Daniel Weck
New Member
The idea of using some form of external cooling in order to reduce thermal throttling is nothing new. See for example the infamous cbutter's YouTube videos (linked at the bottom of this post) or the "custom fan" discussion thread on this very forum ( http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/custom-fan-get-more-from-your-sp3.11276/ ).
However, I have been running some tests using a slightly different approach, so I thought I'd share it here
In a nutshell, here is what the airflow looks like (the USB fan unit is intentionally misplaced, so I could annotate with the blue/red arrows more easily):
http://s1.postimg.org/7a4u014b1/IMG_1022_edited_arrows.jpg
Note that the vent on the top edge above the webcam is actually an outlet, so we don't want to blow cold air in there!
In practice, this is how it's used (note how the vertically-stacked fan unit is slightly tilted backwards to match the inclination of the Surface's display):
http://s1.postimg.org/r26zzbfv1/IMG_1020_edited.jpg
(also note that the fan unit can actually come closer to the tablet, if needed)
It is important that the fan pulls warm air out from the right hand side of the Surface (i.e. do not blow onto the vent located in the the top-right corner). There is a cold air intake on the top edge of the device, towards the right hand side (you can double-check the airflow direction using a thin flexible strip of paper, and see how it gets pushed or pulled). The main warm-air outlet is on the right edge (towards the top), so the waste flow is sucked into the fan and expelled towards the right. But remember, there is also a hot air exit above the webcam, on the top edge!
Check out step 9 of the iFixIt teardown, to see where the fan intake actually is: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+3+Teardown/26595#s66224
According to my CPU-GPU stress tests using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, this setup works great: the CPU and GPU can sustain high performance levels for a long time, thanks to the heat levels remaining below the throttling thresholds (which I have not tweaked, by the way ... I have not undervolted anything either).
Now, what about the lower fan? Well, this one definitely increases the airflow underneath the Surface's flap/stand, horizontally from left to right, along the bottom half of the tablet. This area tends to somehow gather some residual heat too, just not as much as the top-right corner of the device's underside. But every little helps
This silent lightweight dual-fan USB accessory is cheap (7 USD), and whilst it's compact, the fan blades are well-protected for packing / travelling.
http://s1.postimg.org/un2vijkel/IMG_1021_edited.jpg
PS: I use the USB port on the Surface charger block, so the USB port on the Surface itself is free.
UPDATE
Now I have also found a way to "hang" the dual-fan at the back of the Surface (airflow pulled away from the underside, not blowing towards it), which provides plenty of cooling for 90% of my usage (it is also less of an "eye sore", more discrete, in fact I completely forget it is there). The few times I need more "serious" cooling, I just move the unit at the side, as described above.
http://s23.postimg.org/zcqadsryz/IMG_1026.jpg
Note that I have also tried blowing onto the back using the same configuration, but it only really works when the fans point upwards. Anyway, just run the throttling tests and see what happens
To see more pictures of the fan (folded, expanded), type "usb fan octopus" in Google image search (or click the link below):
https://www.google.com/search?q=usb+fan+octopus&tbm=isch
I bought mine really cheap from eBay: search for "usb fan cool", sort by price (inc. postage), and go down the list until you see one of them. Or alternatively you can add the "octopus" search term, you'll get there quicker but you might miss other model names.
Some models have a pass-through USB connector ... mine doesn't, but I use the USB socket on the Surface charger...so I'm not too bothered. Still, that's a handy feature if you can get it
Full screen (large image):
http://s24.postimg.org/wtw3efbo5/Surface_Pro3_Corei7_256_GB_Intel_Extreme_Tuning_Utili.png
I ran a 15-minutes CPU stress test from Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. Max 100% processor frequency is just above 2.8GHz (that's Turbo Boost, the Core i7 4650U being rated at 1.7 GHz).
