The laptop gets much hotter than before until recently.
The laptop gets much hotter than before until recently.
I own an Acer Nitro 5 AN517-51, an i5 9300H with GTX 1650 and 16 GB of RAM. It was running smoothly until about 2-3 months ago (I’m not entirely sure). At that time, the laptop could stay idle at around 32°C with the fans off and relying on passive cooling. Starting a Chrome tab would wake them up, but that’s not the main concern here.
After waiting, the fans began to spin: the CPU fan reached 4.4k RPM and the GPU fan at 3.8k RPM. The temperatures were around 71°C for the CPU and 55°C for the GPU while idle. These changes seem to have occurred due to certain modifications I made.
Here are the adjustments I implemented, which might help:
1. Switched from the default 256 GB Kingston SSD and 16 GB Optane to two 512 GB Samsung PM981A drives.
2. Reinstalled Windows 10, which required installing all drivers and apps—such as Acer Nitro Sense (the fan monitoring tool from Acer), GeForce Experience, and other essential software. I downloaded these drivers from trusted sources: official Acer sites for the fans, and only Acer-specific ones for the drivers. I also got GeForce Experience from NVIDIA.
3. Connected the laptop to a monitor, which made me realize that my GPU would need to work harder and use its fans, affecting the CPU as well. The monitor I used is an Acer ED320QR with 165Hz (though set to 144Hz), and the 1650 GPU can’t handle more than that, even in demanding games like Valorant.
I have a few questions:
1. The Nitro Sense app indicated my CPU usage spiked to 52% during idle, with the temperature reaching 92°C. What caused this?
2. I’ve heard that gaming laptops, even budget models, typically last only 2-3 years. Given this Nitro 5’s price point, could it be nearing the end of its lifespan?
3. I cleaned the fans, opened the case, and cleared dust inside, but the spikes still occurred. Are there other steps I could take besides re-gluing them?
4. I tried undervolting the laptop while playing games like Assassin’s Creed Unity, but the CPU still hit 92°C. That’s risky for components. I also overclocked the GPU, but temperatures never exceeded 74-78°C—unless I was testing limits while playing FF XV.
P.S.: I’ve compared the Nitro Sense temperatures with Intel XTU readings, and both show similar values. This suggests there’s no major error detected.
What you're describing suggests that even after a new Windows installation, your CPU usage spikes when idle. Have you looked into which process is responsible? It's possible something is consuming resources without your permission—check the task manager. You might also consider reapplying thermal paste. Lastly, using a cooling pad can help reduce temperatures.
The issues began after I set up Windows on a new SSD and downloaded all the drivers. Again. Also, my cooling stand lacks fans—it just has an empty space for air to escape. None of the parts are overly powerful; most usage is around 1.2% by McAfee webadvisor, with CPU usage at 5%. I don't notice any reason for the temperature to be 74 degrees right now, especially with the fans spinning at 4.4k RPM.
It might be beneficial to configure a power profile within the original operating system.
Using an external monitor indicates the DGPU will remain active continuously. Since heat pipes connect the CPU and dGPU, overheating the dGPU could cause thermal transfer to the CPU.
If the issue stems from the OS or driver, you can attempt to obtain recovery media that contains the OS, drivers, and factory settings.
You can find more details here: https://store.acer.com/en-us/extended/recovery/
For further assistance, refer to: https://global-download.acer.com/GD...ITRO AN515-52&OS=ALL&LC=bg&BC=ACER&SC=EMEA_10
Just one inquiry, could the shift in seasons also affect the temperature? In my area, it drops to as low as 15 and rises to about 30, but would such significant changes occur?
These temperatures were during a time when i had 3-4 firefox tabs, a MS teams meeting, the team group opened in MS teams, and the nitrosense app was running. Is this nothing to worry about or risky?