Dell Precision 7670 & Dell Precision 7770 owner's thread

[dude123]

On 2/1/2023 at 10:13 AM, MyPC8MyBrain said:

maybe your paste or pads need refresh?

 

So, I've just repasted using liquid metal.. now getting 24k at CB on single runs, repeatedly (compared to ~21k with the former paste [mx4] and with a much moderate undervolt). 

[Aaron44126]

Noticing that my idle fan speeds have been creeping up.  It used to idle at 1000-1100 RPM (and I had to run an artificial CPU load to prevent the fans from periodically turning off).  Today it was running at more like 1700-1900 RPM.  I blew out the fans (quite dusty) but it only went down to about 1500 RPM.

 

...Rather than repaste again, I think that tomorrow I am finally going to call Dell and ask for a new heatsink assembly.  I'm still using the original Delta version.

[Aaron44126]

14 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

I am finally going to call Dell and ask for a new heatsink assembly.

 

I ended up doing the online chat, because I though it would be easier.  In the end, it was probably not easier.  The rep wanted to go through my BIOS version / chipset driver version / asked a lot of questions.  All due diligence, its fine, but it took like half an hour.

 

Anyway.  A new heatsink assembly is being dispatched.  (Part only, no technician.)

 

A funny thing is they gave me timeframes of "2 business days" for parts only and "3 business days" for an on-site tech.  I thought this was supposed to be next business day service?  Hoping to get the heatsink assembly tomorrow, but we'll see...

 

[Edit] ...Of course there would be a parts delay.

Spoiler

 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

16 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

I blew out the fans (quite dusty) but it only went down to about 1500 RPM

when you originally noted 1k rpm was the ambient and physical location the same as it is now?

[Aaron44126]

7 minutes ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

when you originally noted 1k rpm was the ambient and physical location the same as it is now?

 

Yeah, and really, 1000-1200 RPM (at idle) has been the norm for months, no matter where I was using the system.  And like I mentioned, I was running an artificial CPU load if the fan speed got too low to keep them from powering off.  (That is no longer necessary.)  It is still the tail end of winter time here, ambient temperatures aren't very elevated...

 

I haven't been paying close attention, it could have been creeping up over the past few weeks and I just noticed it when it started to regularly be over 1500 RPM (which is when it becomes noticeably audible).

 

Today I was poking around for possible alternate causes but I can't find any.  dGPU is properly powered off when it should be.  CPU doesn't seem to be doing any background busywork, and clock speed is low (I have turbo boost off most of the time).  Yet CPU temperatures are in the mid 50's to low 60's, definitely too high for an idle workload.

 

Since I don't know when the replacement heatsink is going to be in, I might take it apart and repaste this evening anyway, if I can find the time — mostly because I'd like to know if it is an issue with the cooling, or something else (crazy PCH load driving up temps or something?).

[MyPC8MyBrain]

you still on bios 1.8.0?

[Aaron44126]

Just now, MyPC8MyBrain said:

you still on bios 1.8.0?

 

Yes.  I was going to upgrade next week (with Windows patches) like I mentioned before.  But, given this issue I will probably push that off until April patching, I don't want "variables" flying around when trying to address this.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

i think its plausible if the system moves around that chassis flex has some part in this,

[Aaron44126]

Repasted.  Observations:

• Repaste brought RPM speeds down 200-300 RPM, enough to be "silent" again, but not all the way down to 1000ish RPM.  I probably didn't do a great paste job (shaky hands / sort of in a hurry) but good enough for now.
• ........."Optimized" profile is quieter than the "Quiet" profile, huh?  If I switch to "Optimized" it will drop to the 1000 RPM range, and if I switch to "Quiet" it shoots right back up.  Guess I'm using "Optimized" as my low-power profile from now on?  ("Cool" and "Ultra performance" run at higher fan speeds than "Quiet".)  I'll have to test with it and see if it ramps up more quickly (which I do not want).

Also, got a notice from Dell on the heatsink shipping.  They put an estimated ship date of March 24 on it.  Good thing this isn't a part that I need in a hurry?

[MyPC8MyBrain]

once you lift the heat sync the pads should be replaced too.
although they can be reused, fit and contact will not be the same as fresh pressed pads.

 

[Aaron44126]

The new heatsink should come with new pads and factory applied paste, so hopefully it works well enough like everyone else’s newer heatsink and I’ll just hold out until then.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

at least you hit the nail on the head as far as looking for the culprit. 

when the new one arrives their paste will be different, you will want to put loads on both dGpu and CPU to let their paste settle in as part of the process. i believe it is designed to be "stiff" phase changing material to help with chassis rigidity. 

 

Edit: i just checked I'm averaging around 900rpm on cool profile
(with a good amount of 90+ none system processes running) .

 

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

Edit: i just checked I'm averaging around 900rpm on cool profile

(with a good amount of 90+ none system processes running) .

 

Are you still using the factory/stock paste job since you got the "golden sample" or did you redo it?

(Just looking at the screenshot there, my dGPU temp is like 15+ °C higher than yours with nothing really going on.  Gotta get this fixed!  😛 I should have called in for the better heatsink swap before now.)

[MyPC8MyBrain]

12 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

Are you still using the factory/stock paste job since you got the "golden sample" or did you redo it?

still with OEM paste job, haven't touched it yet.

 

 

 

[Aaron44126]

At least with the part delay...  I should be getting a new heatsink and not one that has been sitting around in a warehouse for months.  (Better chance of getting a "good" one, I'd think.)

