My Dell Precision 7550 develops noticeable heat around the palm-rest area to the right of the touchpad when running Fedora. I suspect the battery or nearby components are producing the heat. The same area stays cool on Windows 11, whether the laptop is plugged in or running on battery, so I'm trying to determine whether Linux power management or graphics drivers are responsible. The system has a 10th-generation Intel Core i7, 16 GB of RAM, Intel UHD graphics, and an NVIDIA Quadro T2000. I've reproduced the issue on Fedora KDE and GNOME, with both AC and battery power, the Balanced power profile, and different kernels. I also tried auto-cpufreq, but the warmth remains. The Quadro cannot be disabled through my BIOS. What sensors, commands, or power-management settings should I check next?
3 Answers
Because the warm spot is near the battery, check actual temperatures with `sensors` and inspect battery information through `upower`. Compare CPU package power and temperature with Firefox closed, then with hardware acceleration disabled in Firefox. A browser tab can occasionally keep the integrated GPU or CPU busy even when the NVIDIA card is asleep. Also check whether the battery is being held at 100%; configuring a charge threshold is sensible for a laptop that stays connected to AC most of the time.
The likely cause is the discrete Quadro GPU failing to enter a low-power state, rather than the battery itself. Check whether the GPU is actually asleep with commands such as `cat /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/power_state`, `cat /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power`, and `upower -i /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0`. If the card is in D3cold and its video memory is off, it is probably not responsible. An idle discharge around 5.5 W would also suggest the GPU is not drawing excessive power. For systems that need the Quadro active, the proprietary NVIDIA driver with fine-grained runtime power management may help; otherwise, check BIOS hybrid-graphics settings and update the BIOS and firmware. Since the laptop is usually plugged in, setting a battery charge limit such as 50–80% can reduce battery warmth, although that would not explain heat that also occurs while unplugged.
It could be a dual-GPU driver or power-management problem, with both the Intel and NVIDIA graphics devices staying active. Before changing distributions, verify the GPU power state and compare idle wattage. Updating the BIOS and Dell firmware is also worthwhile, since firmware can affect graphics switching, charging behavior, and thermal management. If the discrete GPU is already in D3cold, focus next on CPU package power, browser hardware acceleration, and the battery’s own temperature readings rather than assuming the battery is the source.
Would switching to another distribution with different graphics defaults be a useful test, or should I stay on Fedora and investigate the power readings first?
I checked the GPU and it reports D3cold, with video memory off. Idle battery discharge is about 5.5 W, so it seems the Quadro is fully powered down. My BIOS has no option to disable it, and the heat remains during basic browsing, coding, and video playback. I’m still looking for other sensors or logs that could identify what is warming the area.