Laptop coolers - do they help anything?

[ericschand]

I bought a new gaming laptop. Intel 7700HQ, GTX1050, yada yada.

When I run games on it, I notice that the temperature seems to hit about 70C on the motherboard, 80+C on the CPU and about 70C on the graphics. The laptop doesn't seem warm to the touch under these loads unless you put your hand where the air blows out.

So, the title question. Are the temperatures described reasonable? And how effective are laptop cooling pads. Near as I can find/google, the best numbers I've seen (from a shop trying to sell them to you) is a 5C drop overall. Many say a 1 or 2 degree drop. But is it needed for longevity or will such a small drop even help?

ers

[Mazrim]

My wife has a laptop that always runs hot, and the cooling pad is enough to keep the fan speeds from going to jet engine levels. Your mileage may vary, but if anything it's more important as it gets older. It also helps prop the laptop at an angle that easier on the hands!

[DoubleF]

TL;DR

A decent laptop pad with fans will help. You've spent a bit on your laptop, an extra $20-30 won't hurt even if some people feel it's negligible.

Also, 5C is a bigger difference than you might think.


IMO, overall help depends on the design of the laptop.

IMO, the biggest reason laptops overheat is due to the design. Many previous designs had air intake at the bottom of the laptop. This made airflow poor as there really wasn't much space to pull air into the laptop. In such a situation, using items like pencils/pens to ramp up the laptop so that there actually is air for the laptop to suck in helps a lot.

A laptop stand that achieves this and uses fans to increase airflow to the intake helps. The fans inside most laptops IMO are probably too small or unable to disburse heat fast enough (especially if it's having problem pulling in cooler air), a laptop fan cooling pad with fans help disburse that heat. Temperatures on average should be lower. IMO, there is also a type of a cooling pad not designed to increase airflow, but just absorb heat away. These IMO are not very helpful and of poor value. These types of laptop were easiest to destroy as someone using them in bed were the #1 reason these laptops hot boxed to death or damaged over time due to excess heat.

Some of the newer laptops have air intake on the side. Using a cooler or fan as per the above still helps as heat can dissipate on the bottom vs previously insulated at the bottom.

Then there's (but probably not your situation) fully sealed laptops and ultra portables. Theses are generally tablet based laptops like a Lenovo Yoga etc. The above can help, but not as much as before. If it's over heating, it's either a load issue or design flaw.


70C is ok, but not great. However, even if those fans are only dropping 5C ish, there's also (to my understanding) the fact the hardware may drop performance to keep temperatures low. So even if in both situations the laptop is at 70C, the one with a fan may work better as it doesn't need to slightly lower performance to maintain a safe temperature. Some people feel if the temp gets that high, your thermal paste may need replacing. I honestly don't know what to think about that. On one hand it makes sense. On the other, I feel like it's a band aid solution at best if the laptop chassis was not well designed to get rid of the heat.

There's also this thing:

https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-Tempe...rds=laptop+fan

I've never tried it, but I believe if I need something like this to keep a laptop cool, I might as well get a desktop.

I may be out of date in how some of the newer laptops displace their heat, but in general, I found many of them have bad air flow designs. Giving good airflow on the bottom of the laptop helps immensely with heat but on occasion, it's debatable if a $20-30 laptop pad with fans will help more than a pencil/pen on the bottom allowing around 1 cm of air under the unit.

[Komskies]

We used to play wow with this guy that would always keep a couple of wooden cutting boards in his freezer to cool his laptop off during raids. Seemed to work fairly well for him.

[LockedOut]

If you don't mind taking apart your laptop and know what you're doing I've heard replacing the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU with something more higher quality will help drop temps.

[ericschand]

Originally Posted by Komskies

We used to play wow with this guy that would always keep a couple of wooden cutting boards in his freezer to cool his laptop off during raids. Seemed to work fairly well for him.

Wait...What? I imagine it's just blowing relatively cooler air into the laptop but what about moisture/condensation effects? Otherwise why not a flat ice pack, the blue ones?

This is a gaming laptop I'm using, so I'm thinking that the airflow should be better. One thing I'm running into is that finding a cooler that will fit a 17.3" laptop. Not many out there and are crazy prices.

I'm going to try to "lift" the laptop, as suggested by DoubleF, by attaching rubber feet and see what kind of difference that makes.

ers

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by ericschand

Wait...What? I imagine it's just blowing relatively cooler air into the laptop but what about moisture/condensation effects? Otherwise why not a flat ice pack, the blue ones?

This is a gaming laptop I'm using, so I'm thinking that the airflow should be better. One thing I'm running into is that finding a cooler that will fit a 17.3" laptop. Not many out there and are crazy prices.

I'm going to try to "lift" the laptop, as suggested by DoubleF, by attaching rubber feet and see what kind of difference that makes.

ers

I don't know if it's a joke or not, but freezing wood I don't believe would create condensation. Plastics and metals etc probably would though.

Just note, even an undersized cooling pad can help. But ramping up the bottom for airflow is a good first step and doesn't cost money. I'm not sure how much higher a rubber foot on a flat surface can ramp up a laptop though. A pen/pencil can be around 1cm while cooling pads are around 1/2 an inch.

Amazon has some decent prices on these things.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by ericschand

I'm going to try to "lift" the laptop, as suggested by DoubleF, by attaching rubber feet and see what kind of difference that makes.

Try a cookie cooling rack and a fan?

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I don't know if it's a joke or not, but freezing wood I don't believe would create condensation. Plastics and metals etc probably would though.

Just note, even an undersized cooling pad can help. But ramping up the bottom for airflow is a good first step and doesn't cost money. I'm not sure how much higher a rubber foot on a flat surface can ramp up a laptop though. A pen/pencil can be around 1cm while cooling pads are around 1/2 an inch.

Amazon has some decent prices on these things.

I don't think the material decides condensation, If the air from the wood was cold enough it would cause condensation from the heat. Can wood get cold enough? I don't know.

My laptop overheats because it pulls air from underneath and blows out the side, make sure none of the hot air is able to come back and make sure there is enough space under the laptop. I have extra tall rubber legs for this, not stupid looking just more than the 1/2 inch it is without.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by jwslam

Try a cookie cooling rack and a fan?

I can confirm that a mesh stand (cookie, monitor, laptop etc.) works great. Angling a fan is a bit of work though and usually not necessary.

Originally Posted by Raekwon

I don't think the material decides condensation, If the air from the wood was cold enough it would cause condensation from the heat. Can wood get cold enough? I don't know.

My laptop overheats because it pulls air from underneath and blows out the side, make sure none of the hot air is able to come back and make sure there is enough space under the laptop. I have extra tall rubber legs for this, not stupid looking just more than the 1/2 inch it is without.

Yup. That's what I meant . I don't think wood can get cold enough for condensation. That's why I said I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.

Curious question, are your legs removable? If yes, out of curiosity what did you use? I decided against rubber legs because they fall off or break if you put the laptop in a sleeve or a bag frequently.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I can confirm that a mesh stand (cookie, monitor, laptop etc.) works great. Angling a fan is a bit of work though and usually not necessary.



Yup. That's what I meant . I don't think wood can get cold enough for condensation. That's why I said I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.

Curious question, are your legs removable? If yes, out of curiosity what did you use? I decided against rubber legs because they fall off or break if you put the laptop in a sleeve or a bag frequently.

Just bigger rubber pads that stick like what is used on glass tables/desks under the glass. My laptop is very stationary though so I could see them coming off if moved a lot.

[ericschand]

Did 2 tests today.

I first ran the game, F1 2015, probably the most intensive game I own, on highest settings, for one, one lap race (about 1:40 of playing time). I first ran the game for a bit to "warm" up the computer. This is to try to remove the effect of any heat capacity. However, before running each test, I let the CPU cool down to a nice and cool 55C, its general operating temperature. And the GPU to 48C.

I downloaded and used MSI Afterburner to log the results. Although my laptop has nothing to do with MSI, the software can be used for almost any other laptop.

With no stand, cooler, etc. Just straight onto a table.

On this setup, I hit 87C max on the CPU. Averaged out over the span of the game, it was 84.70C for the CPU.
It hit 75C max for the GPU. Averaged out over the span of the game it was 72.7C for the GPU.

Next, with a stand about 1cm off the table. There are 2 wire frame pot holders, set the laptop on that.

On this setup, I hit 87C max. Averaged out over the span of the game, it was 84.01C.
It hit 74C max for the GPU. Averaged out over the span of the game it was 71.13C for the GPU.

These numbers are quite consistent through 3 iterations of each, varying only by 0.5C either way. In all tests the internal fan(s) did turn on and then off once I quit the game.

For my scenario, a stand only makes no difference.

ers

[DoubleF]

I assume you measured the frame rates and there was not difference between both? It's very possible your computer has side vents/air intake which means the temperature differences won't be as significant if it has a bottom air intake. However, I would not consider 0.5-1C "no difference". If a laptop is over heating, every little bit adds up to damage the unit over time. I usually see about a 1-3C difference just by ramping it up.

