ASUS G51 Cooling mod

Id also like to add that I would suspect this mod would work even better with a better cooler.

I would rate this cooler as a 6/10, mostly because the fan holes do not really line up with the various vents.

Please look into coolers which blow air evenly along the entire bottom of the laptop if you want this mod to have maximum effect. I believe some Zalman coolers do this, and others, but I have not tested them myself.

Even still, 86 MAX with a subpar cooler is a huge improvement. There are also similar reports with no cooler at all, as long as one props the laptop up at the back to allow for good airflow.

 

True Story:

Yesterday I heard some funny noises comming out of my G51. I said to myself "it has to be hard drive", strange I thought. So I defragmented and restarted. The noises where still there. I decided to remove the backplate and check out where exactly those noises where coming from. Did it and realized that the noises where coming from the fan, !
I went for my toolbox and removed the radiator and opened the "box" where the fan is.



I cleaned everything and realized that the fan was kinda strange. The paddles didn't have enough angle, they where too perpendicular to the surface. Then I remembered an old GeForce 4 I had and that it had a similar (better maybe) fan



so I decided to try it on.





Perfect fit it looked.
The shape of the new fan looked like it would suck more air, at least thats what I still think. Sadly, a small plastic part is touching the "box" of the fan, so It wont spin.

Afterthoughts: By changing the fan, with one that could suck more air, one that has the paddles with a little more angle, and maybe even in combination with this backplate big hole mod, could we achieve better temps?

Hope you guys enjoyed my story.

The end

 

I could be totally wrong but don't you want the paddles to perpendicular to the surface of the laptop since the grill is on the side of the laptop? By changing the angle, you're actually redirecting the heat to the top/bottom of the laptop, which would defeat the purpose of the grill. I guess if you had a laptop cooler, you'd make it better by cooling the air coming out of the fan.

 

Yes, maybe I am wrong. I'm going to try to find a fan that fits and that has paddles with more angle and try.
BTW, the fan is not making noises anymore.

 

Did a little mod to my spare backplate.



Did 9 holes to the fan cover, and about 6 micro holes where the GPU is.

Didnt have promising results.

Furmark Benckmark, 400 seconds, MSAA=16X, 800x600 Xtrem Burning mode.

Normal backplate

Without cooling base
Max 90C
Stable 89C

With coling base
Max 88C
Stable 88C

Only 1C diference (my cooling base sucks, Im waiting for a better one to arrive)

Mod ed backplate

Without cooling base
Max 89C
Stable 88C

With cooling base
Max 87C
Stable 86C

Only 2C difference between moded and unmmoded backplate, using cooling pad.

A big hole has better results I guess.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...custom-builds/465883-g51jx-a1-cooler-mad.html


Here's a way to get a max temp of 76C !!

 

Can I do this on the G51Jx? It has a different back plate

 

Can i use a cooling fan to help reduce the heating temp? Also can i do a repaste?

 

Yes. That helped me a lot, it reduced 10C on the GPU max temp.

 

It seems the cooling plate is completely out of stock or the page has been changed? I ordered a referb and am worried about cooling.

Any advice on using the MX-3 stuff? I'm not entirely experienced with putting new thermal paste on a GPU. Thanks.

Also, I'm looking for a HDD bracket if anyone has one for sale...

 

Hi Everyone !

I have an Asus GX72 refurbished Bestbuy model . I immediately used the overclocking software that came with it along with overclocking the G.P.U within safe boundaries.

The temperature of the C.P.U rose to 64 degrees and the G.P.U temperature was 95 degrees . I soon realized that this wasn't good .

I decided to unscrew the notebooks CPU and G.P.U 's covering plate and carefully mill out using a fine tipped soldering two holes . One for the C.P.U and the other for the G.P.U then carefully placing a rubber rim or seal within each milled out hole.

I then went to a D.I.Y store and bought two miniature chromed steel light fittings and two chromed sink plugs ( The type that filters unwanted waste ).

With metal cutter and a vice along with a file I carefully cut out the sink plates and the outer rims on the chromed steel light fixtures to ensure a clean flat surface for them to sit on the notebooks plastic surface.

