Cooling my laptop with a freeze pack?

I'm thinking of cooling my notoriously hot DV5T by putting a freeze pack underneath.

Will my laptop spoil if I put a freeze pack under my laptop?

The reason I ask this is because I once put a wet cloth underneath it and someone told me that the laptop could absorb the moisture (???) from the cloth, so thats bad

EDIT: I took my lappy to my local computer hardware store (canada computers) and put my laptop on the various coolers they had, including but not limited to a targus chillmat, Zalman NC2000, Cryo LX and one where the whole cooler was just a huge fan. My temperatures dropped by a max of 6 degrees celsius (the NC2000), while the others didn't help at all. The Targus chillmat actually increase my temps by 2 degrees. I usually stick an industrial fan blowing at the side of my laptop and that brings it down by 10+ degrees.

 

Adding moisture so near to the laptop (especially in an area that will be heated) is surely a bad bad idea. What are the idle/load temperatures now?

 

Replace thermal paste and clean dust inside the cooler, those will help you more. If temperature feels still too high, then try the laptop coolers again

 

This. Replacing the thermal paste usually brings down your heat temperature.
Investing in a laptop cooler is not a bad idea as well.
Putting down a ice pack underneath your laptop is a bad idea.
Why? Think about it.
When the ice melts it will form a type of condensation on the outer layer of the plastic causing moisture. Like you stated before, the moisture might get sucked into the machine therefore causing more problems.

Now, for my elaborate and well worded post, I think a reputation point would be a nice reward

 

^:roll:

On topic: Would you place your laptop on a wet/damp table? Ice packs are a bad idea. Wet cloths are even worse.

There is no reason a proper notebook cooler, suited to your laptop, shouldn't work. However, if you want a cheap and effective solution, grab two similarly sized hardcover books (anything ~3/4ths of an inch to an inch and a half thick is plenty) and place your laptop as a bridge between them. This will allow more fresh and cool air to enter your laptop. Place a cheap fan or two underneath that "bridge" to line up with your CPU and GPU and you'll be good to go.

 

My friend put ice packs under his laptop so he could turboboost higher. He managed to load out at 60*C or somewhere in that range.

Not saying it's a good idea but it does work.

 

even better than water cooling

 

So if your friend jumps off a bridge will you follow him?

Really, the humidity is nearly as bad as the heat itself. However, you can direct the airflow from an A/C vent if things are that bad.

 

What about this? I put my laptop on a granite slab then I put the ice pack beneath it, allowing enough time for the ice pack to cool the granite slab. I read this somewhere online.

I know what you think that there is no reason why a laptop cooler won't help my laptop much, but trust me, I took it to the store and gamed on it while on different coolers and those coolers didn't help much.

Right now I have an industrial fan blowing at the bottom of my laptop and that drops the temperature by about 12 degrees celsius, but I'm trying to find an alternate solution because I am absolutely freezing whenever I game.

My Idles are 50 CPU, 40 HDD and 60 GPU
My games is 80ish , 60 and 80 (high 80s)

And in response to cleaning and reapplying thermal paste to my laptop, I know how to dismantle it but I have a very bad history of breaking stuff, even breaking a component in my paintball gun, which is extremely tough, so I would try to stay away from that.

Also, I do not want to use compressed air cans as that just pushes air into my vents, making it worse

EDIT: Oh yes, aequinox, my setup right now is actually much better than your description. I built a lego tower 3ish feet high with a giant hole in the middle kind of like a horizontal doorframe, and my industrial fan is blowing into the open space of the door frame

 

C'mon geeks, not everyone knows how to replace thermal paste even on a desktop CPU/GPU and laptops are much harder to dissemble.

A friend of mine one burnt out a $300 Intel CPU trying to change the thermal paste on his desktop computer, imagine what would of happened it he tried the same on a laptop.

How can anyone go recommended that?

 

Because it's really not that difficult and it's usually assumed that anyone who's pushing their computer hard enough to make them overheat would probably know what you're talking about/would have no trouble finding out.

 

Well I already did find out, and honestly it is way too much work, take a look at this link:

How to take apart HP Pavilion dv5 laptop >> Inside my laptop

I guess I'll just stick to my fan then, after all I do get max temps of 75 CPU, 74 GPU and 44 HDD

 

lmfao +Rep for that. At least, I'm allowed to do that, right? Being a bad is part of one's reputation, no?

 

My friend brought me three laptops, one dv5 and two dv6000 series to clean up. I'd say it takes a little over an hour each, maybe two if I watch movie while doing it At least I know what I'm doing this weekend.

These models require total disassembly, so I wouldn't recommend this for total beginner. Someone with little experience can do this easily though.

 

ice packs? LOL I already saw one commercial where idiots were trying to sell something with cooling liquid-gel. Should I tell that it may be good for laps but a trip to hell for laptop? It blockes all holes for air so how the ///// it can cool your laptop???

The best way is just to leave more space underneath. I use my cooling pad without that 2 factory installed fans. I just use the pad and that's it In case someone is interested I use CoolerMaster Notepal U2

 

you really didn't understand what I said did you. Who on earth puts their laptop on an icepack or liquid gel pack?

What I said was putting an icepack beneath a piece of granite and placing my laptop on the granite.

 

So I took my friends dv5 apart...
Fan/cooler:

IMAG0249 by KopyrightLiberationFront, on Flickr
Fan removed:

IMAG0250 by KopyrightLiberationFront, on Flickr
A little bit dust removed:

IMAG0252 by KopyrightLiberationFront, on Flickr

I guess it'll run cooler after I've put it together

 

Still dangerous. Water vapor (eventually) + heat = steam .. translating to bad stuff for notebook environment. Dry moving air is the best to keep a notebook cool.

cheers ...

 

This is you who did not read all I wrote, did you? I repeat The best way is just to leave more space underneath. I use my cooling pad without that 2 factory installed fans. I just use the pad and that's it In case someone is interested I use CoolerMaster Notepal U2

How will your piece of granite or even aluminum or other metal help if:
- your laptop perhaps has legs which will be in touch with it. Not the bottom which is hot but badly thermal conductive legs.
- you will decrease space for air. while I told that you should increase it.

 

FWIW:

The moisture would be created by the condensation from the surrounding air building up on the ice pack. In order for it to then be carried in the air it would need to evaporate all over again.

Thus, I would imagine, the moisture in the air on a real humid day would be equal to, if not greater than, the air passing over a ice pack and into the laptop.

This does not mean that I would encourage anyone to place an electrical device directly onto a ice pack; condensation could feasibly then develop on the internal shell/components of the laptop. That would certainly be bad.

If one wanted to be a bit creative they might place the ice pack within a ventilated container whose lid had been modified to hold a usb powered fan blowing up towards a laptop placed upon it. To further isolate moisture silca packs, rice, or any other moisture absorbing elements could be placed in the space between the ice pack and the fan

You could also go totally 'redneck' by attaching a hose to your home air conditioner/vent and direct that to your box; that air will have passed through a condenser and had the moisture removed.

JMHO


Have a Magical Day!

.

 

Cold granite will not cool the air above it.

 

Niiiiiiiiiice.

I just fished out a similar family of dust bunnies in a friends home pc; the air inlets were totally blocked and the fins of the cpu's heat sink was almost entirely covered with a layer of fuzz.


Have a Magical Day!

 

Don't you just love the way some members throw that out like it's a walk in the park? If you've got gorilla mitts, there's no way you're going to be a good surgeon.

LOL, it took me 3 hours to change out my keyboard. The member that suggested it neglected to inform me just how difficult HP makes it to do this. I did manage to replace the factory unit with a backlit one, but the process also put an extra few thousand mile on my laptop chassis.

