Surface Pro 3 Overheat Damage

[Tim_Johans]

Hi All,

I was recently installing media centre for Win 8.1. on my new SP3 (256/i5/8GB) and had the overheat thermometer appear. The device was fairly warm, and the fans where running (and always seem to be) at full blast. This is the first time it has occurred.

I am wondering, does this cause any damage to the device at all? I read somewhere about pixel burn on the screen, but I am doubtful of such a thing.

Has anyone else had overheating and/or damage caused by this on their i5 devices? Is it normal for fans to be fairly loud on the device after about 10 mins of light/moderate usage?*

*I class this activity as having for example, multiple tabs open in i.e, web browsing with video and light gaming.

 

[GreyFox7]

It shouldn't cause any damage in fact the shutdown is designed to prevent damage. The temperatures of the CPU/GPU change rapidly even when just cutting the clock frequency in half. Typically the management of the system will keep the CPU/GPU temp at or below 90c while the rated max is 100c. IDK what the shutdown temp is but lets say its 95 and as soon as you shut it down the temp would drop like a stone.

Pixel burn is a completely different scenario and has nothing to do with heat. In older type displays which were much more susceptible to this phenomenon it was caused by displaying the same image for long periods of time causing the display to show a ghost image even when powered off. That's what screen savers were for... I haven't seen that happen in a while on modern display technologies.

Most overheat issues were resolved with the August firmware update although there have been a couple recently including yours.

Were there any unusual environmental conditions at the time? Blocked air vents coats, blankets... extra heat like next to the fireplace or heating vent/equipment etc.

 

[PCAnyWhere]

I have a SP3 i7/256GB and use Core Temp to at least see how my CPU is doing and then it also allows me to see a Max that it records.

The highest I have ever monitored was 91C; which I guess is just under the overheat warning that you have seen.

I can get into the 88-91 range only by have several tabs open in Chrome. I think that I agree with another poster that Chrome\Google is good at using CPU time. Always being active pulling information etc.

I did have the best success with fan and activity after disabling Windows Defender and switching to AVG.

And following on with other threads about sleep of your SP3. I have thought that I put it to sleep when it in fact was not and put it away in my computer bag to tote around. I discover in shock that the pockets that it is in is warm when I reach to get my SP3 out. so it was definitely suffocating in there for cool air and I still have not found any damage or other oddities after this.

I have not experienced 'loud' (subjective) fan noise really. My other computers (laptops and desktops or office environment) render it silent to me. Are you saying it is cycling or just on for a long time (the fan)?

If you want to feel your SP3 get warm. Try playing Asphalt 8 or Halo Spartan Assault for 10mins and that I can feel (since you are holding the device at this time) it get nice a toasty warm in the top right corner.

 

[Liam2349]

If you're playing any games, you will probably hear the fan. Gaming is some of the most intensive stuff you can ask your computer to do.

 

[Tim_Johans]

It shouldn't cause any damage in fact the shutdown is designed to prevent damage. The temperatures of the CPU/GPU change rapidly even when just cutting the clock frequency in half. Typically the management of the system will keep the CPU/GPU temp at or below 90c while the rated max is 100c. IDK what the shutdown temp is but lets say its 95 and as soon as you shut it down the temp would drop like a stone.

Pixel burn is a completely different scenario and has nothing to do with heat. In older type displays which were much more susceptible to this phenomenon it was caused by displaying the same image for long periods of time causing the display to show a ghost image even when powered off. That's what screen savers were for... I haven't seen that happen in a while on modern display technologies.

Most overheat issues were resolved with the August firmware update although there have been a couple recently including yours.

Were there any unusual environmental conditions at the time? Blocked air vents coats, blankets... extra heat like next to the fireplace or heating vent/equipment etc.

Hi there,

No, other than it is fairly warm being summer here in Australia. I had it inside a leather folio case which covers the back, but does not obstruct the air vents around the side.

 

[Tim_Johans]

It shouldn't cause any damage in fact the shutdown is designed to prevent damage. The temperatures of the CPU/GPU change rapidly even when just cutting the clock frequency in half. Typically the management of the system will keep the CPU/GPU temp at or below 90c while the rated max is 100c. IDK what the shutdown temp is but lets say its 95 and as soon as you shut it down the temp would drop like a stone.

Pixel burn is a completely different scenario and has nothing to do with heat. In older type displays which were much more susceptible to this phenomenon it was caused by displaying the same image for long periods of time causing the display to show a ghost image even when powered off. That's what screen savers were for... I haven't seen that happen in a while on modern display technologies.

Most overheat issues were resolved with the August firmware update although there have been a couple recently including yours.

Were there any unusual environmental conditions at the time? Blocked air vents coats, blankets... extra heat like next to the fireplace or heating vent/equipment etc.

Is this potentially a defect, given that this is the first time it has happened? What have other users reported?

 

[GreyFox7]

If it happens again Id take it out of the case, heat will dissipate off the back normally.

 

[malberttoo]

If it happens again Id take it out of the case, heat will dissipate off the back normally.

@Tim_Johans, as GreyFox said, I would be curious to know how your SP3 runs out of the case, as you mentioned that fans run "all the time".

Also I'm just throwing this out there... many odd issues are resolved by a full reset (clean install). But before that, it would be good to check if there are apps or processes hammering the CPU as well. The fans running at full blast all the time is completely abnormal.

 

[DutchYee]

I can tell you that the SP3 is handle really well with all this heath. I know that the Apple Macbook Air and Pro getting much warmer and are not even touchable without it hurts.

Don't worry. I am also working in an Datacenter, you don't really wanna know all that heat. Thats nothing to compare!

 

[RémiM]

I can tell you that the SP3 is handle really well with all this heath. I know that the Apple Macbook Air and Pro getting much warmer and are not even touchable without it hurts.

Sorry to tell you that, but your statement is wrong.

If Apple computers are very hot when you touch them, it means that they dissipate very well the heat. Then, they are probably cooler inside. And then, they probably handle high temperatures quite well.

The frame of the SP3 getting warm is another case of thermal dissipation efficiency.

 

[DutchYee]

Sorry to tell you that, but your statement is wrong.

If Apple computers are very hot when you touch them, it means that they dissipate very well the heat. Then, they are probably cooler inside. And then, they probably handle high temperatures quite well.

The frame of the SP3 getting warm is another case of thermal dissipation efficiency.

Also your statement is not right, the fact that the Surface frame gets is only on small part of the frame. Where the fans are. COMPLETELY normal, meaning that its blowing all the hot heath outside!

Besides that its pretty bad from Apple, because the Macbooks will be deliverd with hardware than cant perform agains the Surface hardware (Both i5 editions).

The Surface has an better GPU and CPU than the Macbook does. So that means that the performance (heat) will be more than you have hardware that hasn't the same performance. Also the Surface Pro 3 is pretty small. My friend is has also an Macbook, and sometimes he cant use it on his lap because of the heat of the Macbook. You can't say then that you handle the heath if you can not use the product it self.

Besides that all, the Surface can make some noise when needed, and also right top (Kickstand mode) gets hot were the fans are, below is a picture where you can see were the CPU / fan is.

 

[RémiM]

Also you statement is not right

This is wrong again !