Any Long-Term, Permanent Damage Done by SP3 Heating Up?

[ChrisPanzer]

I was wondering this, as each day perhaps once or twice my SP3 will heat up significantly, nearly to the point where I can not rest my hand on it's rear (lol) for any length of time. Does anyone know if this does any long-term type damage? Or has this been figured into the design of the thing? Should we be concerned when it heats up, or is this a normal sort of day-to-day operational normalcy for it?

One would think if anything got that hot, it couldn't be good for it, (on some level).

Thanks!

 

[GreyFox7]

Normal, *baked* into the design

 

[ChrisPanzer]

Normal, *baked* into the design

Wasn't asking you. Please move along.

 

[jnjroach]

The SP3 has a special Power Management and Cooling Firmware built-in that runs below the OS, it designed to shutdown the device if thermals reach the level that could cause damage. So unless the device has shutdown when warm you're fine.

 

[CrippsCorner]

I wonder, does the Surface have any kind of warning message that appears? I've had this twice on my iPhone now, once when I left in on a table outside during peak summer, and once when I was snowboarding on top of a mountain!

 

[ChrisPanzer]

Funny, I've had an iPhone for years, and have never ONCE encountered that cool-down warning screen.

As far as the SP3 goes, besides the fact of it getting extremely hot in a single moment, any idea about the damage that may be done of it being hot for a prolonged period of time? I doubt there is any safety measures in place that factor in heat/duration and how they relate to one another.

 

[jnjroach]

I wonder, does the Surface have any kind of warning message that appears? I've had this twice on my iPhone now, once when I left in on a table outside during peak summer, and once when I was snowboarding on top of a mountain!

Yes...the SP3 has a similar graphic that will show if you try to boot while the Thermal Firmware is in cool down mode.

Funny, I've had an iPhone for years, and have never ONCE encountered that cool-down warning screen.

As far as the SP3 goes, besides the fact of it getting extremely hot in a single moment, any idea about the damage that may be done of it being hot for a prolonged period of time? I doubt there is any safety measures in place that factor in heat/duration and how they relate to one another.

Unless there is a defect in your, it should be fine, the system is designed from the ground up around heat tolerances, Throttling starts at 90 degrees Centigrade and IIRC it can run till it reaches 100 degrees Centigrade (212 degrees F)

 

[Haldi]

The back side of my surface 3 has never gone over 45°C.
This temperature is not a problem. Not for Battery nor for other electronic parts.
The SoC itself does get to 90°C but that's internal only, or right around the cooling block, and not a problem to other components as its a known limitation and designed this way.

 

[Spider]

Does anyone know if this does any long-term type damage? Or has this been figured into the design of the thing? Should we be concerned when it heats up, or is this a normal sort of day-to-day operational normalcy for it?

Tablets are like anything else and running them at elevated temperatures will shorten their lifespan. Electronic items are more prone to failure from thermal expansion issues related to start/stop cycles (things get hot, expand, and then cool and contract). This hot/cold cycling can cause failures due to material choices that don’t expand and contract at the same rate. Components can break loose from the motherboard, solder joint can crack open etc. Manufacturers understand this and set their warranties accordingly. A well designed device should last though its warranty even if it’s pushed to its performance envelopes, but don’t expect as much of a post-warranty lifespan if a device runs hot.

 

[ChrisPanzer]

Whoa, well-said spiderman! But I'd like to know how that directly relates to the SP3 (soldering, expansion, contraction etc,,)

 

[GreyFox7]

Tablets are like anything else and running them at elevated temperatures will shorten their lifespan. Electronic items are more prone to failure from thermal expansion issues related to start/stop cycles (things get hot, expand, and then cool and contract). This hot/cold cycling can cause failures due to material choices that don’t expand and contract at the same rate. Components can break loose from the motherboard, solder joint can crack open etc. Manufacturers understand this and set their warranties accordingly. A well designed device should last though its warranty even if it’s pushed to its performance envelopes, but don’t expect as much of a post-warranty lifespan if a device runs hot.

I agree with you in principal however, this was all known to the design engineers from Intel to manufacturers from the start making tablets. Those considerations are baked into the design and they know premature failures will come back on them. Just as Nuke plants were made to withstand high temperatures and pressures and cycling, except they weren't made to withstand Tsunamis so keep your tablets out of the Tsunami also.

 

[Spider]

Whoa, well-said spiderman! But I'd like to know how that directly relates to the SP3 (soldering, expansion, contraction etc,,)

Sorry Chris, I can't give any examples related directly to an SP3. What I've said pertains to electronic devices in general, and would therefore relate to an SP3. (Unless I'm mistaken, MS did not grant the SP3 an exemption from the Laws of Physics.)

One example I'm personally familiar with concerns a laptop owned by a very good friend of mine. He has a high end gaming laptop that he runs hard. Over time, the soldered connections on his graphics card developed the sort of cracks I mentioned due to expansion and contraction caused by heating and cooling. When the GPU failed completely, he baked the card in his oven @ 392° F to reflow the solder in order to repair it. It worked!

This is not a one-off isolated experience as you'll see in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/np9262-9800m-gt-video-card-failure.483113/ Post #10 shows what happens.