Guide to Cooling Down Your Notebook Computer

It just just leave it on idle the whole day nothing bad should happen. If you run it at full load 24/7, it might not be so good. Just make sure it's on a hard surface and getting adequate ventilation.

 

Your questions have been answered by the two kind members above, but please don't post questions more than once - that is called cross-posting and we don't allow that here; see the forum rules for more info. Thanks.

 

Just to let you guys know, using compressed air in my vents of my computer lowered my gpu idle temps by 10 degrees Celsius and 15 degrees while gaming!

 

Personally, I wouldn't use compressed air without opening the laptop, since the dust may just resettle (i.e. cake onto) another component somewhere else.

 

well, the dust cake was on my gpu then

 

you must've had a lot of dust built up in there lol. i guess my place doesn't have a lot of dust particles to suck up. i usually use q-tip to clean my fan and vents because i'm afraid the dust might start floating around inside my computer if i blow it the wrong way.

 

do not worry which way the air blows... as long as there is a lot of it, the dust will dislodge itself anywhere it gets and get ejected from the system.

DO NOT go on without fully airing out your system.

just open the panels and the top of the keyboard of the m7700 (Clevo D900T/K) to get best results.

 

My computer has 3 vents on each side of my computer so i would point the compressed air through one vent out another.

 

point the air at the fans first, then the vent exit where the air comes out, and at the fan again.

this will help dislodge dust both ways.

repeat to all fans and vents.

 

I did this to my old inspiron 9300 geforce 6800. My idle temp was around 60C before, gaming temp 77C. Now, Idle temp 48C, and Gaming 60C. I'm do not overclock my laptop, but i'm looking into it, hence rivertuner. With a geforce go 6800 what is a safe temp for overclocking?

 

how do i clean the vent because all i see is bronze metal in the back?

 

BHD, you must open the panels on the bottom, to get to the fans.

(for Clevo D900T/K) And remove the keyboard (easy, no screws) to get to the CPU fans.

Then give every single fans and vent a thorough cleaning with compressed air first... all directions.

then get some Q-tips, and clean the fans more thoroughly

then do a final air compressed dustings.

 

I just shut down my laptop every 12 hours. Have it rested in an hour and then turn it on again.

 

Hey guys, I've been reading a few post here and there. I still can't figure out what mat to get.

I have an Acer 5720-6200 with C2D 1.5 ( 667mhz and 2MB L2 Cache) ; 2GB of RAM and Nvidia 8400 GS. When I'm just browsing checking email is fine but as soon as a load a game ( World of Warcraft) it get hot where the video card is located.

I managed to raise if about 1 1/2" inches to let air pass under it. But still feels hot. I'm looking into a chill mat like the targus but I wanted to get better advice and options that might be available for my laptop.

 

Just wanted to say thanks very much for the excellent guide and detailed responses, it's extremely appreciated.

Laptops are a different beast from desktops and it's taken me many years to realise that

One thing- I woud love to see an updated version of the guide- for example, I'm sure the Targus chill mat isn't the one most people here use these days.

Thanks again!

- Spike

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into doing an updated version of this. Right now I'm backed up with stuff but once I get some of it done, it's definitely on the table.

 

Grrr, I want to get that PacificBreeze cooler but it seems to be discontinued or something.
I've tried NewEgg, Amazon and even eBay,

Nice guide btw, I asume it has helped a lot of people so far

 

Thanks i need this when i am on the beach in Thailand with my black laptop. The poor sucker hits over 80C on idle.

 

Ya it would be great to see an updated version! Good luck Chaz

 

Can any one give any suggestion of choosing between
Zalman NC-1000
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3620
Antec notebook cooler
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75004
And Xpad

http://www.xpad4laptop.com/?gclid=CLK26Kea3pICFQN-lgodLyhE_A

Thanks in advance

 

Zalman NC-1000

I believe is the best of those...

 

Yup the Zalman wins!

 

what do you do when your notebook doesnt startup and wont go off ;the screen only says "prepare boot for os"?

 

Hi mrbrown2, please create a new thread in the Hardware forum, you will get more help there.

 

OK. I've been reading this thread and looking at the Zalman NC-1000 and Coolermaster Notepal Infinite. My laptop is a brand new 2GHz Dell XPS M1530.

If I can trust the published stats, the Coolermaster is about $10 cheaper, lighter by almost 500 grams, a bit larger, and the max fan speed (2000 RPM) is 500 RPM higher than the Zalman. If you had to choose between them, which one would you get?

The Coolermaster seems to be a slightly better deal, but ONLY if it performs equally well as the Zalman. The only place I can find it online is Expansys-usa.com and I've never shopped there. Does anyone have experience shopping at Expansys? The Zalman is at NewEgg, and I definitely trust them.

 

This should help

 

I use a slightly more ghetto way of cooling my dell. I put beer bottle caps under the feet at the back so the laptop is sloping and has more space under it. I have a cheap pedestal fan beside it that runs 24/7. I live in a noisy house so the fan makes a great white noise machine too.

 

no i believe he means that after 200 hours, the AS5 will work to optimum performance. i believe that you can use your laptop while the AS5 is on there.

 

can anyone make a guide on how to install AS5 on the xps m1530 cause im a bit scared to open up and put it on the cpu and i don't want to like destroy my 2k+ laptop. so you see my dilemma.

 

Hello.

This may sound rather odd, but I am thinking of a way to cool my notebook. I don't have a cooler.

I want to put water into a couple of lunch boxes, freeze them and set the laptop on top of these boxes.

Is this a good idea?

 

is underclocking bios level?

lets say i underclocked my laptop, then switched harddrives, would i need to underclock again? or does it stick.