I'm wondering if the fan inside the laptop isn't strong enough to disburse the heat fast enough and part of the reason the temperatures are so similar. It's not completely guaranteed a laptop cooling pad can drop your temperatures, but worth a try.

But I guess I should ask. What temperature difference are you expecting? With a laptop cooler, I think you may see a 4-8C difference at best guess. I don't generally see more than that as the fans in a laptop and cooling pad (to be quiet) don't displace a heck of a lot of air.

[ericschand]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

But I guess I should ask. What temperature difference are you expecting? With a laptop cooler, I think you may see a 4-8C difference at best guess. I don't generally see more than that as the fans in a laptop and cooling pad (to be quiet) don't displace a heck of a lot of air.

I guess try to keep everything under 80C, preferably.

I'll try a cooling pad this weekend (I hope).

Thanks
ers

[ericschand]

Some information to close this off.

I bought a pad. It made a +/- 0.1C change. Didn't really do anything. I actually like the angle it puts the laptop at, so I'm going to keep it. Not for the cooling, which made no difference.

After much googling I came across a tip. In the advanced power settings, you can turn your CPU to 99% max/min usage. All this does is disable the Intel turbo mode, which is causes a lot of heat. After disabling Intel Turbo Boost, I found no difference in the framerates of the game.

Doing this, I hit 79C max on the CPU. Averaged out over the span of the game, it was 73.28C for the CPU.
It hit 72C max for the GPU. Averaged out over the span of the game it was 67.34C for the GPU.

This, to me, is much much better than 87 max and 84 average on the CPU.

For Windows 10 the settings are found in: Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options. Select the Power Plan and Change Plan Settings.

Select Change advanced power settings. In the new window, find Processor power management. In there you can change Minimum processor state and Maximum processor state. Set those to 99% and you're good to go.

ers

[Skaloper]

Originally Posted by ericschand

Some information to close this off.

I bought a pad. It made a +/- 0.1C change. Didn't really do anything. I actually like the angle it puts the laptop at, so I'm going to keep it. Not for the cooling, which made no difference.

After much googling I came across a tip. In the advanced power settings, you can turn your CPU to 99% max/min usage. All this does is disable the Intel turbo mode, which is causes a lot of heat. After disabling Intel Turbo Boost, I found no difference in the framerates of the game.

Doing this, I hit 79C max on the CPU. Averaged out over the span of the game, it was 73.28C for the CPU.
It hit 72C max for the GPU. Averaged out over the span of the game it was 67.34C for the GPU.

This, to me, is much much better than 87 max and 84 average on the CPU.

For Windows 10 the settings are found in: Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options. Select the Power Plan and Change Plan Settings.

Select Change advanced power settings. In the new window, find Processor power management. In there you can change Minimum processor state and Maximum processor state. Set those to 99% and you're good to go.

ers

I had to do that exact same thing on a HP laptop to help with the overheating. (Three years ago, I have a gaming laptop now that doesn't really run into issues.)

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by ericschand

Some information to close this off.

I bought a pad. It made a +/- 0.1C change. Didn't really do anything. I actually like the angle it puts the laptop at, so I'm going to keep it. Not for the cooling, which made no difference.

After much googling I came across a tip. In the advanced power settings, you can turn your CPU to 99% max/min usage. All this does is disable the Intel turbo mode, which is causes a lot of heat. After disabling Intel Turbo Boost, I found no difference in the framerates of the game.

Doing this, I hit 79C max on the CPU. Averaged out over the span of the game, it was 73.28C for the CPU.
It hit 72C max for the GPU. Averaged out over the span of the game it was 67.34C for the GPU.

This, to me, is much much better than 87 max and 84 average on the CPU.

For Windows 10 the settings are found in: Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options. Select the Power Plan and Change Plan Settings.

Select Change advanced power settings. In the new window, find Processor power management. In there you can change Minimum processor state and Maximum processor state. Set those to 99% and you're good to go.

ers

Huh, who woulda thought... I guess I learn something new every day.

EDIT: Sorry to hear the cooling pad didn't help. I guess your air intake and exhaust are on the side. Happy to hear you found a solution that works for you.

[ericschand]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Huh, who woulda thought... I guess I learn something new every day.

EDIT: Sorry to hear the cooling pad didn't help. I guess your air intake and exhaust are on the side. Happy to hear you found a solution that works for you.

The intake are on the bottom, I can see the vents. The exhaust is on the side (left back), no other vents along the sides.

I bought this so that I could specifically move the fans about. Didn't work

ers