xps 9570 pch overheating

Mine too. Under load, the (uncooled) PCH and the VRMs near the GPU are on fire;

 PCH -> 100°C

VRM (after attaching small heatsinks and thermal pads): 100°C (125° before)

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@BadHusband wrote:

So I was downloading a steam game, I'm using school network so I got a 45mb/s download speed, and after a minute, I got a blue screen...

Fired up HWinfo64, try again, it turns out my PCH is at 92 degrees C. My CPU is at 57 degrees C and GPU 47, the ssd, the MOSFET, they are all fine. But why is my PCH so hot when I'm downloading at high speed?

PCH is not connected to the heatsink and is a passively cooled, exposed die. There's no airflow inside the case, and I can't just put a thermal pad there and call it a day. It only increases the thermal mass but still no thermal dissipation and it will still be hot AF after a few more minutes.

By the way I'm using an Ethernet to usb-c adapter instead of my wifi card. That's why it's not my wifi card that is exploding.

Pleas help.

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Hi @BadHusband, 

Whilst the system will exhibit high temperatures during intense use, including those in the 90's, the system shouldn't be shutting down from overheating. The system has been designed with temperature failsafes to throttle back the processor once it reaches a certain temperature. Once the system has returned below the limit the throttling will end. This is done to prevent the system from overheating and shutting itself down.

To get a better understanding of what happened, can you help me out with a few more details please - 
a) What was the blue screen error that you received?
b) When you were using the system, was it on a desk or were you using it on your lap?
c) Did the system at any point give you any error messages about thermal shutdown, or shutting down from excessive heat etc?

Alan

If it is actually the PCH heating up for some odd reason, you could try padding it to the backplate with a few layers of good thermal pads, or also to the nearby vent case. But this is odd. Have you tried connecting to the network with a different LAN adapter?

Close to the PCH there is also certain charging circuitry (the laptop can charge via USB-C PD) which was reported to heat up a few times, particularly after battery replacements. Is the laptop hot at the lower-left end of the keyboard on the outside?

Hi, I'm having kind of the same problem with PCH overheating  (9550-high-PCH-temp-when-laptop-is-plugged). Could you confirm that you get the same temps when you laptop is unplugged from AC?

Cheers.

The system freeze, I waited for an hour and it is still freeze, so I force shutdown it.

it is hot at the lower-left end of the keyboard on the outside.

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@BadHusband wrote:

1. I can't remember what the blue screen error code is, but the error message is like a very generic one like "your computer experienced some issues and needs to be shutdown"

2. I'm using it on the desk with ac adapter in, not blocking airflow from the vent below for sure.

3. Nothing about thermal was shown, but nothing was shown even when I experienced cpu overheat shutdown before this

PCH is not like CPU or GPU, it does not have a changing clock speed and can be throttled. It only handles certain lower level tasks like display, I/O, IME, usb (including usb-c) controls, so throttling PCH is a joke.

The reason why I get a 92 C later is that I was only downloading without doing anything, while the shutdown happens when I was watching a 4k youtube video at the same time. I was able to reproduce the shutdown, this time without a blue screen, but the system just stuck and never respond.

The overheating is most likely to be caused by heavy use of usb hub. (usb-c Ethernet download, which puts a heavy load on pch, while Steam try to store these data on ssd, which puts a heavy load on pch again)

 

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@BadHusband, thanks for the additional information. 

Your statement about the PCH hub temperatures being high due to it's usage with the USB-C adaptor is 100% correct. I have heard of the same sort of temperatures when TB16 docks are connected via thunderbolt ports on other ultrabook chassis.

Even with the high temperatures of the PCH hub, it shouldn't be causing a system to thermal shutdown. 

Can you clarify the following statement please - I was able to reproduce the shutdown, this time without a blue screen, but the system just stuck and never respond.

You have said the system shutdown, but then said system just stuck and never respond. 

a) Did the system freeze and then shutdown or did it randomly shut down and when powered back on it froze?

I'll drop you a private message to get your service tag from you.

Alan

With AC unplugged I don't get the shutdown anymore, though it is still pretty high at 88 C

@BadHusband, is there a specific application or activity that you are doing that you are able to replicate the shutdown?

If you run the system on battery only and recreate the same task or application use, it doesn't shutdown, is that correct?

Additionally, what processor temperatures are seeing during use? Is it only the PCH that you are seeing high temperatures with?

Alan

As I said, I download game with Steam at a high speed (50MB/s+) and I was watching 4K video on Youtube. 

If I use battery, it is still hot (88 C) but doesn't shutdown.

CPU temperature is at 64 C, GPU temperature at 47 C.

I tested the PCH today and it was at 94 C. Didn't shutdown today, but 90+ C is still critical temperature, which is concerning. 

@BadHusbandtry this:

1. Turn on the computer with the charger plugged
2. Unplug the charger
3. Suspend the laptop
4. Plug the charger
5. Wake up the laptop

I don't know the reason but PCH has lower temp doing this...could be a BIOS problem. I posted this in other thread (9550-high-PCH-temp-when-laptop-is-plugged) but nobody form DELL replayed me.

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@BadHusband wrote:

As I said, I download game with Steam at a high speed (50MB/s+) and I was watching 4K video on Youtube. 

If I use battery, it is still hot (88 C) but doesn't shutdown.

CPU temperature is at 64 C, GPU temperature at 47 C.

I tested the PCH today and it was at 94 C. Didn't shutdown today, but 90+ C is still critical temperature, which is concerning. 

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@BadHusband, i'll follow up with you on via direct message for more information.

Alan

@Dell-Alan Dany idea how could I solve my problem (9550-high-PCH-temp-when-laptop-is-plugged)?

@Dell-Alan D

Any idea how could I solve my problem (9550-high-PCH-temp-when-laptop-is-plugged)??

It's quite similar to this one.