Underclocking my GPU

[THEWULFMAN]

Hey everyone. I am looking to underclock my GPU and maybe my CPU by about 10% or so. Laptop overheats to about 97c when playing games if I don't have a big fan blowing on my PC. Even then we're looking at 90c. I just want 80-85c when playing games.

Problem is, I just don't know how. I tried Rivaturner, but it seems like the underclocking isn't available for my card. NVIDIA NVS M3100

I also intend to open her up and dust her with compressed air, eventually.

[Yanoda]

You need to underclock CPU in BIOS.
Concerning the GPU, it's not made/designed for gaming, it's a workstation card. This can be a reason why the temperatures are high as it tries to keep up with the games, so under-clocking may not help much.
A better way to reduce temperatures is reducing the graphic details on the games, this enables the GPU to go easy and use less power.

Cleaning the interior also goes a long way to reducing temperatures.

Cheers

Yanoda

[CommanderOtto]

if you built that pc yourself, and the box is big enough, you could try installing another fan or something? I dont know much about these things, but couldn't that help?

[wcocaboose]

Your two best bets in my opinion are:

1)To clean all the insides of dust asap, and if comfortable with the operation apply aftermarket thermal paste to the gpu and cpu. Thermal paste alone can reduce temps by a considerable ammount. Arctic Cooling MX-2 is a good choice.

2)Find a fan speed control program for your laptop(what is the make/model?) and increase the fan speed while playing games.

Workstation vs gaming graphics card is not going to make much of a difference in your gpu temps in the notebook world, as each segment typically uses the same base die, and adds enhancements for each class. There were Quadro variants for the desktop a number of years ago where the only difference between them and their GeForce counterpart was the placement of two resistors.

Your laptop may or may not have clock speed controls in bios, most oem's typically do not allow you much control over those settings.

Hope this helps

[THEWULFMAN]

Dell Latitude | E6410

GPU: NVIDIA NVS 3100M
CPU: Intel Core i5 CPU M 520 @ 2.40GHz Quad Core
RAM: 3GB

From the sound of it, cleaning it + thermal paste is the best way to go. Thanks everyone, keep the info flowing if it's there.

[wcocaboose]

Thanks for the cpu information.

Another option you can try if you dont want to open it right away is going into the bios and disabling Turbo Boost. This is an Intel dynamic overclocking feature that kicks in when the cpu is being loaded heavily. This will take youfrom 2.93ghz to 2.4ghz, roughly a 20% drop. Though that may not make alot of difference to the temps, the cpu is already at 35watt tdp.

Heres the Intel ARK link for all the naughty cpu tidbits.
http://ark.intel.com/products/47341/Int ... e-2_40-GHz

[THEWULFMAN]

I've never gone into the BIOS, so I don't know what to do there. I want to assume it's straightforward.

EDIT: So I'll be getting that paste you mentioned, but I wonder if I need to spend the $10 for the compressed air. I'm kinda sorta borderline poor and property taxes are coming up, plus all the existing holiday spending. So would a vacuum be fine? Or is that a horrible idea

EDIT2: Never mind, twas stupid. I'll get this stuff off amazon, cheap that way.

[Bryant]

Easiest way to underclock the CPU (not GPU - don't know if it's possible), is to do so under the power options.
Control panel -> power options -> change plan settings -> change advanced power settings -> processor power management ->
System cooling policy should be active, and adjust Maximum processor state to what you want. I had to do this on a friend's computer because it would crash from the heat when playing certain games.

For the GPU there should be a Nvidia Control Panel where you can change some settings, I would suggest going to adjust image settings and choosing performance over quality

[THEWULFMAN]

Yeah I already run World of Tanks on minimum graphics, and my NVIDIA card is set to performance over quallity.

I think I'm set up right in the control panel.

So I opened my case up, blew out the dust clogged up in the vent after taking the heat sink off. The thermal paste on my GPU looks like garbage, so I'll replace that. Not happy how the paste is right on the card, no heat plate inbetween. Cleaning it off is going to be a [female dog].