Laptop Overheating

[Demon 997]

My laptop quickly overheats whenever I try to play games (both Portal 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl), I have already cleaned the fan (through not the heat sink, as that is harder to get at). Any suggestions?

A friend recommended replacing the thermal paste, how much will that help?

How effective are external fans/other cooling devices?

[grimbold]

i have a primitive suggestion
but it works for me

i prop my laptop up on a book or something and let the fan blow out into the open air instead of warming up the surface it is on

[Archonic Energy]

Suggestions:
blast it with compressed gas every few minutes
afix a air con unit to the bottom of the device
use a pelter element to extract the heat activly rather than passively
play in a walk in freezer

play on a flat surface with 4 small wooden blocks to allow better Airflow
buy one of those laptop cooler things and put it on that.

are any of those helpful?

[Eldan]

play on a flat surface with 4 small wooden blocks to allow better Airflow


I use small stacks of glued-together miniature-bases, but really, anything small and about a centimeter high works. Erasers, wood blocks... as long as it's larger than the laptop's rubber feet and stable.

[Archonic Energy]

my Laptop desk at home has a 120mm fan installed IN it which is powered from USB... and people say i have no pratical ideas!

i do wish you could get 12v from USB though :smallfrown:

[Jair Barik]

I had the same problem and have fixed it by buying a laptop mat (Belkin) with built in USB fan. Pretty much the same as what ither people have suggested really. The mat's shape gives the air space beneth the laptop and the fan helps cool. You could probably accomplish something similar with relative ease and a little imagination.

[Rising Phoenix]

i have a primitive suggestion
but it works for me

i prop my laptop up on a book or something and let the fan blow out into the open air instead of warming up the surface it is on

I do this too and it works like a charm :)

[Kuma Kode]

Depending on your skill with computer hardware upgrades, you may want to look into a different processor. Some are better at heat distribution than others, so make sure your CPU doesn't have a bad habit of overheating itself. The Intel M was notable for this: it could frequently outperform processors with a higher speed because it could cool itself easier and wouldn't slow itself down like other CPUs would.

Less expensively, you might want to look into better thermal paste, since that's what transfers the heat from the hardware to the heatsink. After a while, it just turns into non-sticky foam. If part of it gets detached it won't transfer heat very well.

Lifting your laptop up as mentioned will allow greater airflow and faster cooling.

Make sure to check out task manager or whatever your system uses and kill off processes that aren't necessary. The less work your computer is doing, the less heat it will generate.

[Demon 997]

I've contacted Toshiba, and am getting my laptop repaired as its still under warranty. I also got a external fan/cooling pad, so that should help in the meantime.