 

This is you who didn't read all I wrote did you? But then again its not your fault and I don't blame you, not everybody reads every single post in a thread before replying, but check out my previous post underneath, I actually built a lego tower made of 4 columns and a frame and put a 30" fan underneath

 

^ Yes, but placing a granite slab underneath your laptop will undo all of that.

Have you tried gaming with your set up without the industrial fan? It may not be making as big a difference as all that space is.

Consider replacing the industrial fan with some smaller suspended fans pointing directly into the air intake vents on the underside of your laptop. Should work even better.

 

I took away 2 oem fans which were right under holes. Because they did nothing

 

On the subject... The Chill Pack


Have a Magical Day!

 

I wouldn't go with the granite slab only because it would take too much time to cool the slab down before using it (you would have to literally put the slab in the freezer for a couple of hours), and also because it won't retain the cold all that well in a spot contact area. An analogy can be made to the stone or synthetic stone slabs used in pizza ovens. These take at least an hour to heat up to proper temperature before they can be used, mostly because the stone is a very large mass. Also, after a pizza cooks for say, 5 minutes, that particular spot in the oven must be kept empty for a few minutes to let it build up heat again. And this is in a 500 deg. F oven!

Much better is a thin metal barrier - i.e. an ordinary metal laptop stand with no fans and no ventilation holes, and with sufficient space beneath for a couple of the floppy, non-rigid icepacks they sell in drugstores for putting on sprains etc. Some sort of small tray is needed to hold these so that condensation will not drip on the desk or wherever else you are using this rig. And a prop of some sort beneath the small tray can ensure the floppy icepacks are pressed up against the thin metal barrier of the laptop stand so as to maximize temperature transfer.

Condensation from the icepacks themselves is not a problem so long as you ensure the laptop is positioned with its fans at the high point of the laptop stand (e.g. assuming the stand is conventionally slanted so as to be high at the back and low at the front, this works well with my Macbook Pro which has fan ports in back). The reason condensation is not a problem is that the direction of travel of both cool air and condensation is always down, not up. You can verify this for yourself, and also you can read about it in articles on solving condensation problems in houses, cars, etc.

And condensation in my experience does not seem to occur on the top of the laptop stand where its surface is not covered by the laptop. This suggests to me that there is not much worry about the laptop interior somehow getting so cold that condensation could form inside it via room air dropping its moisture. In this entire rig, you will get a small amount of condensation only in one location, and it's where you would expect it - beneath the icepacks or the tray holding them.

I've used this type of setup and it's extremely effective at cooling the CPU and GPU. The only real downside is the inconvenience of having to keep floppy icepacks in the freezer & then set the whole thing up each time, plus if you game for more than 45 minutes or so at a stretch you will have to have an extra set of floppy icepacks so you can switch them as the first set starts to warm up too much to be good anymore.

Of course if you really REALLY like granite slabs for some reason, I suppose you could get two or three of those of the right size & keep them in the freezer and just use them, knowing they will warm up pretty quick at the contact point & have to be subbed out. That seems even more of a hassle & really not worth it unless as I say stone turns you on for some reason.

 

I wish I read this before i attempted to put an ice pack under my tablet.

you seem to be well versed and knowledgable about the subject.. what i did was under my samsung tablet with s pen i wrapped an ice pack in 2 plastic bags and put it under my tablet, it immediately kept the temperature to only 21C i was really happy but i noticed on the back of the tablet (it has a faux leather back that might be porous) there was condensation building up where the ice pack rested (water vapour in the air drawn to that spot) i immediately wiped it off and then put the icepack back on the back of the tablet, again after couple mins there was condensation so i wiped it off.

only after speakign to a friend did i realise that might be a bad move because the water condensation could potentially go to the underside of where the tablet had the ice pack (which is more plastic i saw a video of my tablet being taken apart so i know what the insides look like)

what are the chances that water vapour has gotten inside into the important components? there's no vents the tablet is almost air tight bar the micro usb charging slot on the right and the 3.55mm headphone jack on the left, the micro sd card slot is sealed, those are the only entry points i imagine water vapour could get in.

