P6831FX Notebook Cooler?

I was playing Grid for about an hour the other day and my laptop decided just to shut off. It was so hot I'm surprised the plastic didn't melt. What's a good coolpad for this laptop?

 

Zalman NC2000. But I also suggest that you clean your vents first.

 

+1 for Zalman Nc2000

 

Cooler Master Notepal Infinite as the air intake vents are on the back of the cooler. That means you can use it in bed or on your lap and it still sucks in cool air.

 

Zalman NC2000

Zalman NC1000 is a possible alternative if you want a cheaper one, though I haven't tried it.

 

might be wrong but I believe that the Zalman NC1000 is for 15.4" laptops and smaller, whereas the NC2000 is for 17" laptops.

 

Awesome...and I was just looking into what other accessory I could get for my 6860....nice.
Thanks!

 

have you guys checked the amount of temp. reduction your getting witht he nxc2000? What kind of results are you getting

 

there is no reason for grid to get your laptop that hot.
i have an nc -1000 and its too small.
however if you got to a shut down, something is wrong and the zalman wont fix it. check whether it was cpu or gpu, run some stress tests.

and as suggested make sure you remove dust, and make sure the ventilation holes on the bottom are not blocked when playing.

 

I'm going to be picking up an NC-2000 in the next few days, I will post my results when I get it.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=257648

This is what makes me hesitant about getting the NC2000.

 

Hmm, very interesting, I have a friend with the cooler master, and once I get my nc2000, I will run some tests with both, see what results I get. Thanks for the link.

 

That would be fantastic!

Thanks!

 

cooler master huh....the fan holes are no where near where you need them for a 6831/6860/172

im sure they keep your legs nice and cool, but as for (our) laptop cooling...
struck out as well.

because im still looking for a decent cooler that truly fits out notebook. and if i have to spend for the right one, i have no problem. as long as it does it's job.

i take my laptop into the store with a full charge on the battery. pull up a shelf and sit down. open up about 3 different coolers and get to testing right there in the store. and will sit there for a hour. it should take about 5 minutes to know if it's going to work...that's if you find the right size for yours. size meaning big enough to hold you lappy with the fan holes located under some part of your fan vents. this doubles the air flow to the gpu and the cpu, but if they are covered up....well.... then your componets dont cool down or just get hotter. and dont let your laptop fool you. make sure everything is set to high and play a game on all high and see what the results are.

but yes, keep us posted...

 

Interesting. So none you have tried is any good? If you find one, I'd love to know about it!

 

same here!! not trying to bash anyones post or anything, but the ones i tried just didn't do the job....

and if you find any, please feel free to say...im will to try them all at this point...lol

 

I think you've been asked to leave for taking pictures haven't you?

 

yeah, rotflmao. if your talking about the sceen pictures

edit: well not to leave, but to quit taking pictures while in store...now had they asked for my phone...it was going to be a big problem..lol

 

whats the point of lifting the laptop up from behind if the vent is on the side? like my laptop o_o

 

huh?.
what does that mean?

 

on the p-68x0s the air intake is on the bottom the air vents are on the left side and the right back, so lifting the laptop allows better circulation of the air that goes in order to cool things down. (maybe)

 

Yes it does quite a bit. Just elevating the back of the laptop reduced the amount that the fan went on BY half for me playing COD4. So I made something that I can use all the time. I took a 3/4 furring strip and ripped it in half with a table saw and covered the whole thing with that non-slip grippy rubber stuff(made for kitchen cabinets). I use that to prop it up in the back and it doesn't skip or slide at all. It'll save you allot of money over the laptop coolers. This thing probably cost me 50 cents to make.
Seanno

 

very true seanno. that half an inch does wonders for ventilation.

 

sorry nothing...i thought people elevated their laptops from the back because the vent was in the back...i guess they do it for other reasons.

 

ah, gotcha.

 

seano, thanks for the tip, I will go home today a rip, a piece of wood with some rubbery stuff

 

seems im in the market for a zalman cooler now...XD
one question, isnt the NC1000 for 15.4 laptops and NC2000 for 17 ones?

 

yep
thats is right

 

The intake vent of this laptop isn't on the side. The exhaust vent of the laptop is on the side, though.

We want to push more cold air through the laptop from the intake vents for better cooling. To push more cold air, a fan will be needed at the bottom of the laptop where the intake vents are. You will have to lift up the laptop to get a fan under it, and to get cold air under it too.

Edit: Nevermind. Didn't see the last posts, thought I was at the end with the question.

 

results please.......

 

Well, two months ago I bought Rubber sticky feet to raise whole laptop about 1/4". My drives run hot as well after 4-5 hours.

I have not found a "local area" pad that fits well or fans that will not drive you nuts after same amount of time. Until I find the perfect kewling pad, i continue to use the ceiling fan that does a great job keeping gaming temperatures down.

