Overheated

Tonight I was sitting on my r3 for around an hour just browsing and watching youtube videos when my laptop cut out, so I thought this was weird and felt the back and underneath -- to find both were roasting hot.

So I left it for an hour and came back to it and now everything seems fine, does anyone have any idea why this happened?

 

Did you by any chance have the fan ports blocked?

 

Yeah... setting a high end gaming laptop on your lap while running multimedia will do that. This happens because the fan ports often get blocked, whether you notice it or not, and the computer lacks the air flow to cool itself.

I recommend buying a laptop cooler if you like to use it in your lap. They run about $40 for an average one, and about $60 for a good one.

Zalman makes some nice ones. I own the Zalman NC2000 and it works perfectly.

 

I'll second the NC2000, it's nice.

 

I own both the NC-2000 and the SF-19. I use the SF-19 at home for maximum cooling and the NC-2000 on the go. You cant go wrong with either of them.

 

I've never seen the SF-19, do you like it better than the NC-2000?

Also an M17 plus an NC2000 for "on the go" lol...wow that's a lotta space. what kinda backpack do you have? Targus XL?

 

The SF-19 has much higher airflow than the NC-2000, so for cooling down the laptop I prefer the SF-19.

I have a very big Targus bag, Im not sure of the exact model. The M17x + NC-2000 is not able to fit into that bag. I need to carry 2 bags.

I also have a "Crumpler Bosses Bed" which can room both the M17x and the NC-2000, but it will not be able to take the M17x + SF-19.

 

Yeah I have the Targus XL which is larger than the previous Wenger Ibex I was using by quite a bit. I'm not as impressed with the quality of the material as much though, except I do very much like the straps as they are beastly.

 

Quality wise I prefer the Crumpler. The Targus I have is of a breifcase model, so it is easy to carry around. I like the straps inside the bag, it prevents the computer from falling out if the zip slides open.

@OP
Install HWinfo32 and monitor your temps, post your temps here so we can determine if the cooling system is working properly.

 

Hi guys;
I have alienware m17x r3 with cooler master sf-19 and when I use the cooler, the laptop gets uncomfortable heat during gaming especially around power button and media controller while I do not use the cooler I do not observe any heat.
could someone explain what happen?

 

While it's gaming, it will one way or another generate heat. Download a heat monitering program like GPU-Z or HWMoniter and use that. As long as your temp isnt going past 90C, u should be fine.

 

thanks for you reply yes I already download HWMonitor and temp is not high but it generates heat I do not know where it comes from. I am worried that heat may affect other components.

 

The laptop was/is sitting on a desk, so no ports blocked, i'm hoping it was just a one off as it has not happened since.

I'll look into a cooler.

 

if you don't mind openning up your machine, the thermal pads might be placed wrongly.

for my case, my temp went up to 90C during load on stock clocks and I was pretty clueless as to what was causing it. So i decided to do a repaste, when i opened up my GPU, the thermal pad on the bottom was placed wrongly. Instead of placing them DIRECTLY under the vrams, it was placed underneath the GPU die instead. I went ahead and moved it and did a repaste.

now my temp during load with OCed clocks were around 75-6C. massive improvements. just my 2cents

edit: pic for your reference
http://i.imgur.com/lrpni.jpg