Any of you use a cooling fan with your HP

I have the DV6000T series and am considering using a cooling fan. My old laptop died of overheating, I want this one to last a few years. I was looking into a Belkin or Targus, but would rather ask you guys who have used cooling fans.
Which ones are good and successful that work with the HP 6000 series and size?
I have a 12 cell battery so my HP is already elevated. Don't know how much more it should be elevated.

 

The HP dv-series laptops run pretty cool in the first place, but you can use one of these to get rid of a few degrees.

 

No they don't lithus, they can get pretty hot usually due to the hard drive placement. Mine and many others experience 50C+ cuz of that. My CPU though runs very cool

 

Don't most of these coolers draw air from the underside of the notebook and blow it out the back?

As all the notebooks I have draw air from the underside and blow ou the sides, the addition of one of these coolers would fight the notebook's airflow and deprive the unit of air.

I think you are better off simply using a flat hard surface for the underside of the unit.

 

doesnt your dv9500t draw air out of the vents in the back and side? different coolers do things differently and if you choose the right one it actually helps with cooling your lappy

 

The laptop itself will be cool but the hard drives in Hp's often get very hot.

 

In my experience, the 6000 series gets warm on the bottom, front-left. Everywhere else is only lukewarm, nothing more than any other laptop. Just from use, the 6000 runs much cooler than the backside of my computer.

 

Check your BIOS. Mine has stayed relatively cool with the F.16 BIOS. However, the fan is usually on. Wondering if the latest BIOS, F.27, might help cut the fan off some, I flashed it. Sure enough, the fan did not come on as often, but the temps for both the hard drive and the CPU rose to over 50C.

I reverted back to F.16 and the temps right now are 45C from the hard drive and 32C from the CPU.

HP's really having a hard time getting the BIOS right. With the F.16, however, the fan is on more but the computer is cooler. I'll take the cooler computer, especially with the heat wave we are experiencing.

Bill

 

Im on the F27 and yeah the fan is working less i reckon but my primary drive runs to 50C alot. And Lithus yes that is where the hard drive is situated which is the main cause of the problem, it is getting too hot. My secondary drive on the other hand is always in the 40s

 

I'm using F16 BIOS, and my harddrive temp is always around 50C, even gets hotter when intense gaming.

 

Coolers seem to help the HD(for me anyways) more so. I just bought a DV6567 Santa Rosa - different flash. I think it is a F.09 but I don't have any software that read the HD temps(too new I guess). My CPU runs around 43-45 and up to the mid 60s if I start hammering on something. Fans kick in around 47-50. I guess that is the second stage since I don't really notice the first stage unless I cram my ear down there(which looks really funny when the wife catches me). I did buy a cooler for piece of mind. Besides it elevates off of my junky desk.

I still own my DV9030us(given to wife) but it does run much hotter. The HD will climb to the mid-50s if not cooled. Way to hot.

Just my 2 cents worth.

--Mickey

 

Each time I have switch to a higher numbered BIOS above f.16, my temps rose as my fan ran less. F.15 and F.16 have been fine, temperature wise, with temps never above 49C that I'm aware. However, I've tried F.25, F.26, and F.27, and temps always topped 50C doing nothing more than internet browsing and word processing. More fan or more heat--I'll take the fan.

I must say that with flashing back to F.16, my fan has returned to coming on periodically (every couple of minutes the fan--slower speed--kicks in for about a minute and a half), rather than staying on all the time as it was yesterday. Only when something intensive is going on does the fan go up to the higher speed. I'm staying with F.16.

Bill

 

The head from the left palmrest annoyed me so much with my prior dv2000t that i tried numerous things to rectify the situation.

I firstr tried installing a cooler running hard driver. I read around and i got a seagate momentus 5400.3, but if anything, it was only about 1 or 2 C cooler than the fujitsu that came with the laptop.

I tried elevating it up, but the temps on the hard drive area never went down.

Then, i tried something really cool. I took out the hard drive completely and installed windows xp on an external drive and used that as my primary boot. Though it took some research to find out how to get xp on an external, i finally did. Anyways, I tried running the notebook in this configuration, but the left palm rest was still warm! While it wasn't as hot as with the hard drive installed, it still was luke warm. I expect it to be pretty cool. I can only assume there are some other components installed in that area thats generating the heat, or the material that they used for the chassis just doesn't dissipate heat that well.

Anyways, i sold that notebook and got an nc6400. no hot palmrests again!

 

I have been running the Targus and am not sure it is doing that much good. I too have wondered if the airflow direction is the best. My 6449 just runs hot! I can't seem to find a software program that will read my hd temps. My CPU runs between 50 and 55.

The best thing I found to cool things down was a 6" fan that clamps on the side of the desk! I just aim it at the laptop so that it blows onto the keyboard and under the laptop from the left side. Airflow underneath seems to make the most difference.

