPU package has an additional thermal joint of its case with a fanned heat exchanger. Not much to monitor there, so better just don't look at the numbers. Thermally, It's a whole different world.

If you're using Windows, look into power plans advanced settings. For many performance management settings the OS takes control over, especially on battery-powered devices. But, once again, what you're seeing is normal; change the settings only if you want to keep it going on battery longer at the expense of performance.

I even picked up a laptop cooler from Microcenter, an Enhance gaming cooler just to get some air moving underneath this thing

YMMV, but In my experience these thing never helped. Sometimes I run numeric computations on my notebook. Not like overnight, but 10-20 minutes to assess an idea. I never seen any speed improvement from a cooler. If the intake or exhaust grilles are on bottom, lifting the body by propping one side by a few mm helps. I usually put my phone under the back of my machine.

I'm also not doing anything crazy getting these temps, just web browsing mostly.

A seemingly innocuous newspaper site may consume 100% of a hyperthread because of badly written JS and a background worker stuck in a loop, trying to pull the next ad. "Browsing" these days does not mean rendering a static page that you then reading while the CPU is doing nothing. When I'm "just browsing", firefox is usually on top of the CPU hog list.

I have also blown a can of air thru the grills on the bottom of the machine

Please be very careful with "canned air"! (It's not air, but this is not the point.) Do it from a sufficient distance, or you risk overspinning and destroying the fans. Sticking the nozzle into the grille and hitting the trigger is a sure way to break them in a quarter of a second. They are small and light, and can spin up many times over design limits very quickly.

You'll do more efficient and safer dusting by blowing air into the exhaust grille of a working machine. First, the air stream works against the fans rotating in the opposite direction, shaking off dust, which accumulates mostly on their leading edges. Second, you have a larger safety margin: to damage fans, you first need to stop them then overspin in the opposite direction while their motors work against this. Third, since the gas expands, it cools, and the cold stream is causing condensation. A hot heat exchanger, normally closest to the exhaust(s), helps minimize precipitation by heating the gas. And multiple short hits are much safer that a single long one. And it's only for bi-weekly/monthly dusting, not for cooling!

 

[fluxcapacitorMB]

On notebooks, always install latest BIOS updates, especially if the model is new. This is different from "if it works, don't fix it" approach more often taken with desktops. There is a lot of thermal management code there. I've seen fans running much quieter after a BIOS update. On a Dell, coincidentally.

Notebooks are designed to safely run hotter than desktops. Think of it: a notebook, from a thermal design perspective, is the same total 10 gram of sliced and power-hungry silicon as a desktop, only crammed into a small case without these bulky whisper-quiet Noctua coolers... In particular, Iris Xe silicon shares the package with the CPU (a package is the housing with a shared set of pins and thermal evacuation plumbing, which may house a single silicon chip, or multiple; the Xe is a separate chip). If you bought a new notebook, unmodified, leave it do its thermal thing. The CPU and GPU protect themselves from exceeding the Tjmax by dropping clocks. By disabling SpeedStep, you'll probably get a machine which is as hot, only slower: thermal processes happen on a different timescale than computation. If you allow your CPU to step up for 1ms when needed, you'll get the most computational oomph out of it.

When you build a PC, you need to verify that you did all the thermal joints right, not too little or too much paste, correct and equal torque when installing coolers, etc. Laptop components are mostly BGA packages soldered to the mobo PCB, and for most components this is the only path of heat evacuation from the chip. Solid copper planes in the BGA board in contact with silicon connect via dozens or hundreds of solder joints to solid copper planes in the mobo PCB. Only the CPU/GPU package has an additional thermal joint of its case with a fanned heat exchanger. Not much to monitor there, so better just don't look at the numbers. Thermally, It's a whole different world.

If you're using Windows, look into power plans advanced settings. For many performance management settings the OS takes control over, especially on battery-powered devices. But, once again, what you're seeing is normal; change the settings only if you want to keep it going on battery longer at the expense of performance.


YMMV, but In my experience these thing never helped. Sometimes I run numeric computations on my notebook. Not like overnight, but 10-20 minutes to assess an idea. I never seen any speed improvement from a cooler. If the intake or exhaust grilles are on bottom, lifting the body by propping one side by a few mm helps. I usually put my phone under the back of my machine.


A seemingly innocuous newspaper site may consume 100% of a hyperthread because of badly written JS and a background worker stuck in a loop, trying to pull the next ad. "Browsing" these days does not mean rendering a static page that you then reading while the CPU is doing nothing. When I'm "just browsing", firefox is usually on top of the CPU hog list.


Please be very careful with "canned air"! (It's not air, but this is not the point.) Do it from a sufficient distance, or you risk overspinning and destroying the fans. Sticking the nozzle into the grille and hitting the trigger is a sure way to break them in a quarter of a second. They are small and light, and can spin up many times over design limits very quickly.

You'll do more efficient and safer dusting by blowing air into the exhaust grille of a working machine. First, the air stream works against the fans rotating in the opposite direction, shaking off dust, which accumulates mostly on their leading edges. Second, you have a larger safety margin: to damage fans, you first need to stop them then overspin in the opposite direction while their motors work against this. Third, since the gas expands, it cools, and the cold stream is causing condensation. A hot heat exchanger, normally closest to the exhaust(s), helps minimize precipitation by heating the gas. And multiple short hits are much safer that a single long one. And it's only for bi-weekly/monthly dusting, not for cooling!

Thank you very much! I appreciate the reply and all of the info! Dell ended up replacing it, then the replacement stopped booting when a "driver" update for the SSD actually updated the firmware as well. So after 2 Dell units going back and being refunded, I went with an MSI Katana gaming laptop that was $1199 from Micro Center. So sick and tremendously more powerful than the Inspiron that was in question here. Thank you again.

 

[Cy_kkm]

after 2 Dell units going back and being refunded, I went with an MSI Katana gaming laptop that was $1199 from Micro Center.

👍

Thank you again.

My pleasure!

 

[jimsbell]

Hello guys, I am using an old version laptop that is not working well now. Currently, I am studying online in Canada from Pakistan. For this purpose, I need to buy a new laptop. Tell me what is a good quality laptop for me.

 

[Cy_kkm]

Currently, I am studying online in Canada from Pakistan. For this purpose, I need to buy a new laptop. Tell me what is a good quality laptop for me.

As with any piece of equipment, from a hammer to a computer to a nuclear reactor, chose one that satisfies your performance, feature and serviceability requirements, both current and planned for the device lifetime, and fits into your budget.

But it's kinda obvious, no? You don't expect that I'm a long-distance mind reader? I have no idea what you consider a "good quality," what is expected from a machine that is required for your current and planned curriculum, how long are you planning to use it before retiring, how are you going to be impacted by its operational failure if that happens (coffee and keyboards usually do not do well when mixed), what service options are available in Pakistan in case of contingency, what are you going to use the machine for besides the distance learning or after completing it, and what is you budget.

Also, this question is off-topic for this discussion. You should open a new question topic when you are able to provide all this information, objectively, as actionable figures. "Good quality, very powerful, with long battery life and inexpensive" does not qualify for a set of requirements.