Solved Changing documents folder from D: and its effects

[cannondt]

Hello!
I have recently bought a lenovo y580 intended as a desktop replacement but more so for gaming. The game is play is arma 2. For speed, I installed a crucial 256 GB SSD and I have my OS on it, I also put the games on to it.
Now an inherent problem with the laptop is the heat it generates - after researching I found that the build is fairly poor in that the CPU and GPU heat transference happens on to the HDD which heats up to alarming levels.
While installing mods, the installer ends up putting the mods into the documents folder which (I do not know HOW this happened!) reside on D: (the hdD and not SSD). I thought the default, while installing the OS, would be on C:
So while playing the game some stuff is still accessed from the HDD, I would ideally like everything to be read off the SSD, this is for 2 reasons - one is speed and the other is the above mentioned reason, if I dont use the HDD then its heating might reduce.

So that was all the background - now to the meat of the question. I know I can change my Documents location from one drive to another. My question is would games/apps work without changes, would the registry changes happen automatically when the location is changed? I did not want to end up hitting the move button without knowing the repercussions. Hence the question, please let me know your opinions and options I have.

peace
Ananth

 

[TwoCables]

If you make the changes using the Location tab in the folder's Properties, then everything else will follow automatically and everything will be ok.

 

[cannondt]

So all I got to do is to hit the MOVE button and move it to C:\Users\<whatever>, I was just concerned with settings in game and registry

Thanks for the the answer

PS: One more help - I am sure that you would be more knowledgeable than me, so can you give me any suggestions for the heat issue that I am facing. I did get a laptop cooler but that did help me only so much - so any other tweaks that I can do?
Please do let me know

 

[TwoCables]

So all I got to do is to hit the MOVE button and move it to C:\Users\<whatever>, I was just concerned with settings in game and registry

The game depends on the location, and you're changing it properly so the game will follow automatically because it's just set to use the location that Windows reports to it. Also, I think that the reason this works is it's making all the changes necessary in the Registry for this to work.

Thanks for the the answer

PS: One more help - I am sure that you would be more knowledgeable than me, so can you give me any suggestions for the heat issue that I am facing. I did get a laptop cooler but that did help me only so much - so any other tweaks that I can do?
Please do let me know

I'm not sure. Cheaply-made laptops (and tablets) that have an Ivy Bridge CPU are notorious for overheating.

 

[nilank]

Yup, as TwoCables already said, using location tab and moving the files won't be a problem. This change is global, means the location of Documents folder "changes automatically" for everything that accesses it.

 

[cannondt]

@TwoCables, @nilank
Thanks for all the help

 

[TwoCables]

You're welcome, cannondt!

 

[nilank]

PS: One more help - I am sure that you would be more knowledgeable than me, so can you give me any suggestions for the heat issue that I am facing. I did get a laptop cooler but that did help me only so much - so any other tweaks that I can do?
Please do let me know

Most of the heat is generated by your i7 CPU as compared to GPU and HDD/SSD. Lots of heat is generated when you run a CPU intensive application like a game, for instance. And that's because your i7 is temporarily overclocked (Turbo Boost feature). To prevent this overheating follow this:

1. Go to control panel -- Power options
2. Click 'Change plan settings' link present against the selected power plan.
3. Now click on 'Advanced power settings'.
4. Now expand 'Processor power management' and select 'Maximum processor state'.
5. Now select a lower-than-100 value such as 95.
6. Click OK. Done.

Doing the above disables turbo boost and underclocks the CPU depending upon the value chosen.

In my case, I chose the value as 99. This just disables turbo boost and the cpu runs at a maximum of stock clock speed.

The performance difference is NOT noticeable at all (for lower than 80 value, it might be noticeable).

Choosing the value as 99 reduced my cpu's temperature by around 20 deg C (that's a big big difference) and totally cured overheating.

If you're still wondering about the performance dip (which you shouldn't at all), then create a seperate power plan and apply the above settings to that plan. Now you can switch between normal power plan and this newly created optimized plan when you want. Just select the optimized plan from the taskbar before starting a cpu intensive application such as a game.

This solution is bound to help!
Cheers!

 

[cannondt]

Thanks a ton, nilank. I followed your instructions but somehow my game thing is acting weird, will do a 2 hour gaming session tomorrow and report back the temps. If it works as you say, the beer is on me
Also the problem with my laptop is due to poor body design where the heat from CPU and GPU heats up my HDD - the allowed limit for my hdd is 55 and I cn see it go up to 58-60 while gaming - so hot chips is not too far away is what I reckoned .
So if your solution works, then I guess CPU heat must fall which in turn must help with better temps on HDD - so I am so looking forward to testing this.

