How hot should a G73 power brick get?

I'm wondering if something is wrong with mine. I do run it for long stretches, but I can't really hold it for a minute or two after shutting down because the brick is hot. Secondly, I had one shutdown for what the event viewer stated was a power-kernel issue when using a usb-powered cooler. Third, I've had no issues with a GPU OC of 800mhz on hours of Oblivion and Crysis, then I bumped up to 825 with Oblivion and at first it froze, then I got a grey-screen crash and then black and I saw another "Power Kernel" issue [but I'm not sure if it was when the screen went black or when I unplugged it and took the battery out so I could reboot] and now I've had a grey-screen at 800MHz on the GPU.

I haven't reinstalled the drivers to try to address the grey-screen atm, but will next time I take it out.


Does it sound like I may have a bad power brick if it gets hot enough to avoid touching and has a power issue when running a usb cooler while everything was at stock speeds?

 

Mine gets pretty warm and frankly your USB cooler is pulling essentially zero power when compared to the rest of the system.

If it bothers you just call up Asus and get them to replace it.

 

Both 150watt g72 and g73 bricks get very hot. Must be normal.

Cheers

 

Mine gets extremely hot also.

 

Mine gets hot also, but not to the point where I cant pick it up after I shut down and stuff.... Also, if your getting a power kernel error, I would look into that and see what it could be and possibly might end up having to send it in for RMA work.... sucks to say that, but I dont think it should get that hot that you cant pick it up right away. I run mine for 10-12 hrs a day and have no issues picking up the brick at any time during that time nor after I shut down to pack up for the night.

 

This depends on how sensitive your hands are to heat. It's hot but not uncomfortably so for me. My wife tried to move it off the desk to the floor and dropped it saying it burned her. Her palm was a bit red but not burned but for her it was entirely too hot.

Cheers,

 

The tiny rubber feet on the power brick create a fair amount of trapped heat from not enough air circulation underneath and that's sitting on a solid object. Carpet only makes it worse since the brick doesn't have any ventilation.

What I do is use a miniature stainless steel anvil paper weight that measures 1 inch tall and 3 inches long. I center the brick on the anvil to lift it off the floor. When I can, I place the brick on the window ledge with the window open and later this summer when it's not practical to leave the window open, the brick will sit on the AC vent. Even without the AC on, the air space under the vent and the metal grate of the vent should be beneficial.

Alternatively, replace the current small rubber feet with much taller rubber feet. Stack smaller rubber feet together to lift it up.

Or, you could try placing the brick on one of it's sides to see if that helps. The idea is that two of the brick's larger surfaces will now be in greater contact with the surrounding air.

Or, if you have plate aluminum, place the brick upside down so the rubber feet are out of the way and that the brick makes greater surface contact with the aluminum.

Or, for the more adventurous, take the brick apart and cut some vent holes in the case. A long time ago I had modified a Sinclair computer by cutting some slits on the top case, this allowed me to cut a piece of heat sink and have the fins stick through the holes. But, that's a story for another time.

I have not tried these alternatives suggestions myself, so I have no idea of the level of effectiveness. Regardless, the brick should be designed to tolerate the heat since it is rated at 150 watts and with no cooling of it's own, it will get hot.