The horizontal red line at the bottom of the graph shows how sustained and constant the CPU speed is. The two peaks in the green line at the bottom are minor throttling events that effectively resulted in the internal fan kicking-in, thus why the CPU and GPU temperatures gradually decrease afterwards (blue and green-ish line at the top). During 15 minutes of high load, this kind of (non-disruptive) temporary throttling occurred three times only. Meanwhile, the CPU was running a near-full-frequency.
When I run Intel XTU's GPU stress test, the CPU stays slow, and the combination of internal + external cooling works as expected (no noticeable degradation in performance). I also tried 3D Mark and PassMark Performance Test ... but to be honest I am not familiar with how relevant these synthetic benchmarks are (all I care about is real-world usage, which in my case does not involve gaming ).
Anyways, 2855 score at 3DMark Sky Diver (stock CPU settings):
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5629151
That's with the latest driver for Intel HD Graphics 5000 ==> 10.18.14.4080 (manually installed over Windows' own driver).
UPDATE:
Interesting...I noticed that during usage of a demanding 3D city-mapping application (touch-driven, lots of zoom in-out, pan, wide landscape views), the internal fan wasn't pushing lots of heat out through the right edge (normally, primarily the top portion), the underside / back of the tablet wasn't feeling too hot, but the display itself was really warm. I'm talking about the vertical area running alongside the Windows capacitive button, about one third of the total screen width.
So, I reversed my dual fan unit so that instead of sucking air from the outlet vent, it blows cool air onto the screen. The airflow is indeed quite a bit faster, "sliding" onto the display surface, all the way from right to left.
Well, that definitely works well too! The internal temperatures went down real quick when I did that. Downside: I don't like typing with a cold airflow on my hands
LOL (top-bottom airflow)
http://s11.postimg.org/6k2xyt3v7/IMG_1027_edited_arrows.jpg
http://s13.postimg.org/ygwki4a47/IMG_1028_edited.jpg
Score 2892
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5630235
External fan blowing from top to bottom, split airflow running along both the back and the glass display ... do not blow air right above the webcam, into the vent on the top edge (this is a warm air outlet)
--------
cbutter's YouTube video:
However, I have been running some tests using a slightly different approach, so I thought I'd share it here
In a nutshell, here is what the airflow looks like (the USB fan unit is intentionally misplaced, so I could annotate with the blue/red arrows more easily):
http://s1.postimg.org/7a4u014b1/IMG_1022_edited_arrows.jpg
Note that the vent on the top edge above the webcam is actually an outlet, so we don't want to blow cold air in there!
In practice, this is how it's used (note how the vertically-stacked fan unit is slightly tilted backwards to match the inclination of the Surface's display):
http://s1.postimg.org/r26zzbfv1/IMG_1020_edited.jpg
(also note that the fan unit can actually come closer to the tablet, if needed)
It is important that the fan pulls warm air out from the right hand side of the Surface (i.e. do not blow onto the vent located in the the top-right corner). There is a cold air intake on the top edge of the device, towards the right hand side (you can double-check the airflow direction using a thin flexible strip of paper, and see how it gets pushed or pulled). The main warm-air outlet is on the right edge (towards the top), so the waste flow is sucked into the fan and expelled towards the right. But remember, there is also a hot air exit above the webcam, on the top edge!
Check out step 9 of the iFixIt teardown, to see where the fan intake actually is: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+3+Teardown/26595#s66224
According to my CPU-GPU stress tests using Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, this setup works great: the CPU and GPU can sustain high performance levels for a long time, thanks to the heat levels remaining below the throttling thresholds (which I have not tweaked, by the way ... I have not undervolted anything either).
Now, what about the lower fan? Well, this one definitely increases the airflow underneath the Surface's flap/stand, horizontally from left to right, along the bottom half of the tablet. This area tends to somehow gather some residual heat too, just not as much as the top-right corner of the device's underside. But every little helps
This silent lightweight dual-fan USB accessory is cheap (7 USD), and whilst it's compact, the fan blades are well-protected for packing / travelling.
http://s1.postimg.org/un2vijkel/IMG_1021_edited.jpg
PS: I use the USB port on the Surface charger block, so the USB port on the Surface itself is free.