After having cut and filed the sink plugs and and the light fixtures I then placed them into the milled out holes. The CPU chromed steel plate fitted nicely and especially with the rubber rim to buffer it. I then carefully bent back the stems from the modded light fixture to hold it flat and firmly to the notebook cover . I did the same for the G.P.U , but getting the chromed steel light modded fixture plate is slightly more difficult to get a firm flat fit . ... therefore you have to cut and file down some areas near the G.P.U milled out hole area.

Once you have done this the chromed steel modded light fixture will rest nicely on the notebook cover surface . However to get a perfect finish I decided to get some tie straps and tightly strap both chromed steel modded light fixture plates, ensuring that there stem on the flip side were pressed down and securing each plate.

Notice that I had not used any glue ..especially super glue or even hot .

Super glue will damage the surface beyond belief and will not stick , it becomes brittle.
Hot glue will perish and will not stick to the notebooks plastic interior and exterior surface .... I know this as I learned the hard way.

I left the tie straps on for about a day . The next day I returned and snipped them off they certainly did help .

I then placed the two chromed sink plates on top of each rubber washer rim / seal and then hot glued each chromed sink plate in place .

The rest is history . It works a treat I can now run Call of Duty 4 for hours on end with the CPU clocked to 3 G.h.z and the G.P.U clocked at 550 / 900 / 1400 without having to worry . The G.P.U is at a temperature of 83 degrees and the C.P.U is at 45 degrees .

So it does really work .... I haven't applied any Antec Silver Thermal paste as yet to the C.P.U , North Bridge or G.P.U ... this will even reduce the temperature further.

I have also thought attaching a miniature fan to the G.P.U's sink to force air intake to
the G.P.U . However I have to find a power source from the motherboard . If I spur off or attach the fan in parallel to another fan they the added fan may cause instability and too much current maybe drawn hence the motherboard been damaged.

I have a few ideas of which I will keep you posted about .

Anyhow that's it folks ..love it or hated it ...but it certainly works and its an extremely cheap mod.

 

It would be interesting to get a thermal image camera on it . From what I can see the fans main purpose is to expel the hot air through the vents thus cooling the copper pipe of which the CPU , North Bridge and G.P.U are attached to .
It would of made sense to of had the G.P.U first .

 

Yes that is a cool mod, but why did you spam the thread about it? Your obviously a bot, but where can I buy this back plate?

 

Thank you for reading my message DAaaMan64 . I'm new to this forum .
I bought an Asus GX72X a Bestbuy model with a 3 month warranty on it .

I noticed that temperatures were running to high for my liking .

The back plate my friend is a miniature light fixture that sinks into ceilings.

I had to of course dismantle it and carefully cut its outer rim with metal cutter and then carefully file of the metal bur , till you get a nice clean finish .

What ever you do don't cut the plates inner stems because this is what you'll need to bend back to keep the plate firmly in place . No glue must be applied ..otherwise it will really mess up the covers plastic .

I then fitted the plates and bent back the plates . The stems of each plate rested nicely against each rubber/ plastic/ buffer inner ring.

I then tie strapped it and after a while it held in place.

The mesh was to stainless steel sink plugs . Again with the metal cutters I carefully had to cut them . There the type of sink plug that drops into a kitchen sink that allows the water to flow through but gathers the left over rice ..etc .

I live in South Korea and I found the light fitting in a lamp / lighting shop ( Price for two light fittings $ 5 .

Then for the two sink plugs filters they cost me a dollar each . I bought them in a Dollar General ..an Asian version

Extremely cheap . Providing you have the tools and the patience this is a
a great modification. The notebook cover is sturdy ..its not noisy ..

In my next message I will attach the pictures of the light fittings and the sink plugs . If you can't get them I will ship them from Asia if need be. But I'm sure you will be able to them .

 

Hope this helps ...remember to cut out carefully using a soldering two 7 cm circles then place in the inner rubber / plastic / buffer rings in each carefully milled out hole .

