Notebook cooler for P-7811

Looking for a good notebook cooler for this laptop. I'm not willing to pay more than $50, and I don't want a huge heavy beast of a cooler. I don't care about portability either as I won't be taking it with me when I take my laptop away from the desk. Basically I'm looking for something cheap but I don't want to waste my money either, just something "decent" and hopefully accommodating for 17".

 

7811 has the same chasis as 68xx series, people say get the zalman nc2000 and people say don't. I believe the avg temp drop was roughly 3 or 4 degrees? anyway there hasn't been a notebook cooler on this forum that has been a "WOW" factor for everyone to get.

I have the 6831 and I put a ps3 case underneath the backside/battery side and noticed 2 degree temp drop and also the location for my laptop is near a window. before I had a deck of cards but am using a ps3 gas for wider stability.

basically do a makeshift and save some money, just elevate the back a bit to increase air flow underneath.

 

I have the Zalman NC-1000. They make a 2000 for more money but I can't for the life of me see the difference, bigger I guess. Both come in silver or black. The 2000 is 15" wide, the 1000 is 12"+ but works for my 17" just fine. The rubber feet just make it. No huge CFM. It helps to position so the air is directly under the laptop vent. This can be tricky depending on where the laptop vent is located. The air comes out from the lower half of the Zalman so if your laptop vent is toward the rear, the laptop can not be placed squarely on the cooler and still be fully effective. (dang that's hard to describe) This all sounds odd but it's doable. All in all I think it is a good unit but more CFM would be nice ... but then is would be louder. It's hard to just whole heatedly recommend it because it's not cheap and only gives you about 5 degrees. But 5 can be important on a toasty laptop. It is very well built which accounts for the cost.

I use a lap board, the Zalman on that.

Comparison


Pros:
Good for about 5 degrees
Nice angle
Well built
Easy USB Power
Fan is relatively quiet on low

Cons:
Good for about 5 degrees
Fan is audible on high

 

The NC2000 is larger than the NC1000. The 2000 fits perfectly on your chasis. The cooler is more front located. Overall the cooler didn't bring my cpu temps lower at idle. But does manage to keep me from going into insane temps i.e. 60+ when i'm doing an extended stint of gaming in Crysis and what not. Does keep my hard drive temps lower because of the location.

I've wondered about this cooler for our laptops though, the location of the fan should be perfect for the CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997340

 

That is what I find. There is a synergy when the laptops own fan is running. The Zalman must feed the laptop fan more air and raises the laptops own cooling efficiency. The Zalman alone is not that effective at laptop idle.

 

The best and cheapest laptop cooling solution ever.

 

Yes, if I had owned a normal laptop I wouldn't own a cooler either. My Everex Vesuvius - Volcanic II needed a little something extra.

 

Indeed it does. You may want to look at nitrogen.

 

LOL! Let's freeze our fingers in the process of cooling it.

Bottlecaps ftw!

 

mine was checkers dook, i think you might win on the cost effective side though.

 

D@mn. Checkers. Never thought of that. You can actually get checkers for free if you rob the homeless guy in the park. You have to buy the drinks to get the caps. Good call.

 

I used Marshmallows ... then made S'mores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S'more

 

Naw, liquid nitrogen will evaporate before it touches your skin, making a layer of gas that prevents it from ever making contact. You can safely poor it all over your non-membranous body if you had some strange desire to. Though I have read of someone who falsely thought the above meant he could swallow it... he collapsed a lung and had internal bleeding but miraculously survived.

I've actually thought about custom making some small water blocks for the 6831/6860/7811... the thermal design would perfectly allow a small loop that could be passively cooled. A radiator and pump could fit in some sort of enclosure that simply elevates the back of the laptop... similar to a M1530 9-cell battery in form. I know its an entirely ridiculous idea, but I haven't seen any talk of water cooling a laptop in a loooong time

 

Why bother to put so much effort into such a small budget laptop?

 

I bought this for my P-7811FX, and it's under $50 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834998492

 

Not all notebook coolers will work for your notebook well, just fyi.

 

It "blocks" one of the only three USB ports the laptop has. If you plug in an external hard drive, mouse and this cooler then you can't even charge your mp3 player or enable bluetooth through a dongle.