UPDATE
Now I have also found a way to "hang" the dual-fan at the back of the Surface (airflow pulled away from the underside, not blowing towards it), which provides plenty of cooling for 90% of my usage (it is also less of an "eye sore", more discrete, in fact I completely forget it is there). The few times I need more "serious" cooling, I just move the unit at the side, as described above.
http://s23.postimg.org/zcqadsryz/IMG_1026.jpg
Note that I have also tried blowing onto the back using the same configuration, but it only really works when the fans point upwards. Anyway, just run the throttling tests and see what happens
To see more pictures of the fan (folded, expanded), type "usb fan octopus" in Google image search (or click the link below):
https://www.google.com/search?q=usb+fan+octopus&tbm=isch
I bought mine really cheap from eBay: search for "usb fan cool", sort by price (inc. postage), and go down the list until you see one of them. Or alternatively you can add the "octopus" search term, you'll get there quicker but you might miss other model names.
Some models have a pass-through USB connector ... mine doesn't, but I use the USB socket on the Surface charger...so I'm not too bothered. Still, that's a handy feature if you can get it
Full screen (large image):
http://s24.postimg.org/wtw3efbo5/Surface_Pro3_Corei7_256_GB_Intel_Extreme_Tuning_Utili.png
I ran a 15-minutes CPU stress test from Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. Max 100% processor frequency is just above 2.8GHz (that's Turbo Boost, the Core i7 4650U being rated at 1.7 GHz).
The horizontal red line at the bottom of the graph shows how sustained and constant the CPU speed is. The two peaks in the green line at the bottom are minor throttling events that effectively resulted in the internal fan kicking-in, thus why the CPU and GPU temperatures gradually decrease afterwards (blue and green-ish line at the top). During 15 minutes of high load, this kind of (non-disruptive) temporary throttling occurred three times only. Meanwhile, the CPU was running a near-full-frequency.
When I run Intel XTU's GPU stress test, the CPU stays slow, and the combination of internal + external cooling works as expected (no noticeable degradation in performance). I also tried 3D Mark and PassMark Performance Test ... but to be honest I am not familiar with how relevant these synthetic benchmarks are (all I care about is real-world usage, which in my case does not involve gaming
).Anyways, 2855 score at 3DMark Sky Diver (stock CPU settings):
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5629151
That's with the latest driver for Intel HD Graphics 5000 ==> 10.18.14.4080 (manually installed over Windows' own driver).
UPDATE:
Interesting...I noticed that during usage of a demanding 3D city-mapping application (touch-driven, lots of zoom in-out, pan, wide landscape views), the internal fan wasn't pushing lots of heat out through the right edge (normally, primarily the top portion), the underside / back of the tablet wasn't feeling too hot, but the display itself was really warm. I'm talking about the vertical area running alongside the Windows capacitive button, about one third of the total screen width.
So, I reversed my dual fan unit so that instead of sucking air from the outlet vent, it blows cool air onto the screen. The airflow is indeed quite a bit faster, "sliding" onto the display surface, all the way from right to left.
Well, that definitely works well too! The internal temperatures went down real quick when I did that. Downside: I don't like typing with a cold airflow on my hands
LOL (top-bottom airflow)
http://s11.postimg.org/6k2xyt3v7/IMG_1027_edited_arrows.jpg
http://s13.postimg.org/ygwki4a47/IMG_1028_edited.jpg
Score 2892
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5630235
External fan blowing from top to bottom, split airflow running along both the back and the glass display ... do not blow air right above the webcam, into the vent on the top edge (this is a warm air outlet)
--------
cbutter's YouTube video:
Last edited:
