Metal or Plastic ?

Does it actually make some sorta difference in cooling when you buy a metal cooling pad instead of a plastic pad? I know,only the fans do the work of cooling and stuff...but suppose my laptop is in contact with the cooling pad..then well,am not sure about my physics,but isnt metal supposed to be a good conductor of heat? So what happens? :S
P.S- Am thinking of buying a Targus Lap Chill mat !

 

The difference in heat conductivity between plastic and metal is virtually negligible in the case of a cooling pad. Most of the direct heat conduction is already done by the heatsink inside your laptop.

 

for the laptop it makes no diference but for the cooling pad the temperature the cooling pad is at

 

Thanks for the quick response people..though i thought it would make quite a bit difference ! thanks again

 

As said the difference is negligible but from my experience a metal cooling pad seems to stay cool to the touch vs a plastic pad, for example my NC2000 pad is ice cold right now even though I have been play Bad company 2 for a few hours and my laptop has been on most of the day.

 

Even if metal is a good conductor, you have an insulating layer of plastic (laptop casing) and one of air (gap between laptop and cooler) that gimps the heat transfer.

The cooler itself will be colder though that's right.

 

The reason it feels "ice cold" is because metal is a much better conductor of heat than plastic, and the human body does not actually directly sense temperature, but rather heat loss. Since the metal conducts heat well, heat from your finger flows from your body into the metal quite easily, making your finger feel cold. Plastic of the same temperature would feel much "warmer."

I wish some laptop manufacturer made some sort of cooler that could make direct thermal contact with the internal heatsink, thereby turning a large aluminum cooler like an NC2000 into basically a giant external heatsink, which would make the metal advantageous over plastic (of course electrical insulation of the processor could be an issue). As it is now the material of the cooler is irrelevant; the fans are all that really matter (and only to a point, since many laptops have pretty restricting intakes anyway).

 

Well,the idea certainly sounds interesting considering the ability of metal to score over plastic in that area (when i is in direct contact) !

 

Yeah as long as you have a fan blowing on said metal piece it's a great idea. If you rely on free convection (no air flow) to transfer the heat from the metal to the air, you'll still get poor heat transfer. It's the thing that annoys me with some manufacturers that use aluminum casings. Just because your casing is made of metal it doesn't mean that you can skimp on the thermal design. It helps sure but a plastic body with a better heatsink/fan combo will perform better.

 

if you're living in a condition like I am, which is similar because you're in India, have no A/C in the building.... temperature during the day is 95+ degrees with high humidity... room is 10..15 degrees hotter than the outside because you're on the top floor, roof is poorly/not insulated so heat gets soaked in like a dry sponge and water.

Metal or plastic... laptop is going to be burning. So hot it's like I've been on bfbc2 all day, nonstop with no cooling. I'm actually afraid my laptop is going to burn out or something.

At this point. nothing helps. Only using a clay-filled medical cooling/heating pad; that you keep in the freezer and use for cold presses or put it in the microwave to heat it up for hot presses (man wish I had it right now). Putting the laptop on top of a cold pad will make a difference. Fans wont. I can tell you that right now.

Or just putting your laptop/computer in the refrigerator. Not joking.

This barely makes a dent. BUT! If you are air conditioned, this will make a very large/significant difference.

 

Well,i live in Chennai,easily one of the hottest cities in india and i live on the top floor of my apartment ! I do have an AC but its not like kept on 24/7 ! So iam in the same dilemma as you...and OMG! You seriously mean you keep your laptop in the refrigerator? :O

 

ughhh I feel your pain buddy

I have SERIOUSLY thought about it. I don't though lol. Theoretically it makes sense and will keep it cool. I'm sure there would be dire consequences though of doing that from moisture (if there is any? ) in the refrigerator.

 

Yep ! Take my word for it..you seriously wouldnt want to do it..considering the cool Lenovo you got..and lol,no pun intended

 

nope definitely will not seeing your sig, a nice i7 with a 6570; relatively same set up, it does get hot huh

but just another recommendation/idea for you. Not to get off topic, did you end up getting that logitech 510 mouse or which ever we were talking about?

 

Called up many stores mate...and you know what? they are telling that there is no such model :| X( Sure pisses me off But iam not going to go for anything less,so searching the whole city now,lol !

 

what the heck? Strange. I own a UPS store so we could make something happen IF you want; if you can't get it anywhere over there. I'll message you.

 

Guess we dont wanna spam this post,lol..lemme send you a PM over !

 

haha yeah, another idea is; if you like building things.. you can make your own. I actually have a plan for a plexiglass cooler.. just a little project to do over the summer.

 

Plexisglass?

 

Plexiglass? as in, Plexiglass? (what is it?) or Plexiglass? as in (why would you use Plexiglass?) lol

 

Lol..as in what it is?

 

thought so haha

Plexiglass, to put it simple is someone like plastic. Just stronger?

Poly(methyl methacrylate) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's clear like glass, but the material is like a plastic. I'm not a chemist so I can't give a specific answer but as vague and blunt as it sounds; that's pretty much what it is/feels like.. just like plastic but stronger in a sense and it's clear. You can get it tinted with different colors, but typically it's clear.

Easy to cut and work with.

You're giving me the opportunity so going to say it lol, not going off topic; but this is what it looks like. Planning on building a ridiculously powered computer; but these are plexiglass computer cases

Acrylic Computer Cases at Xoxide!

The design of my plexiglass cooler is basically going to be the same design as my cooler master cooler. The overall structure will be the same, angled-ergonomic style. The back of it, unlike my cooler now with a open hole, I want to design a backing so 3..4 fans mount in line. Blowing air from the back into the bottom. The back leg will definitely be taller to give more clearance on the bottom of the cooler. Mount 3 - 120mm fans in the same fashion as my current cooler. The top wont be perforated though, just open top with a fan grill.












rough sketch I know, but just the basic concept





it's fairly easy design, not much crazy cutting or special designing to do. Just straight cuts. Not sure on the adhesive. Maybe epoxy? Still figuring that out

In addition, need to buy a 120mm hole punch for a drill adapter; to drill out 120mm holes for the fans



Then it's just making holes to mount the fans, cutting and putting the pieces together. Probably use some 300grit sandpaper to smooth out the edges of cuts.

Nothing too hard.

 

Well,sounds logical..do me a favor,if you are going to try this out anytime soon,temme how it turns out to be
Would add +1 for the above post,but no rep to give :/ Lol

 

Also,enlighten us by telling on how you actually intend to build that? I can get the basic design of the cooling pad..But how do you actually start?

 

thanks thanks will just have to wait until tomorrow then lol

oh yeah definitely, if anything I'm going to do a pretty extensive very descriptive, "How-To" diy for it. Lots of pictures. Just figuring everything out, pricing things out. Anything different I could change up. We'll see just like a car, everything is in concept right now. I'm thinking about it everyday though haha

edit*

posted the same time!

All measurements my friend

I'll use my laptop cooler, turn it upside down so it's flat on the plexiglass (they come in large square cuts). Draw out the outline just for a rough template.

For the length and width, I think I'll definitely give it another 1" extra all around. Plus I'll take my 120mm fan off and do some math here and there. Sketch out where to place the fans and if I have enough length for 3-120mm fans next to each other.

Once I figure out the fan placements, draw out the outline of it. Stick the pen through the fan and draw out the inside diameter. So I know where to use the hole punch to drill out the inside. Also have to mark the holes where the screws will go.

That's the top portion. The back portion for the back fans will be the same way. Just different height and length.

The back portion will essentially just be a big plexiglass box. Where it connects in the middle, I'll cut out some legs to put on the side for structural strength. But keep that whole bottom open and free, not like my cooler right now where there's a hole in that back leg.

then from there. just use 300grit sandpaper and smooth down all the edges and start gluing things together one by one in sections; not all at once. I got an old power supply, I think, so power the fans from that. Otherwise I got a couple old phone chargers, I could always cut the cable and solder on the fan wires to those.


oops. That's basically the write up on how to build it, haha.

 

GtsXRacer, I suggest that you take the back panel that goes over the CPU off so the fans can blow directly on the heatsink/heatpipe/cpu. I take the back of my Y460 off while playing BFBC2, and the CPU temp hovers at around 72C instead of the 80C temp that I get with it on. Since the back isn't metal (although part of that panel seems to be metal, but isn't in thermal contact with the heatsink), more fans blowing on the back aren't necessarily going to dissipate more heat. With the back off, the fans are blowing directly on the heatsink, and they can do more to cool he laptop. Of course, if they are blowing hot air on the computer the results may not be that good; you should just get an industrial size freezer and play in there.

 

thanks for the recommendation I've thought about keep the bottom panel off many times. An industrial sized freezer sounds amazing right now.

 

I second the suggestion to keep the backpanel off if the high temp situation is dire, combined with your cooler it could make a whole lot of difference.

Also from the pic you posted, it seems that your computer desk is quite dusty, wouldn't hurt to clean it otherwise dust will find its way faster into your laptop.

There are of course many other ways to lower the temp, you probably have done already but things like repasting CPU/GPU, undervolting your GPU(can't undevolt an i7) will all do good to keep the temp cool.

 

Agree yeah that dust collects really fast since I got the fans blowing 24/7. I whipe it down every weekend, should have done that before I took those pictures

thanks +1 mj and lido

 

Thanks. As a side note, I always keep my backpanel off in the summer even with AC turned on, it makes my Zalman NC2000 cooler MUCH MORE efficient. The only downside is that you just need to say hello more often to your compressed air can.

This may sound repetitive, but I have heard many 5730 users had amazing results after undervolting their GPUs, many of them reported a 10-15 C drop in temp after undervolting! Definitely give it a go if you haven't done it already.

 

oh no definitely, I read that many times. Just never really got into it in detail. I'll have to now though. Yeah, can't wait until I finish this summer class friday and move back home sunday. A/C is going to awesome

 

Thankfully I have a desktop that I can use during the summer (when I am home) so I can play games even when it is 90 F outside (like right now...). My Q6600 @3.2 Ghz right now is idling from 35C-40C which is higher than usual, but much much much lower than my laptop.