Big temp difference after dusting?!

Over the last few weeks my CPU's been running hotter than when I first bought the laptop and I was like . So I opened it up and there wasn't *too* much dust but I blew a bit of air into the HSF and the idle temp dropped nearly 20C to about 43C average. Has anyone else seen this kind of drop? Last I dusted it was probably a month ago. Maybe two. o

 

Yep, that's not uncommon. That's why it's highly suggested to clean the laptop out fairly often, with the interval depending on how often you use it and how dusty the environment is. Dust works like an insulator and traps the heat on the heatsinks, rather than letting it get carried out via the fans.

 

Its supposed to be around 40-45'C average temp. Its ok...

 

Yup, there are several people on these forums that have seen those kind of temp drops from blowing the dust out.

There was one member that had a dust monster in his laptop that posted photos. I believe he stated that it was about 2 years of cat hair and dust in there.

 

I am under the impression that next to bad thermal paste, dust is one of the biggest temp raisers around for laptops.

 

And for these models, covering the vents is also a big issue. The input vents are on the bottom and get covered easily if you use the machine on a soft surface or on your lap. Covering those up can make a huge difference in temps- more so than either of the other two.

 

I actually heard that the HM series have an air intake through the keyboard, so temps will rise if you close the lid and hook it up to an external display.

 

Youre thinking of Asus there. Clevo is sticking to its old designs.

 

Really? Hmm. I'll see if I can dig up my source, but don't expect it soon as I think it's way back in the P150HM owner's lounge.
EDIT: found it. I guess it's not the air intake. Someone had hooked a P150HM up to an external display and closed the lid, when their idle temps went way up. They thought there could be a keyboard intake that was blocked, but apparently it was a known driver issue that causes the GPU to run at 3D clocks if you connect to an external display.

 

yep same here!....bought my p170 about 4 months ago....and after about 3 months I noticed increased temps as well....so I opened it up for the first time, and dusted it out good....there was a fair amount....
before the dusting, playing Starcraft 2, my CPUs were doing around 82 or so...after the dusting, no changes in settings/etc....they were around 60 or 62 temp at the most!...and my 6990 also dropped about 10 to 15 degrees....crazy...

anyway, something else I havent really seen mentioned here, is I also use foldable legs, two on the front and two on the back, attached to the bottom of my lappy...I unfold the two in the back at their full height, about an inch off the table surface, and the front, to their second fold setting....about half inch off the table....and it makes a great difference in airflow intake of the fans on the bottom...something to consider...

Amazon.com: Laptop Legs Easy to Apply Creates 2 ergonomic elevations that cool notebook: Electronics