Any more of such tips would be most welcome
I just knew there would be extremely knowledgeable folks out here aka you

Peace

 

[nilank]

Thank you very much! How's your game acting weird? Can you describe?

 

[cannondt]

Well, its actually my bad. I noticed that while moving I had screwed up one folder (yeah, yeah - I know, doofus!!) and now I need to reinstall a particular DVD again and blah blah blah. So I kind of dug this pit myself, hence the request for the extra day (not to mention that the DVD is right now at my friend's house )
Also I would like to clear my HWMonitor values and do a fresh test starting from a reboot. It would yield better results.

Also should I do anything on the nVidia GPU front? Like I said I am only worried about the HDD temp breaches, I know the CPU and GPU have higher tolerance values (105 right?!)

Once again - thanks for following up, I will surely test and let you know on the morrow.

Peace

 

[nilank]

The only way to lower temps is underclocking (other than cleaning your machine), which NO gamer on Earth would like to do with his GPU, though can be temporarily done with CPU as I already described since CPUs these days are far more powerful than a modern game actually needs.

You should note that your CPU/GPU may not at all be responsible for your high HDD temps, but still you can give my solution a try. That will surely cool your CPU atleast. Check the CPU temps before and after conducting the experiment and report back the temps. Let's see how all it goes.

Cheers,
NH

 

[cannondt]

Hi Nilank,
I am back with some results. I had a tough time setting these options the reason being with resets - every time I did a restart the values got back to 100%. I did some digging around and I think some energy management software was responsible for it (so I stopped Lenovo Energy Management and Energy Cut software from the start up). Then after restart the values stuck, but I am still not convinced about it - what if they are reset while playing, I am really not sure. Is there anything here you can help me with?

Having said that I think it does work. Now why do I say think is that I can see a 5 degree drop in the avg temps - while it was raging at around 70 degrees now it peaks at around 65 or so. I can see that this drop is due to me setting the values at 95% but like I said I think my power options are resetting themselves and I am not sure if all is well because you said I can expect a 20 degree difference - should I try it lower?
Please let me know your thoughts / recommendations

Peace

PS : A link for some stuff related to this - http://forum.notebookreview.com/ideapad-essential/672154-y580-owners-thread-232.html#post9020345

 

[cannondt]

One more round of testing and the temps now are peaking at 76, so I think I am back to square one
HDD went to 54 and I shut down before fries were cooked

 

[TwoCables]

This is the way cheaply-made laptops are that have the 3rd Generation Intel i5 and i7 CPUs. There isn't much that can be done. Well, you could try to fix it yourself, but that would require opening the laptop up.

 

[cannondt]

How does one go about fixing it? What should I be aiming for? Please give me some tips if you can, I can always get someone who is experienced to do it for me

 

[TwoCables]

How does one go about fixing it? What should I be aiming for? Please give me some tips if you can, I can always get someone who is experienced to do it for me

Oh. Well, I'm not 100% sure about the details. I think you can start with fixing the thermal paste application. It's probably a poor contact with whatever kind of heatsink or cooler is in there.

 

[nilank]

While you're playing the game, press Alt+Tab and check if your power settings are really saved. Try setting it to a lower value like 80. This is bound to reduce atleast CPU temps. This solution is very popular for reducing temps. Maybe your power management software that you mentioned about is changing the value back while you play. Also make sure you have turbo boost service turned off. I had the CPU raging to 92 deg, after doing these changes (setting value to 99!), temps were peaking at around 75 deg.

Also make sure you don't place your laptop on your lap or bed while playing. Place it on a flat surface like a table so that it can breathe. I see you're from India. Is the weather hot there?

Also, HDD's fine upto 60 deg C.

 

[cannondt]

@TwoCables
I am actually trying to find someone who can help me apply some thermal paste - I got AS 5 with me, so I need someone who can apply it for me

@nilank
Yeah, I did do that several times and after I disabled both those services at startup, it was sitting pretty at 95. A couple of restarts also left them at 95, so maybe that has done its work - I am just paranoid I guess. I will dial it down further to see if the peaks get down further. Also is turning turbo boost off a registry thingie or is it somewhere else? I can always search for it, just asking in case you already know.

I actually have my laptop sitting on a notepal U3, so it has a 2 inch clearance, so it can breathe. Also I placed the 3 fans of the U3 right under the 3 vents of my lenovo, so I think thats ok.

Yeah - you got me. I live in an oven . 3 seasons for me here - hot, hotter and hottest and I am right now in the 'hotter' season - so things are only going to get worse...

Well, if you have any other suggestions for me please do let me know.

You guys have been of immense help already, so here is another thanks from moi

Peace

 

[nilank]

Get into the BIOS and search for "Intel turbo boost technology" or something like that and disable it. Save and exit.

Lower that value down to 80.

Thanks for keeping in touch.