With having easily dismantled the stainless steal light fixtures remembering not to cut there stems as can be seen from the pictures you can easily fit the stainless steal base plates . Then cut out the stainless steal plugs from the sink filters .... as you can see from the pictures I've attached they've already been cut ... With the picture you can see the metal cutters and file used along with a grip vice . Remember to use some card or buffer material when placing the stainless steal bases in the grip vice .

 

hi there...im new in modding(well..in laptop)...may i know where to get the plain backplate for my G51VX-RX05?oh BTW,im from malaysia..there's no local distro for such item..i tried the local ASUS distro and asked them..they told me that they don't have that kind of item here..anyone can suggest?my hands are itchy to mod this baby.

 

Surprised I had not seen this thread before and of course the post im quoting is a bit old. It was many times argued the reason for the cooling system design was to pull air across other components. People felt things like the ram would suffer as there is no case fan to cool them.

If I am hardcore gaming I pull the bottom off when its ontop of a notebook cooler.

Just remember there are several components that you can't measure the temperature of, hopefully anything that dies is replaceable. But the CPU and GPU are pretty important

 

that would help..but we'll definately don't wanna take the backplate off everytime we wanna do some serious business(if you know what im talking about).

anyway...i might just start drilling holes(was thinking maybe 2 aside of the fake grilled) and then rig up with chipset fan..finger crossed

 

Yeah no it looked pretty good too got me thinking about it.

 

I plan to do this.

Will dust accumulation be a big problem though?

 

the link to buy the back plate doesnt work anymore, any idea where i can buy the back plate?

edit: i have the g60vx

 

I tried going to the link ASUS eStore , and it redirects to Asus home page (great). Can you please tell me the name of the Asus product? I don't see anything that looks like it would have anything to do with after-market cooling, and I sure don't want to void the warranty.

I greatly appreciate your help in finding a cooling part from Asus (if it hasn't been discontinued).

 

Would like to know the same thing

 

I think I located the part on Amazon Amazon.com: Portable Rotating Adjustable Laptop Stand & Heat Shield Cooler Pad for All ASUS - U30 - UL20 - UL30 - UL50 - UL80 - K61 - K60I - N61 - G51 - G73 - Laptop , Notebook Computers: DBROTH

Since Asus no longer carries it, and the price looks so low, my guess is that it doesn't work very well. A Zalman notebook cooler would be much more effective.

 

What the.....

Last i checked everyone else is looking for a spare bottom panel for the G50,51,60. Thats not even related to this thread lol, and your one of the people involved which makes it sorta funny.

 

If you read back in an earlier post, someone who had modified the bottom of his G51, said that he would probably recommend a product for sale at Asus, so it wouldn't void the warranty, such as his modification had.

Judging by that post, and the post just above mine, I don't think everyone in this thread is looking for a spare bottom panel, and and there are people in this thread who want to keep their Asus warranty.

Perhaps I just don't understand what you are talking about, or understand what you mean when you say that I am "involved," but you are fortunate to be amused so easily.

EDIT: Hi, Clutch. I was responding to a post towards the front of the thread, but it gets posted at the back of the thread. I guess you thought my post had something to do with the post above mine, about the plate. Perhaps that's the item that was for sale in the Asus eStore? I've never seen anything like that sold as an accessory, but for this notebook, it would sure be nice, assuming that the plate were to have ventilation holes in it for cooling.

I have fallen asleep with my notebook on, and awaken to have blisters on my arm the next day, which is a second degree burn. The computer slid off my lap to rest against my arm, right against the exhaust, so it wasn't an everyday event. Having the power setting on High Performance instead of Battery Saver didn't help. Ah, the price one pays for having a super high performance notebook.

 

I think you are talking about this person?

width='480' height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nrckIUGBbwE?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nrckIUGBbwE?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='480' height="385"></embed></object>

 

@RC Davis Yeah looks like that whats happened.

@Person who posted something with flash, cant see it atm look later lol.

 

Nice find, Ivebert. A picture is worth a thousand pictures, and a video is worth 2,000?

I was hoping that the accessory in the eStore was a back plate like this. I see more and more notebooks with only the i5 and the i3 processor available. I hope that notebook manufacturers aren't moving away from the i7, due to lack of a better cooling design.

