Zoom is the the app consuming 42-60% of my CPU
As far as swap goes I have no clue, when I installed Fedora I’m pretty sure I did automatic partitioning
Yeah I’m running Windows and / or Linux and every time my FW laptop is connected to the power it just blazes out of hell getting extremely hot even though I see it having 10% load or something.
If I’m running on battery it goes a bit smoother but still hot…
Never experienced this with any of my other laptops to be honest and I don’t believe Linux is to blame here as I use the exact same configuration (power definition) across different machines with no weight for the machine itself.
One of my other laptops actually has a pretty similar configuration (CPU, WiFi, etc) than my FW laptop and… All is good there.
I’m “out of support” as it was told to me by Support due to the fact that I’ve imported the laptop to Switzerland which is in itself a nonsense but OK.
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I was seeing 100C temps and thermal throttling just watching YouTube videos. What was noticeable was the very quick rise-time of temperature when any load came on (< 1s). This suggested poor contact between the CPU and cooler.
I removed the cooler and the thermal compound on the two CPU chips was dry and flaky - not a good sign. I cleaned it off with IPA and applied Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.
Much much better. Been doing my normal work for a day now and HwIfno reports 72C as Core Max maximum.
Leaves me feeling ambivalent: Bad that Framework didn’t focus on the selection and process for the TIC (especially given the low pressure contact) and good that I was easily able to clean it up and apply my go-to TIC from desktop builds…
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@Gary_Pace, which batch was your order from? There was an issue in batch 1 (and perhaps 2) where the TIM was deposited incorrectly.
Batch 2.
The units that had a formulation of thermal paste that could “pump out” over time were mostly in Batch 1, but I believe some of them could have been in Batch 2. In these instances, if you reach out to support, we’ll send you a tube of the thermal paste that has the updated formulation we’ve been using in production since then.
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My Batch 3 unit has been having thermal issues since I got it, and I’m not sure if they’re out of the ordinary since what I’ve been hearing here on the forums seems kind of similar, though these seem more severe.
For me, my unit usually starts up with the fan running at a low speed, and if not the fan starts spinning after a few minutes. No matter what, the fan eventually starts spinning, and the laptop still gets very noticeably hot after doing simple tasks like watching YouTube, doing schoolwork in Edge and Google Docs, and streaming games on Stadia. I frequently have to turn it off and give it a break so it doesn’t get uncomfortable to use on my lap.
The battery life on this laptop has been abysmal because of it, and I have to charge it at least twice a day to have it last throughout the day, and that’s usually about 5 hours of usage. The only intensive task I do on this laptop is music production in FL Studio, which even then is only for 30 minutes every day or so. That can drain the battery more than 20% in that 30 minute session, even when I only have 2 or 3 synth plugins open and a few audio samples. I’m by no means a professional music producer so my projects in it are pretty light.
Recently I installed Linux on the laptop, and contrary to what others have said, I got much better battery life on a full Linux install of Manjaro or Fedora and the fan rarely turned on while using it, not even close to the level it would on Windows. I got about 2-3 hours more battery life on Linux than on Windows, and I could get through the day on a single charge on Linux but not on Windows, even when using the high efficiency power plan and power mode.
Should I reach out to support on this? I have reached out multiple times and their suggestions have not worked.
I just switched paste on my Batch 8 laptop. Slapped on some Thermal Grizzly. Had good results with it in the past on GPUs. I usually use MX4/5 on CPUs.
Basically next to no difference in temps. Hard to gauge as the temps jump up and down so often so went with some averages and the difference was ± 2 degrees.
One data point:
12 gen model, August batch, i5. Windows 11, 32 GB RAM
I use the laptop for normal office work.
Current apps:
- Using vscode for remote development.
- chrome with 76 tabs open
- Windows sandbox with 2 small applications
- pdf reader
- teams (open, not in use)
- ms todo list
Using core_temp to measure CPU temperature. All cores are around 48 c.
CPU load 11%, RAM 61%, GPU 5%.
Looks pretty normal right?
Actually, on the first-day of use, my temperature is around 68 c, with similar settings and much less chrome tab, sometimes even 70c. The laptop freeze once.
After one day, it mysteriously becomes very cool.
Weird
I am using an external monitor. You can also try using something to lift the bottom of laptop up to have more fresh air as intake flow. It could be a bottle cap or something similar.
I found it to be helpful. Now, the temperature is around 45 c for most cores (except one core jump between 45 - 48).
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I wish there was a fan mod or bottom chassis mod to make it thicker or something. I do not mind thicker laptops if they cool better. I can’t even find a good cooler pad to pair with this. Most pads I have found pull air from under the laptop instead of push air up into the laptop.
I would love a chassis mod that made it thicker on the bottom panel and added some side vents or something.
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Thin and Light is nice and all but if the cooling sucks…it is a let down. We can’t even control the fans without doing some fancy crap. I could have sworn this laptop was supposed to be self-repairable but if the BIOS is locked down and we dont have access to fan monitoring and speed controls…it isnt.
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I think you might be overthinking things if you haven’t tried just using a stand to get more airflow. Tom from XMG ran a test between using a stand and not on their new Alder Lake thin and light and had a 10C max temperature difference and a +44% performance gain under a sustained load.
Last time I looked most cooler pads blow up (all the one on Amazon I checked like the Targus Chill Mat, the Cooler Master NotePal, the TopMate, Havit and one Liens all seemed to).
As for a chassis mod, it looks like it’s $100 for a Bottom Cover Kit if you want to buy one and have at it, although opening up the grill too much may actually reduce airflow efficiency.
The fan tables and fan control are in the Embedded Controller, not the BIOS, which is open sourced and on Linux, there’s an easy to use fan control tool and also a straightforward way to set your desired fan curves.
Not really a ‘curve’ in / by the EC…as Rene said “I don’t think a linear function is great for this, so fw-fanctrl does have an advantage here”.
Ideally, a first-party fan curve adjustment graphical interface would be great. …one can dream. (This would likely imply a microsoft-signed ec driver on the Windows side of things (?))
First off, the BIOS was not open sourced. Yes, it is available to be updated on the Linux Firmware update tool but that does not mean it was open sourced.
Secondly, the bottom cover kit DOES NOT make the case thicker. It does not turn a thin laptop into a thicker laptop.
I have an 11th gen i7 laptop. It does not run cool.
I have spent over $200 on cooling pads and most of them look like they blow up into the bottom only to find out that they suck air down. OR they fail really quickly. Im not buying off brand stuff either. Targus, etc. I reversed the fans on one of the pads and found that the fans are super weak.
Oh and that Review you posted wasnt even about the Framework. It was a totally different laptop with a different cooling profile and different setup. The underside for example has more ventilation.
the BIOS will be Open Sourced when you can install CoreBoot. CoreBoot IS and Open Source BIOS.