Dell’s new G5 gaming laptop is in a thinner chassis compared to the older model from 2018,
but sticking powerful hardware into a smaller space generally results in more heat, so just
how hot does the new G5 get? In this video I’ll be taking a detailed look at thermals
and seeing how much we can improve performance with some simple tweaks.
The new Dell G5 is available in different configurations, and I’ve got the top end
model with Intel i7-8750H CPU, Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics, and 16gb of memory running
in dual channel, so expect different results with different specs, and you can find updated
pricing for different models linked in the description.
I’ll also note that Dell has already refreshed the G5 lineup with Intel's latest 9th gen
CPUs which came out while I was testing this one out, so expect different results there.
On the bottom of the laptop there doesn’t appear to be many vents for air flow, they’re
just directly above the fans. Here’s what we’re looking at inside in terms of cooling,
with a couple of heatpipes shared between the processor and graphics, so a change in
temperature of one of these will affect the other.
The Dell Power Manager software allows you to change between a few different modes, however
I didn’t really find them to do all that much, as we’ll see soon. I didn’t test
with the cool profile at all as I found it to cap GPU performance to 300MHz. I’ll also
note that while you can install the Alienware control center software, this did not give
me any fan control, the best you get is changing between the power manager profiles.
Thermal testing was completed in an ambient room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, so
expect different results in different environments. I’ve tested idle down the bottom with the
quiet profile, and temperatures seemed about average while also being quiet, more on fan
noise soon though. The rest of the results are from combined CPU and GPU workloads and
are meant to represent worst case scenarios.
The gaming results towards the lower half of the graph were tested by playing Watch
Dogs 2, as I find it to use a good combination of processor and graphics. The stress test
results shown on the upper half of the graph are from running the Aida64 CPU stress test
and Heaven benchmark at the same time to fully load the system.
Let’s start with the stress test results, and I’ll kick things off by noting that
there was no difference in temperatures with either the default optimized mode or ultra
mode selected, at least in this particular workload. When the CPU is at 99 degrees Celsius
it’s thermal throttling, and I was only able to remove this by undervolting the CPU
by -0.15v, as shown by UV on the graph. Even just using my Thermaltake Massive 20 cooling
pad wasn’t enough to remove the throttling, however when combining the undervolt with
the cooling pad we saw the best results.
I saw similar results in the gaming test at stock, it was running quite hot, however even
at this worst case 82 degrees Celsius I was not seeing thermal throttling on the GPU,
that never happened in any of my testing, it was however power limit throttling as all
RTX graphics seem to do in laptops. Again there were nice improvements just from CPU
undervolting here, with even further improvements with the cooling pad.
These are the average clock speeds for the same tests just shown. We can see in the stress
test results that the clock speeds are essentially the same between the ultra and optimized profiles,
that’s why I just kept using the ultra profile for the rest of the testing. We can see the
CPU reach the full 3.9GHz all core turbo speed of the i7-8750H any time we apply the CPU
undervolt, which is honestly quite good. Yes, it is running hot at stock, as we saw in the
last graph, however not that many laptops in this test will reach the full all core
turbo boost speed in this combined CPU and GPU workload, and considering we could lower
the temperatures to what I think are more reasonable ranges once undervolted or with
the cooling pad added, at least compared to 99 degrees, I think this is a good result,
or at least better.
So to summarise, the CPU thermal throttles in combined CPU and GPU workloads out of the
box, though we can remove thermal throttling with a CPU undervolt and achieve full speed
from the CPU in this worst case scenario, something not too many machines I’ve tested
are capable of, usually due to power limits which are put in place to prevent them heating
up.
These are the clock speeds I got while just running CPU only stress tests without any
GPU load. At stock the full 3.9GHz all core turbo speed of the i7 was almost possible,
again not that many laptops seem capable of doing this out of the box with Aida64 from
my testing. This performance clearly comes at the expense of more heat though, as it
was averaging 98 degrees Celsius and intermittently on the edge of thermal throttling, which is
why the undervolt boosted the performance, and as we can see here it’s also giving
us a massive temperature improvement.
It doesn’t look like the CPU TDP is really getting pumped up super high either, at least
as reported by hardware info.
To demonstrate how this translates into performance I’ve got some Cinebench CPU benchmarks here.
No difference to single core speed as it’s not enough to cause throttling, while the
undervolt allows us to improve performance just a little. Here are the results from the
newest Cinebench R20, I’ll move over to using this version in the future once I’ve
got more data from other machines, but for now have both.