 

Underclocking the CPU? The method I detailed in this guide is done with software, so yes if you switched hard drives you would need to set it up all over again; notebooks don't have BIOS-level controls that let you change the processor's settings. You can have some control over clockspeed by using the Notebook Hardware Control program, which is detailed in this guide. Basically, you can lock the processor to certain multipliers so it will not operate at its full speed.

Undervolting is more effective than underclocking for saving power.

 

I have actually used frozen water doublebagged in clear plastic bags, and placed my M1330 on that. It cools the notebook by at least 10 degrees C, and lasts for 4 to 6 hours before I need to replace the bags when they are thawed out and nears room temperature.

Just put about a liter of water in a clear bag, tie it off, and put that inside a second square ziplock bag, let it freeze, take it out, turn it upside down so the frozen flat side touches a maximum of surface area under the notebook, and put a sheet of kitchen tissue paper between the notebook and the icebags to avoid moisture from collecting on the underside of the notebook.

You may also use a thin kitchen cloth between there because that can be reused over and over.
I have had my mainboard exchanged 2 times due to graphics card failure because of heat in the 6-7 months I've had my 1330. The last time they also changed the chassis and heatsink inside, and after the engineer left here I opened up the notebook and tightened a somewhat loose screw on one end of the heatsink a couple of rounds. The CPU has never gone above 75'C since, and the GPU never above 82. These are temps under high load for a few hours.
I am planning to remove the generic cooling paste used by the Dell tech when he was here, and use some AS5 or similar to lower the temps just a little bit more, cause after 2 failures I get a little nervous when the GPU temp goes above 80'C.

 

I have used NHC on my acer travelmate 3000. Even if you dont mess with undervolt it helps a lot. The default acer power management doesnt use the speed step properly, It just sets the speed at one specific step and stays there. The dynamic fluctuations have helped dramatically.

 

Hi all!
I purchased an X9000 CPU and here are my temps (Under World of Warcraft), if I put a book under my laptop:
TZS0: 64C
TZS1: 75C

CPU: 64C
Core0: 63C
Core1: 67C

Are these temps good? (Expesially the TZS temps) Btw, is TZS1 the chipset next to the CPU? (because I repasted that too)

 

I was wondering if fans should be pointed towards the laptop or against it. as fans generally push the hot air out, having fans pointed towards the laptop may increase problems?
I ask this because I'm going to be cutting a hole in my desk and installing two computer fans and then placing my laptop on top of that. Thing is should I have the fans pointing at the notebooks, against it, or angled?

 

koko, i did the same with my desk, just make sure fans are pointed at the heatsinks, and make sure to clean your Fans DAILY and you will be happy with the results

 

Note that not all notebooks can take the Extreme Edition CPUs. Is the Gateway P6800 even sold with the Extremes? If not, I would not get your hopes up that it will work.

The processor usually isn't the bottleneck, there are cheaper ways of increasing performance such as getting a faster hard drive and more RAM.

Make sure the fans blow air at the bottom of the notebook - it is the most effective. If you have them sucking air from the bottom, then you could create a vacuum between the fans and the notebook's fans, which will in effect cause your notebook to get hotter.

 

The p-6860fx has already been confirmed to work with a x9000. It even has the overclocking option available in the bios.

As for DRevan are those temps at load or at idle. If they are at idle its to high, but if thats at load, should be fine.

 

thanks for the guide

 

They are temps under World of Warcraft. I am only worried about the TZS1: 75C....is that temp ok?

My idle temps are:
TZS0: 39C
TZS1: 49C

GPU: 46C
CPU: 40C

 

Yah that seems fine. Also I think there is some information that people don't quite understand. When they say make sure your laptop is on a flat surface, I think it should say make sure it is on a solid surface propped up from the back. I find using one of my game boxes to life the back of my laptop up always drops my temps a few more degrees.

 

nice guide, I will definitely consider undervolting and using my AS5. I never knew that people used AS5 on laptops to gain better temps though, works wonders for my DIY Desktop (5-6 C cooler after it has thoroughly set in, which can take up to 3 months IIRC).

 

anyone know what is the best cooler for m1330?

heard the best is Zalman NC 1000, or Antec Cooler if price is an issue

but the m1330 has fans/vents near the back.... dunno if zalman is good enoguh

found the pics below on google of m1330

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4900/dsc00012fs0.jpg
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/273/dsc00013al5.jpg

 

Has anyone tried going through the Power Options? Under Advanced Power Options, you can see a whole list of components you change. One in particular is the GPU where you can change its mode. I noticed a slight 1-3 degree drop and more constant temperature levels when I changed it to be lower. Just me though.

 

NC1000 is your best bet. Many people here use it with the 1330.

Also take a look at the cooler buyers guide (link in sig) for more help

 

Brilliant guide, thanks chaz.

 

Nice guide Charles,

In additon to the fans in your guide, there is also PCMCIA(PC card) type Fan that can cool down the internal part of the laptop directly.

The PC card fan also comes with a cotton filter to keep out of the dust from getting into the laptop.

I used to used one on my laptop, the hot keyboard cool down in couple minutes.

Cheers!
Bill

 

Nice guide!

 

I just bought Notepal Infinite yesterday. Too bad that it's the old model, without the 4 usb slot in the rear.

I haven't do a complex test, but with a normal usage, I can see that my CPU temp decrease about 4-5 degrees, GPU temp decrease about 3-4 degrees, and the worse is the HDD temp is hardly decrease, sometimes it just decrease 1-2 degrees. I will do the test when my notebook is under load heavily.