 

Has anyone thought of adding two 10mm thick fans to the backplate; One where the vents are for the GPU, Second where the vents are for the CPU. I would increase the amount of vents in those locations via drill..

It would create positive pressure in the chassis and so that would hopefully help add air volume going through the heatsink inside the fan housing and also vastly increase the airflow around the components. Also, with the "grab copper and a drill, now" mod, I bet this could be epic!

I plan on putting Ramsinks on the heatpipes and on the plate of the GPU, and adding 2 fans to the backplate and I WON'T be cutting out the fake fan grill just yet.

But I need to find the right fans. 80mmx10mm sounds good. 5 volts. Reverse blower fan? I need the fans to be able to suck air in from the sides of themselves and blow into the laptop.



If this plan fails to decrease temperatures enough, then perhaps just cutting out the fake fan grille and adding a fan against it to force more air through the heatsink..

EDIT: Hmm, finding fans that are thin yet move enough air, 5v and act as a reverse blower is proving to be a waste of time... Grr!

EDITEDIT: Notepal U2 has 2 removable 80mmx10mm fans, 5v, wired for USB. Hmmm. I just hope they can move some air.

 

So does anyone know if there still is a stock replacement backplate? There are absolutely no vents at the bottom of this laptop! Ridiculous.

 

I would think that you could get it through the parts department of Asus. Explain to them that the heat melted the bottom metal plate, and it needs to be replaced. Drill holes in it,and if you have to return your computer for service, just switch plates.

 

Well there are vents, How is it ridiculous? The laptop was designed (Originally for the G50 series) to cool the way it does. The fan breathes through remote ports to draw air across the components in the notebook. Then expelling such air across a heat sink to cool the major heat producers. Same way a properly designed desktop does, only the desktop has more space and then there is always the option of overloading it with fans and holes lol.

The G51's 260M is a bit much for this chassis design, so a redesign was in order and it didn't happen. But for them to cut a hole of any kind in the bottom, would have defeated the design and would not have been advisable. The potential for motherboard and component death other than the cpu and gpu would have been put at risk.

I personally have always been tempted to do it myself but I would probably end up replacing ram more often than normal. If I had a G51 I would definitely do it damn the consequences. Ya'll bought a G50 overstuffed with powerful goodies, what did u expect?

Something I am looking for in my next notebook is separate cooling systems, along with a larger better designed case. Seen some good ones in the Sager lineup (Clevo, etc).

 

So after getting sick of high temps, and realising resale value isn't enough to warrant a new SB lappy, here's another successful cooling mod on a G51J-A1.

The method simply consisted of drilling a series of holes on the backplate. I didn't want to cut a great big hole, I just wanted to provide a bit more air for the fan, as it simply isn't powerful enough to draw air in great enough quantities from the vents all over the bottom.

First up, The Results:

CPU temp, Before	GPU temp, Before	Test: details below	CPU temp, After	GPU temp, After
48-49C	54C	Idle	42-43C -7C	46C -8C
63-64C	62C	Prime95 8x933MHz	55-56C -8C	53C -9C
86-88C	75C	Prime95 8x1733MHz	74-76C -12C	63C -12C
	94C @ 400/1000/800, 16.5fps	Furmark, temp autolevel	50C	92C @ 480/1200/900, 20.0fps, -2C, +~20% clocks, +21% performance
	>101C*	Furmark, GPU OC		99C -2C*
>89C*	>104C*	Furmark+Prime95	80-81C ->9C*	102C ->2C*
66C	86C	... after 1 min	57C	76C
60C	72C	... after 2 min	53C	65C

So a good spread of temperature reductions under a variety of conditions which led to a reduction in idle and operating temperatures, or higher operating frequencies to reach the same temperature, or both, for both CPU and GPU.