i did this inside my bedroom, not sure how humid it is relatively it was cold today around 8C but with southerly wind so felt more like 13C.. is it possible for condensation to get inside the tablet given what i've described?

there's no breeze, im indoors however i did see condensation on the OUTSIDE where the ice pack rested so i just assumed the bit inside it behind the back cover also was cooled down and naturally air moisture woudl be drawn to it.. that leads to the question how much air moisture is inside the tablet in the first place and is there any viable way for it to enter via either the 3.55mm jack or the micro usb port 3.0 on the right?

you said that condensation goes down not up but is it possible i may have condensation inside the tablet? surely naturally if there is any it would go to the metal parts of the device inside IF there is any, as a precaution i put it in a box of rice but read that silica is better so got a few of those and some instant noodles which apparently is better than rice to get moisture out.

my thinking is if it's sealed up as in like most tablets are.. how is the moisture going to get out via the micro usb or 3.55mm jack ports? surely the silica and instant noodles dont have enough sucktion power to draw all the moisture that's inside a sealed tablet?? or maybe i'm underestimating the power of it.

surely people with iphones or ipads can relate, the device is completely sealed just a headphone jack and a charging port.. people have dunked theirs in water and put it in rice and voila it's fine.. howerver if it was sealed to begin with only a small amoutn of water realistically is going to get in via the charging port or the headphone jack right>? unless it's submersed.

what i cant figure out is if there is condensation inside for whatever reason.. how is it going to get out?? there's only a micro usb port and headphone jack .. which might indicate that not much woudl get in way of condensation in the first place? i dont really udnestand the physics of it but i know cold surfaces attract condensation.. that proved it by the outside of the tablet but what about the inside??

i put it in rice as a precaution adn i really dont want to take it apart as im still under my 28 day return thing (ideally i'd return it but the colour i want has been discontinued) so i cant guarantee if there's moisture inside.. but let's assume there is.. how is it going to get out? this isn't normal water in cracks and in a phone which i can open up take the battery out and dunk in rice so the rice can be close to the areas of water.. this is just water vapour which may be attached to the underside of the back cover.. so obviously it'll heat up again because the insides get hot and evaporate.. but how does it get back out??

 

If it's still working, you're probably fine (especially after putting it in rice). Just don't repeat the experiment. Anything that enclosed and fanless is not going to be able to provide sustained horsepower, so don't try and force it to.

 

well i returned my tablet and got a new one just in case and won't be repeating that experiment again however reading this thread and understanding about dew points etc, is this scenario also bad?

i have a battery temperature monitor on my tablet and when it charges it reads about 20C currently (it's enclosed so no air vents, plus it's cold in my room, bad insulation and the temperature outside is like 2C, maybe 4C indoors..bad heating etc) i understand condensation works by hot air meeting cold surfaces however is the opposite also true if it's a warm surface (my battery) and cold air temp (room temp) will condensation form on my battery pack inside the tablet or will the condensation disperse and move to the colder parts of the tablets?

is the 20C temp of the battery pack enough to heat the cold air around it (inside the tablet) to form condensation?

also i normally have a fan on my tablet even in this cold 4C room temp as anything above 20C is bad for lithium, however i wasn't thinking and in a rush i opened the micro sd slot to take out the sd card and for a good 10 secs or so the fan was blowing air directly into the sd card slot inevitably getting into the tablet which as mentioned before has heated up with a 20C battery being charged.

my question is, if the cool air being blown in by the fan through the micro sd card slot going to condense on the warm surface of the 20C battery?