 

Thats what I use, and I am in Tucson,

 

I am actually building a cooling fan just for the P172S FX. I have this notebook and it does run pretty hot! I am building it out of lexan and it will have 2 controllable 120mm fans. The vents will constantly blow air up, through and onto the heat sinks. I don't know how this will affect the fan motors in my computer. So any ideas would be nice. If I get it figured out I think I might make a few and sell them on eBay.

 

well you got my vote and i have my money in hand!! when is the finish date.

also give it a dual type of voltage for over clocking or serious gaming while over clocked. meaning..you can plug in two usb cables or a 5 volt power supply to run the fans faster than the rated fan speed. not sure if you can do this though.

 

Well what is the perfect height for desk gaming? I am thinking no more than one inch in the back.
All of the vents and intakes will have air to them. I am wondering if they should be sealed around the vents or just blowing in the direction of the vents?
I have it all measured out and a base design on Google sketch, with fans and thicknesses. I just know very little about electricity and I want this thing to plug into the wall. I only have 3 usb ports as it is.

 

Don't forget to a a usb cooler for a big ice cold glass of Mt. Dew

 

no bigger than an index finger in height and you will need to be able to plug in using at least one usb port else it defeats the purpose of being portable.

 

Well I am going to use 3, 60mm fans they seem to work best. Now to buy the parts.
The reason I am not going to waste time with the usb port is, how often do you play Crysis or Bioshock unplugged? If you do play it unplugged I know your only getting 30 minutes or so with everything at full speed.

I am building this to cool down the P172s Fx from intense gaming. Oh and When I do get these built, get one and feel free to modify!

 

i dont game on battery. i just test these things out for others.

usb power is more of a convinence and the cable to the dc outlet should do both. not allot of people want to te be pluging in a bunch of things in to the outlets that they dont have room for now...lol

 

Well how would I hook up a usb connection? The fans I have are 12 volt and usb is 5. I guess I could go buy a cheap notebook cooler and steal their set up... I don't know. All I know is that for the first 3 weeks I had my P172sFx, whenever I would play Crysis or Bioshock I could smell plastic! Now that's some hot chips. The keyboard and palm rest still get pretty warm.

 

There's the rub with cooling pads. Skumdog, build your pad the way U want it. Not everyone has a ceiling fan and any dinky 5 volt fan tends to be high speed screamers. A laptop with ANY cooling Pad would qualify to be a jumbo shrimp or just another oxymoron for portability?

I've modified old work desk with low speed 115AC 4" box fans that work very well. They are mounted directly to bottom of desk and blow thru holes drilled in desk. That worked fine for my old P4 HP flame thrower..

 

now i had thought of this one right here...lol

 

not saying there is anything wrong with doing just an ac version. not at all..was thinking more along the lines of covering the masses instead of a select few is all. im still getting one...ac or dc. so it doesn't matter either way. carry on...lol

 

I thought of this, but I doubt my school would appreciate me cutting up its furniture.

 

well not exactly cut holes in my desk, but raise the laptop in a way that it sits high enough for 2 small 4" fans to sit underneath. doing this does cool system down by 5 to 10c. depending on what power usuage is being used by the laptop.

that's why im interested in his design for the 172. this will definatly work for us. and if he is using 3 fans..then i can see pulling off the 22c+ degrees to cool down..that that ummmm.... one big fan laptop cooler is boasting.

 

I actually found this rather interesting. I'm not completely convinced of its utility though.

 

ah yes... i couldn't find 2 of them locally for testing. one for gpu and the other for cpu.

 

I got the Zalman NC2000 for my P-6860FX, which I think is the same size as the 6831. It's really nice. With its fan turned up all the way, I can hear it. With it turned down to medium, I can't hear it at all. Even with it on high, the fan on the left side of the laptop is much, much louder so for all practical purposes, its silent.

Size wise, it's the perfect size for the 6860 (I'm guessing the 6831 too). Doesn't stick out any further. Pictures makes it look like it rests on the outer most part on the back which is part of the top that the laptop rests on, that curves down to the desk. I didn't like that because of the scratching the desk, but in reality it has 4 legs that it sizes on with rubber soles so it doesn't slide around. And the metal top that curves towards the desk actually doesn't touch the desk at all.

Very solid cooler. Quiet, looks well built. If I could ask for anything, it'd be an optional separate power supply so I don't tie up one of only three USB slots powering it.

 

Thanks for your comments. However, does it help with cooling?

 

I can only offer anecdotal testimony. The air that comes out the left side FEELS noticeably cooler, but I haven't run any temperature gauges to verify. When I played Company of Heroes for an hour, the desk under the laptop was hot to the touch, never mind the air & laptop itself. Now it's just warm.

I'll install TAT or some thing this evening after work and test it with & without the cooler, and report back.



(FYI: stock P6860FX, stock CPU, stock clock, 1 hdd, stock video driver that shipped with it, everything as is.)