Here are the GPU only clock speeds while under a graphical only stress test. No real practical
changes with a manual overclock applied in MSI Afterburner due to power limit throttling
being reached, and I couldn’t improve this by undervolting the GPU. This is why there
were no differences in temperatures from this test between stock or overclocked.
So how do these performance boosts actually translate into games? I’ve tested with the
exact same Windows, Nvidia and game updates installed, the only changes were the ones
listed here.
Far Cry 5 was tested using the built in benchmark at 1080p. At ultra settings there was a 4.3%
improvement to average FPS with the CPU undervolted and graphics overclocked, the best case scenario.
Thermals could have been improved further with the cooling pad, but as we saw before
the undervolt is enough alone to remove thermal throttling on the CPU, so it shouldn’t change
performance, unless you’re in a hotter environment or can’t undervolt as far. The 1% low rose
a bit further, 5.4%, though there was a much larger 12% boost to 1% low at low settings
where we’re more CPU bound, so we can definitely get some performance improvements with simple
tweaks.
If you’re after more gaming benchmarks with the Dell G5, check the card in the top right
where I’ve tested 20 different games.
As for the external temperatures where you’ll actually be putting your hands, at idle with
the quiet profile on it was in the low to mid 30s in the center towards the back, about
average. While gaming the wrist rest area stays cool, although the middle rises to the
low to mid 50s. It was a similar result with the combined CPU and GPU stress tests running,
and once undervolted it lowered by maybe a couple of degrees. Underneath it was warm
while under stress test, however definitely not hot to the touch at all, no problems in
terms of heat with using it on your lap other than potentially blocking the small air intakes.
As for the fan noise produced by the laptop, I’ll let you have a listen to some of these
tests.
At idle with the default optimized profile it was quiet but the fan was still audible.
If we manually swap over to the quiet profile with the Dell power manager the fan stops
completely. Otherwise while gaming or with the stress tests running there was no difference,
around average when compared to many other gaming laptops I’ve tested, maybe a little
quieter. As we saw earlier, undervolting the CPU did remove thermal throttling, however
I didn’t find this to change the fan speed.
I forgot to record the fan noise difference from optimized and ultra, but take my word
for it they were identical under these workloads which is why I just stuck to testing with
ultra.
When it comes down to it, the Dell G5 gaming laptop is quite hot out of the box when under
any sort of multicore CPU load due to a lack of power limit throttling, whether that be
CPU only or combined CPU and GPU workloads as we’ve seen. A lack of power limit throttling
can be seen as both a good or a bad thing, the clock speeds do seem to be higher than
most other laptops I’ve tested, however this results in more heat, it’s a trade
off. Unfortunately once the CPU gets too hot and starts thermal throttling the performance
in some games starts to become affected, there were many games tested where I noted other
laptops with the same specs performed better. At the same time the G5 also performed better
in some games as it was able to reach those higher speeds by default, so put on the undervolt
and you should get the best of both worlds.
Undervolting the CPU is the best way to help address this, this alone allowed us to remove
the CPU throttling and allow it to reach the full all core turbo boost speed even under
combined CPU and GPU workloads, an impressive result despite the heat that comes along with
this. Personally I don’t think the temperatures once undervolted are really too much different
from other laptops with the same specs anyway, and if you’re willing to go with a cooling
pad further improvements to temperatures were seen. Perhaps more air intake vents underneath
could have also helped with the high out of the box thermals, as we’ve only got some
small ones just above the fans. I would have liked to have seen greater fan control options
like we were promised at CES, as I found no noticeable difference between the default
optimized and ultra profiles.
The 180 watt power brick that Dell provided with the G5 appears to be adequate, I wasn’t
seeing battery drain during any of my testing or severe power or current limit throttling
on the CPU.
These differences in performance shown aren’t hard and fast rules, there are different factors
which will vary results, primarily the temperature of the room you’re running in, application
of thermal paste, and even the specific hardware which comes down to the silicon lottery. You
may not be able to undervolt or overclock your hardware the same as me, it depends on
the chip and its specific power requirements, so don’t just blindly copy my settings and
do some testing to find out where your stable point is for best results.
It may be possible to further improve temperatures by swapping the thermal paste, however as
this is a review unit that I have to send back I’m not able to change the paste, otherwise
the next reviewer will unknowingly report different results due to what I’ve done.
Undervolting, modifying fan speed, or using a cooling pad is much easier for most people
to do anyway, and as we’ve seen these tweaks did help improve performance of the Dell G5
gaming laptop.
Let me know how much of a performance boost you’ve found by undervolting your hardware
and what you thought of the improvements here, and course don’t forget to subscribe for
the full review of the new Dell G5 gaming laptop as well as future thermal testing videos
like this one.