 

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but does anyone have a comparison of the NZXT Cryo LX and the Zalman NC-2000 when used with the 7811? I'm considering one of the two to place on my Lapinator Plus (Lapinator for comfort, cooler to help my laptop).

I'm very concerned about the hard drive temperature, and the design of the Zalman looks like it should help that. I am also somewhat concerned about the CPU\GPU temperature, and based on the design of the Zalman it doesn't look like there are any fans in that area.

I'm leaning towards the Zalman, but can anyone with an NC-2000 tell if the temperature of the CPU\GPU are lowered at all using the Zalman comapred to not using any cooler at all (but slightly lifting up the back of the laptop)?

 

Have you seen this uber post on coolers?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=252773

Probably doesn't have directly what you want but maybe worth a look.

Opinion: I'd buy Cryo and expect to hate the power demands and extra power cords but at least it may blow real air. OR buy sticky feet and forget cooler.

Full disclosure: I use Zalman 1000 and it helps a few degrees under stress.

 

Here are my results with Zalman NC2000.

No Zalman, full stressed with orthos:

-CPU1/2 / GPU / HDD: 51/49 /45/38

Zalman in full rounds, stressed with orthos:

-CPU1/2 / GPU / HDD: 44/44 / 39/ 38

So not so much improvement on HDD temps (unless you slide the computer further forward and the HDD is put just over the vents), but the GPU and CPU temps are improved a bit. This also prevents most of the annoying pulsing of the GPU fan.

Otherwise the Zalman is just well fitted to P7811, just need to slide it a bit forward to get the vents under GPU and CPU.

 

@Archawk - good to the point post. It would be interesting so see addition of "propped up" temps. I assume the No Zalman still had the laptop sitting on the Zalman which would be little/no better than flat on a desk.

 

@Archawk - Thanks for the information. Silly question, but does Orthos stress the hard drive that much to begin with? 38 degrees seems closer to the idle temperature. If you defrag or run a virus scan, do you see similiar results?

@Syngensmyth - I've read through the notebook coolers post a few times, and you're right, it doesn't directly address my question. The problem with notebook coolers is that their effectiveness can be affected by the laptop itself (which way do the fans blow, where are the vents located, etc). Your Everex is still alive right? What kind of HD temperatures does that have? (I know I checked at one point in time, but I can't remember what temps mine got to...)

I did spend some time reading one of the Sager threads and their Sager laptop also hit 65C under load, so I'm starting to wonder if it's just more common for laptop hard drives to get really hot.

 

@evancg - someone with 7811 and Cryo said he felt air through the keyboard. That would be effective LOL.

 

I remember reading that on one of these threads. I just hope that doesn't get combined with the poor guy who had his TAB or ESC key or whatever melting!

Guess I might lean towards the Cryo LX (After a little more reading about the "power" issues).

 

I ordered this:

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/302

But... it's getting exchanged. Kinda lousy build quality-- the tab in the USB port arrived broken. Didn't even get to test the laptop out on it .

 

Yep, the Orthos doesn't really stress HDD. And those "No Zalman" temps are temps without the Zalman at all, so the P7811 sitting on the desk.

 

It was me. I can use it as a darn hand warmer if I turn the fans up full on external wall wart power. The Cryo definitely can move some air...

 

Tallan, does it blow your hair back? (assuming you have hair)

 

Oh thanks Syngensmyth, I just pictured some creepy Fabio-esque scene with the laptop blowing the hair back like some sort of creepy Gateway 7811 photo shoot.

Ew. No offense to Tallan and his heatfan laptop

 

Save your money and return it. It draws air away from the bottom of the notebook which, since the 7811FX takes in air from the bottom, will not only damage your notebook and will cut off the air flow into your notebook making it hotter.

 

Ya got me! NO hair, so I truly do not know... sorta like this guy:

(It's not a bad likeness, really)

 

I'm the OP so i figured I'd post what I decided to do after a lot of research.

Got the NZXT Cryo Lx -

Decided to buy a ac>dc plug for it, as this significantly increases fan speed and also makes it so it doesnt suck power from the laptop (not that that's a problem)

 

I think you'll be pleased with your decision. It's a beautifully made and finished product, and for me the tilt angle is just right; really a solid and righteous design.