Testing methodology as follows.
NB:
- fan was forced to Maximum RPMs for ALL tests via the 0x90 EC bit chance 00->01, to avoid the incomprehensible and unmonitorable fan control built into the G51J from introducing a pretty obvious confounding variable into the mix.
- All tests were run long enough for me to be satisfied temperature had stabilised (no changes beyond +- 1C or so for >1min). CPU core temps tended to jump around a bit that's why ranges of a degree or two are listed.
* Temp gains from the mod are underestimated in a few tests because I aborted the "Before" phase before a stable temperature was achieved as it was getting far too hot for my liking. But the fact that Furmark+Prime95 could be run, stable and un-throttled (though with a 25% GPU underclock) is remarkable enough in itself.
Idle 933MHz: At windows desktop. CPU locked to 933MHz via Battery Saving profile.
Prime95 933MHz: Prime95, 8-thread, large FFTs. CPU locked to 933MHz via Battery Saving profile. (Light load simulation: HWMonitor estimates 15W power consumption)
Prime95 1733MHz: Prme95, 8-thread, large FFTs. CPU set to highest performance via High Performance profile. Max CPU load.
Furmark: CPU locked to 933MHz by Battery Saving profile. Furmark settings are 1024x768 windowed, 2xAA.
The Furmark temp autolevel test: GPU allowed to heat up and settle on a performance level according to my nTune profile setup (outlined in the thread in my sig below). Basically this represents the max clocks (and therefore FPS) the GPU can run at 94C.
The Furmark GPU OC test: simple temp check, how hot does it get at fixed clocks of 560/1400/950.
Furmark + Prime95 test: GPU locked to 400/1000/800. CPU in High Performance profile. Furmark and Prime95 (settings same as above) run simultaneously. Thermal throttling of CPU disabled via 0x1FC toggle util (GPU is downclocked in an attempt to find a stable temperature in this test, stock clocks on GPU are too high and they send GPU temp >105C)
The last two readings were simple, how much did it cool down after the Formark+Prime95 tests were stopped. The results here don't reveal much, since it didn't start from a common temp level, but when it kind of did (104C before vs 102C after) the After reduction was some 8C greater (104 to 86 vs 102 to 76)

* Gains from the mod are greatly underestimated. I aborted the "Before" tests before they attained a stable GPU temperature

The mod:

Pretty simple, with a electric 18V-battery GMC drill I just drilled a whole lot of 1/16 inch (1.6mm) holes in a nice pattern according to the hexagonal pattern printed on the plastic below where the fan lies. I started in the middle and learnt that keeping the drill at high speed led to a cleaner hole. The end result needs a fair bit of cleaning up due to my attempts to sand it gently without fine enough sandpaper. However on the underside of the plastic, the holes are nearly flawless. Using a drill press would have made it nicer but would have taken waaaaay longer and I wouldn't have been able to 'feel' the middle of the hexagons I was using as a guide.
These cosmetic changes will be attempted at a later date when I have the right tools...



Conclusion:
Without fan forced to max, temp gains are less at less than those above, as the fan spins lower at idle, but still lower than before. I've noticed the area directly above the GPU is a bit hotter under the palm of my left hand, but this is reduced if I remove the Expresscard-sized and SD-card sized pieces of plastic that normally sit in the bays, so I assume this mod has reduced airflow over the GPU assembly in return for cooling the GPU heatpipe more effectively.

Highly recommended to ease the fan airflow issues this unit has at load. I don't believe that so much air is drawn through the unit to passively cool mobo components - when I took my unit apart there was a huge big bit of black plastic covering almost the entire mobo anyway - and in any case I think the longevity effects of a reduction of at least 5C through CPU and GPU is more than enough to offset that.

 

anyone know where to get a spare backplate? or is anyone selling one they no longer need? i am getting tired of seeing my temps go up and don't want to drill my only one, because I still have ~7 months on my warranty, though it might be too late by then... can anyone help?

 

Ebay, they are $35.

 

can you link some? i can't seem to find any
thanks

edit: nvm, turns out the american ebay has them, none on ebay uk though, and international shipping is a pain... still worth it though all things considered. to anyone else looking: do a search on g60.