[MyPC8MyBrain]

13 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

I should be getting a new heatsink and not one that has been sitting around

good point!

 

note that my dGpu temps due to the heat pipe design are always higher then my cpu around 10c delta.

 

[Aaron44126]

It's really weird, this seems to be getting worse by the day.

 

Now around 1600-1700 RPM if I use "Optimized" profile and 2200 RPM if I use "Quiet".  100-200 RPM increase since yesterday.  When I first noticed this issue a few days ago, Quiet was running 1500 RPM.  ...I used to be able to run Quiet and it would alternate between ≈1000 RPM and wanting to shut the fans all of the way off.

 

I repasted again yesterday (doing a much more careful job this time) — cleaned the old paste off of the CPU and GPU and heatsink carefully, using Arctic MX-4 (maybe not the best but up there with the good ones, I've been using it in other systems with no problems).  A different tube than the one I used the other day at that.  Behavior before and after the repaste was the same.

 

Talking about idle workload again.  GPU powered off, CPU running 1.5 GHz at less than 2% load, the system should be able to run silently.  Instead, CPU cores are around 64 °C and the EC feels it has to work to cool them off.

No dust in the fans or grills (cleaned all that out a few days ago).

 

Somehow, the cooler is just becoming increasingly ineffective?  I wonder if a heat pipe is jammed up or something?  I'm at a loss as to what could be causing it.  If it's not an issue with the cooler, something is going wrong actually in the system itself and generating some extra heat.  (The system is definitely hot to the touch, it's not just the fans going crazy for no reason.)

 

It's not hot here.  Woke up to 7 inches of snow.

 

New cooler can't arrive soon enough!

[MyPC8MyBrain]

technically speaking the heat pipe itself can leak leading to inefficiency in cooling,
when that happens temps should be spiking much higher with system losing ability to control heat, which still seem to be in control atm.

 

you have older system snapshots right?
i would take a new one then revert to older one to see if this is a software or hardware issue before you start looking for a needle in a haystack.

 

(if you have a thermal camera available you can also take a look at the pipes themselves to see if there's a leak)

[Aaron44126]

42 minutes ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

you have older system snapshots right?

i would take a new one then revert to older one to see if this is a software or hardware issue before you start looking for a needle in a haystack.

 

Reasonably confident that it's not a software issue.

Nevermind the fact that there is no CPU load contributing to this heat, and that the EC independently controls the fans (without help from a driver or other software running within the OS)... I can also reproduce it in my Windows 11 install, which I have as a dual-boot option for testing but haven't touched in months.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

30 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

Reasonably confident that it's not a software issue.

interesting, i have to put it out there... the behavior you've been describing is similar to what i saw when i tried bios 1.9.1.

 

to be fair you already reduced rpm's with first repaste, i run on cool for daily use which infers increased fan work.

quite plan logic is to tolerate more surface heat in favor of reduced fan usage, balanced should be a mix of the two but not cooler than cool plan, some surface heat should be expected to some extent when not on cool.

 

here's my surface temps.

 

 

[Aaron44126]

Yeah, generally I care more about low noise than low surface temperature.  I don't think they don't have the "Quiet" fan curve quite right.  It is louder than "Optimized" on an idle workload — at least in this situation where the CPU is running at an elevated temperature.  ... But it does appropriately have a lower speed on high load (it won't easily go up to high RPMs while running on "Quiet").  And running "Quiet" will also cap dGPU performance (but I think "Cool" does that too).

[MyPC8MyBrain]

maybe its my age but i do not hear my fans working at all when on cool, i can never tell unless im in a heavy load situation. or maybe its just the acoustic differences in our environments, I'm in fairly wide open area with no clutter around.

 

i also think all the curve in the plans (accept maybe ultra) are outdated and not really suitable for the newer gen cpu's. indeed cool also caps dGpu, i run a script to switch modes.

[Aaron44126]

Yeah, I can hear it as soon as it hits 1400-1500 RPM.  (It is pretty quiet in my home office.)  Hearing it at that low level doesn't really bother me (though 2000+ starts to be an annoyance), what is bothering me is the fact that it is going up from what used to be the baseline and temperatures are higher than reasonable for components operating at low load.  My Precision 7560 setup is pretty similar and it is running almost 20 °C cooler (also fully silent, fans hanging out at 1200 RPM and below — and they are smaller fans).

 

I'm also using Process Lasso to switch Windows power profiles automatically (when I start a game or other demanding application) and a custom tool will notice the power profile has changed and automatically change Dell's thermal mode.  I generally use ANC headphones for gaming so 3000+ RPM is inaudible in that case.

[Aaron44126]

Well, I was wrong about the fan curves.  Basically, I didn't wait long enough I guess.  I tried using the "Quiet" profile for a while, and it did raise the fan speed by around 400 RPM over "Optimized" ... but when I left it on that profile for 10 minutes or so, it gradually settled down to around 200 RPM less than what "Optimized" had been running at (around 1500 RPM, same as I was at when I noticed this problem to begin with).  So maybe it's not getting worse, but it's still worse than it was a month or so ago.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

i find it hard to accept that in one month span paste could lose so much of its efficiency.

maybe the fan/paste is not the smoking gun after all.
did you somehow enabled hybrid mode by mistake?

 

when you said you dual boot and see the same behavior in another OS that pretty much narrows it down to either misplaced bios setting or some odd hardware issue that might been creeping in slowly.