Improving laptop cooling?

No one in this topic, Britton30. However, at some point, the forum won't be populated by friends from other forums and will likely include inexperienced people.

(Example: I've been helping someone at another forum who, among other similar assistance, needed step-by-step instructions on how to save to her desktop.)
 
JMH said:
Generic info.
A hot laptop is often caused by dust clogging the heatsink and vents.
Using a can of compressed air to blow out the laptop vents and around the fan PLUS sitting the lappy on an extra good Cooling Master does the trick of lowering temps considerably I have have found.
For new inexperienced Forum members you may care to refer to the {oldish} links below.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/60300177

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/how-to-keep-laptop-cool.htm
Click to expand...

Maybe I did misread this.
 
Today I had a laptop at work that was highly "tweaked" by the owner. It was obvious that he knew his way around the Windows 7 OS.
I ran a test on his video card and the temp exceeded 105º C when I felt compelled to shut it down (before it melted my metal counter!).
I blew the dust out of the vents with some canned air and reran the test.
The video card stabilized at 103º C - still too high, but a darned sight better than it was before I blew it out!

FYI - it was an Asus G series laptop (known for video card problems).
 
Yep, but I don't get paid enough to open the case (when it's covered by a warranty) :0)
I just send it out to the service center - and hope that they'll replace the video card based on my description.
 
A while back I went to the local senior center, displayed my credentials, and offered to fix computers for free.
I was told "No thanks". What a bummer, I can't even give it away!
 
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usasma said:
Yep, but I don't get paid enough to open the case (when it's covered by a warranty) :0)
I just send it out to the service center - and hope that they'll replace the video card based on my description.
Click to expand...

Ya know reminds me of a couple of emails I got from the VP of maintenance a few years back, short of trucks we replaced the wiper motor on a 6 month old tractor, cost $49.xx and .5hr to change truck up and on the street within an hour. Next day I get an Email that we should not be doing work covered by the warranty, it's cheaper to send it back to Volvo and let them fix. 2 days later I have a 1 year old D12(12 liter diesel) with a bad EGR cooler($1400) leaking antifreeze into the exhaust, that usually cracks the cast aluminum EGR valve housing($560) and damages the fins on the turbo($1200) takes about 7.5hrs to change, I sent it to Volvo under warranty. Yep next day got an Email from the same VP, we're short tractors you should have fixed this in house...................I attached his Email from 2 days earlier and told to talk to this guy about it and let me know the outcome.
Still haven't heard back about it, but he's no long with the company:banghead:.
 
Those guys Wrench are two a penny where i work doing it for the good of the company mudding waters and conflicting advice when just building their own little empires which have no benefit to a company other than a negative effect which can put jobs in jeopardy.

Same all over the world i am afraid.:eek:
 
Those are the kind of people you want to buy for what they ARE worth and sell for what they THINK they are worth, get rich quick.
 
pebbly said:
For Dell laptops I use a program called "I8Kfangui" http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/ you can set the temp to the fans come on at a predetermined setting helps keep my Inspiron and XPS lappys running cool :smile9:
Click to expand...

A good link which should help others with those models in keeping their Laptops cool and can be used in conjunction with a Laptop cooler for extra cooling.

As laptops are very restricted with regards to cooling a regular maintanance is more important in keeping the vents and fans and exhaust port with heatsink clear of debris and dust using a mini vac designed for computer use. Also cans of compressed air to blow dust out.

Replacing thermal pads and paste also at intervals as well as theses will degrade over time.

IMO maintanance is more important than what actually is fitted as long as cooling components are the correct specifications.
 
"Laptop Cooling" should be placed in the same category as "Laptop Overclocking." This is a very difficult task and fruitless at best. The best way to "cool" a laptop, is to buy one that has low power consumptions and does not have a M-GPU. AMD does a very good job at making processors for laptops that are cool. Ever heard the expression, "Ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag"? Well, when you try and do too much with a laptop, there will be consequences. Your laptop/netbook/tablet, should be used for light tasks. Build a good desktop if you want to game and run thousands of lines of code.
 
To revive an old thread - this week I've now fully cleaned the CPU heatsink and fans - temps down 20C. Today, I've just replaced the thermal grease with Arctic Silver 5 - it's hard to judge exactly but temps are now down 5-10C just from that. It's only the start of the break in period so it's performance is meant to increase over time. A successful week for my laptop, it should last a bit longer now. :grin1:

Re: Thermal grease - I've only used a small amount, is it okay to keep it once opened and use again at a later date? If yes, how long can it be kept for?
 
I found and used a tube the other day that has to 4 years old since it was in my Pentium 4 box.
As long as it's tightly sealed and not stored in extreme heat or cold it should survive.
 
I'll keep it somewhere safe for future use, I was surprised the difference in temps it made.
 
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