 

FWIW, you can get an Antec notebook cooler for either $15 at Staples this week or free after rebate at Circuit City with price match. Circuit City has them for $29ish with a $15 rebate. If you print off the Staples $14.98 after instant rebate page from the Staples site and take it with you to CC, they will price match. Then they still print off the rebate (or you can print it off from the CC site), so you can send in the rebate for $15 and should be able to get it for just the price of tax (I learned about this from the SlickDeals website). It worked at my local CC.

At this point, I don't know if the Antec is any better than the Targus but the price is an incentive for comparison.

Features that do stand out with Antec are that it has a pass through on the usb power cable so you don't lose a usb port. It has a two speed fan switch but it doesn't have an off switch. Hi speed seems to move more air than the Targus but it is also louder. There is a storage compartment in the base for the cord. The cord is on the left side where you have more USB ports. The top of the Antec is aluminum, so it might act as a heat sink of sorts.

The one thing that may be a deal killer is that the laptop seems to have a bit more bounce on the Antec. This means the screen bounces more as you type. I may be jumping the gun on this so more comparison is needed. You do have to be careful to get your notebook aligned so that all of its feet are sitting level on the Antec.

 

I just flipped the Antec over and found out it is higher in the center than the edges. That means that my laptop will not sit flat and is high-centered. I don't know if I have a defective one or if this is by design but it is not acceptable.

 

Nobody really answered this question a few months ago except for the 2 that mentioned targus and antec and both were skeptical of the performance.

Which cooling pad do any of you use that work? I mean Cooling pad, like put under the laptop to decrease heat.

 

My HP 6326 doesn't run hot at all. A little warm but nothing to freak out about. So no I don't have one.

 

Hahaha Anyway I used Targus it's pretty good. But there is a catch instead of using the USB port to power the cooling pad I used a 12Volts Universal Adapter that you could get on radioshock or Frys you could feel the cooling power of the fan versus the 5 volts USB which doesn't help that much the higher the voltage the faster the Fan spin the better.

 

I use the Pacific Breeze laptop cooler. It cools mine down pretty significantly. I have an older HP ZV6000 and this will keep the CPU down to around 28C. Find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/PacificBreeze-Laptop-cooler-Model-CF300-NEB/dp/customer-reviews/B0006ON0QQ

Good luck and happy computing!

 

The compaq presario range is renoun for its fan and cooling problems. Mine went after a year of owning the laptop and is currently sitting on a cooling pad.

 

Which cooling pad would that be?
Thanks for the replies to people who actually answered the question
I was looking between the Belkin Curved cooling fan and the targus, i'll keep my eyes open for this pacific breeze one.

Any other suggestions?

 

Its nothing special, I picked it up at a discount variety store for AUD$20. Its just three fans, and a 4 usb hub. Its all powered by a usb connection to the laptop. Its keep my laptop nice and cool, only thing annoying is that it has to travel with me when I move the laptop!

 

I bought this too and It has cooled the bottom of the laptop significantly. The left palm rest hasnt cooled much (at least I cant feel it), but at least the bottom of the HDD is getting cooler. It really helps where the processor and GPU are when I am playing games, as my GPU usually gets very very hot when playing BF2 (over 80C). Overall I'm satisfied with this cooler.

 

Is it a good idea to turn the fans around so it blows air instead of sucking it? It seems to suck more ambient air than the warm air from the lappy

 

I use a Kinamax Notebook Cooler. It has 3 fans that blow air onto the bottom of the laptop. My Core temps are 49C and 42C and my drive temps are 40C and 34C with this notebook cooler. I have a dv9000z. 14.99 at TigerDirect.com
Here is the link
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427205&CatId=3486

 

I flipped my fans over today and it seems to work alot better. The hd plastic area beneath doesnt even get warm anymore, it actually feels cold. Although the top palm rest is still warm as usual.

I didnt get to test the HD temps changes as HDtune stopped detecting my drive. My core temps seem to be the same but im pretty sure the HD is a few degrees cooler now

Im guessing the downside of blowing air is dust will accumulate faster near the grate area

 

Im on a 12volt battery so my DV6000 is elevated. I think thats a good thing because Air flow is greater. So Im deciding between a Kinimax, a Zalman cooler, and pacific breeze (i ruled targus out, thats ok right).

Which is the best cooler that cools your laptop down and is quiet

Also, Im looking for a USB hub which is powered through a plug outlet so it will not take my computer resources. I only have 3 usb ports, is it possible to expand that with a hub, and still be able to power everything normally via outlet?

 

http://bfads.net/Laptop-Cooling-Pad-at-RadioShack

 

A Great Review from Johnny T...I bought this one couple months ago, it's great but it's quite expensive compared to other coolers...

 

That looks good but is it available in the US? it says no in his review.
The problem with these cooling pads is that there are so many, you don't know which actually works to cool down your laptop.

Is there like a cooling pad review database. I just need one that works to cool down my DV6000t.