 

Yeah, or g50, Didn't know you where in the UK, sorry. lol

 

I have owned the g51J since they were available for sale from newegg . I have loved it so far. the only bad spot is the heat. I notice when I am not using it shuts down on its own, probably a thermal shut down. I have set all power settings to stay on when plugged in. SO I can image damage is being done with all that heat, but then again Ive had this almost 2 years. I havent done any mods to it other than adding artic silver and that appeared to do jack . Since I rarely play games on this, is the a card I can downgrade to? or maybe newer ati asus card? I tried to use the card out of my x83v but it was a reversed mxm card btw you have to remove the mb completely to get to the card

 

Maybe you're a candidate for the newer G53/73/74 models with the way-superior cooling system?

 

Um, yeah, great answer to the question.. ?!

No you can't swap the card. Simple answer. You can underclock it and the CPU though, makes a minor difference to heat. I have my GPU sitting at 300/600/450 on desktop (which it always is due to 2nd monitor), that makes quite a diff to heat though over 500/1250/800 or higher.

Thermal shutdown when idle shouldn't happen, are you sure it isn't just timing out and going to S1/S3 (sleep/hibernate). Have you opened it up and dedusted?

Re the backplate I ordered one from estore in the US, and used shipito to ship to Oz, took a month and about $20 in postage on top of the usd$35 for the part

 

The 260 runs hot, but what are your idle and load temps?

Have you cleaned out the fan & vent?

 

Yes it is a better design but way-superior?? Not sure about that. My G51 JX holds two hours gaming 16AA in black ops at 1920 and it only pegs 92*C The G53 version is only on ave 4-5 degrees cooler. All I have in play is an IC7 re-paste.
Better Yes.. superior... I'm not sure its even performing as optimally as it was thought it should. There's G53 owners asking that same question.
Bottom line is people need to blow them out more often and after time you NEED to re-paste. The paste does not offer optimal efficiency for the lifetime of a naturally hot machine, especially oem crap.

The panel mods will help alot! Its like having a governor on the intake. I'm sure they never did the math on the remaining intake area for the cfm requirement of the fan at moderate to high output. All said packaging. In that we definitely have many other advantages over the newer G series machines.

Now if you said said superior looking design.... Hands down the eee pc....j/k.... I mean G53/73 series wins hands down.

 

Thanks for all the Info, pictures and videos everyone. I modded my G51VX today. I have also replaced the stock CPU with a P8700 ES I got off Ebay for 50$. It overclocks to 3GHz. I set the GPU Profile to go from 200/400/400 to the gaming settings of 550/1400/800(i don't overclock the mem). Windows ex 6.5/6.5/6.8/6.8/5.9. 3D06 11248 2.0=5209 3.0=5090 CPU=2622. Vantage P4500 GPU=4236 CPU=5538. Temps: Idle CPU=43c GPU=61c Max CPU=63c GPU=85c(BFBC2) Room temp 26c

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

I am definately getting thermal shut down, my s1/s3 settings are off, yes It has been dedusted, slapped some more artic silver on it , granted I may not have done that correctly. I was playing a movie on it last night, hdmi out to tv it shut down 40 mins into it. siting at 92c right now typing this message, that is all i am doing. I think its going to give it up. btw the JX has a different vidcard, ya think it might be cooler? where do I find the underclocking settings?

 

You're idling at 92? That's really hot, you should redo your thermal paste as a first step. Maybe the heatsink isn't making proper contact.

The 360m does run a bit cooler, I haven't seen anyone swap it out. The heatsinks are different, I'm not sure if it would work without a mod: http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?800-G51-Series-thermal-design-differences

Unless you're overclocking you really shouldn't be pushing thermal shutdown on the G51J.

 

You shouldnt be get such high temps. Make should in the nvidia control panel you have set it to adaptive instead of prefer maximum performance. Get a cooling pad too if you dont have one. Make sure the thermal paste has proper contact with the gpu.
I have the same laptop and i idle around 50 - 52 without any mod
And while gaming around 90-91 with an overclock.

 

yikes, 113c moving 2 movie files acros my network and surfing the net.

 

You better do something about it before you fry your gpu

 

man i think this thing is a goner. no one seems to be able to tell me how to underclock the gpu they just give me numbers and they dont match up with anything in rivatune
....does anyone think if i get a new card it will help, maybe this one got too hot for too long?