I don't know what damage i've potentially done as with all these dew point temperature stuff but blowing cold room temp (2C air into a warm tablet) seems like asking for trouble.. what is likely to have happened.. is the cold air blowing in going to disperse inside and settle on the battery? that doesn't make sense right.. warm air on cold surfaces right.. would that have had any effect blowing in 2C room temp air into the tablet? the humidity is hard to say maybe 50% maybe less.. it's hard to tell when it's cold. i assume it would bring the temperature of the battery down slightly as it's somewhat creating an air vent by opening the sd card slot however i can;t figure out the mechanics of what happens to that cold air as it goes inside the tablet.. surely the tablet is warmer slightly in places.. but at 20C 50% humidity the dew temperature is 10C.. so anything below that will condense.. the temp of the battery as oppose to the air temp is 20C so maybe it doesn't apply.. even if the battery was heating up the surrounding area (which it seems to do with my phone as in the air inside gets heated up quickly) inside the tablet that warm air would go directly onto the surface which is below the dew point temperature inside the tablet ie the metal parts.

condensation seems a big risk here i guess i need to somehow increase the temperature of the room to offset this?

even without this fan issue i suspect whenever i am charging my tablet and it reaches 21C condensation must be forming as it's like 2C room temp outside.

my condern is that before i blew fan air through the sd card slot even for only 10 secs or so it's increased the air inside the tablet that it normally wouldn't have?

there's nowhere for the air to reall escape tbh i dont think the micro usb port provides adequate air to escape.

is the likelihood the blown cold air via the fan would go inside the laptop and condense somewhere when it reaches the battery or is the additonal air from the fan would go inside and THEN be heated by the battery which causes the colder surface to condense inside.. it just seems like i created additonal potential for condensation by having a fan blowing inside it.. i still dont quite understand the physics of what's happening

 

i can't figure out what is the best way to do this.. my room is freezing in winter like 2C and heating doesn't work i have one of those mini heaters on the floor which heats the surrounding air but creates a mix of warm and cold air as it's not big enough to heat a room completely add in poor insulation and slight gaps in the windows cold air comes in also.

how do i avoid condensation in side my tablet??

it heats up to like 32C when it's cold outside and i do notice in the past with my phone condensation forming on the glass front and metal side but with my tablet i can't open it up to inspect any water vapour issue .

am i better off using the small heater to heat the surrounding air around the tablet (though initially the metal edges and glass screen temp will draw in the hot air condensation (this is bad) but inside really it's the air that was trapped before that would heat up and then disperse onto the cold surfaces metal parts inside.. apart from only using the tablet in another warmer room i dont know how i'd sort this out.. it seems like i need to heat up my tablet surface first then turn the heater on to get the dew temperature up.

 

You're fine, stop driving yourself crazy about this.

 

i need to take care of it, my room is like 2C and the tablet reaches about 30C even in this cold meaning condensation would form in the surrounding metal areas etc.. how do i get the temperature up in the room first using an electrical heater small one on the floor surely the warm air will go onto the surface of the tablet.. tho the alternative is not using it at all but then inside the tablet the warm air inside will go into the cold parts of the tablet forming condensation.

is there any experts on here who understand how condensation works?

 

I thought about similar solutions for my old HP laptop, which ran at 140F idle and quickly hit 200F whenever I ran a game. It was so bad that everything was unplayable because not only was my keyboard very uncomfortable but worse, I am fairly confident my CPU/GPU would throttle to avoid overheating. Games would run fine for a few minutes (usually less than fifteen) and then, when I could feel it get really hot, soon after my FPS would plummet down into the teens.

I had used canned air in the past to little effect. I always used a Targus cooling pad, but it only helped a little. This time, when I tried canned air again, I blew it for several seconds into all the vents, and I actually saw visible clouds of dust flying out... Afterward, I run at 100-110 idle now and max at around 160F when gaming. Far better.

So, if you haven't tried concentrated blasts of air, do it. Do it for several seconds into each vent. Just make sure you are holding the can such that it expels air and not the cold liquidy crap inside.