The cooling system of my gaming laptop sucks. To be honest, the temperatures are gonna get very high because of gaming. I have tried various methods like undervaluing, and lowering graphics settings but the method that worked best for me is to lower my maximum processor state setting. I got around 15 degrees Celsius drop with no noticeable drop in performance! I have an i7 7700HQ. Your results might differ depending on the model.
Increasing ventilation for your laptop might help keep it cool, this could be done by propping up your laptop on something to increase the gap between the surface you are gaming on and your laptop. Another way to keep it cool might be with the best laptop cooling pad; these provide additional ventilation with the use of fans to move colder air from the bottom up to your laptop coolers.
Overheating can reduce both the throttling and lifespan of your device, which is why you should do everything possible to keep your laptop cool. In this guide, I will go over what you need to pay attention to in order to keep your gaming device cool.
Overheating Of Laptop
Every gamer who uses laptops for gaming must be very familiar with laptop overheating. For the die-hard gamers, the PC getting overheated and shutting down is very common. This is something a gamer can barely ignore. However, many gamers have no clue this is happening because of overheating, and the laptop needs cooling.
Cooling is not only for extracting the best performances from laptops while gaming. It’s to avoid any hardware malfunction due to overheating as well. Gaming Overheating can reduce the lifespan of the PC as well. So, let’s dive right into our guide to understand how you can keep your laptop cool while gaming.
- If your laptop is getting noticeably warmer and the fans are spinning faster than usual, even when you simply browse the web or watch videos, then there is a high probability that there is an overheating issue.
- Another indication is a significant loss of performance in computationally intensive applications such as gaming. If your device hangs often and has regular FPS drops, this is also a bad sign. It is caused by the CPU or GPU clocking itself down when the temperature is too high for protection.
- Even increased power consumption can be an indication of excessively high temperatures, as hardware components that have run hot automatically draw more power.
- You can pick a laptop for its portability and compatibility.
10 ways to take care of your gaming laptop:
1. Name your laptop
Yes, you read it right. Pick a name for your gaming laptop as soon as you buy it. You wonder why?
Your relationship with people you know by name is better than with those whose name you don’t know. The same goes for your machines. Autowalas often name their vehicle. Passionate bikers choose a name for their rides. It nourishes your relationship with your laptop and pushes you to take care of it.
2. Give it some ‘Me’ time
Just like people, Laptops also need time. They don’t want to Netflix and chill all the time. Sometimes your laptop just wants to snooze. Avoid ‘pushing your laptop’s buttons’ for hours at a go continuously. Give it some time to rest. You also take some time off. Don’t be one of those bosses who are used to overworking their resources. It might kill the resources productivity and length of your relationship.
3. Keep it cool
This one is easy. For any high-performing gaming machine running on graphics cards with those big fans driving out heat, the one thing you can do to extend the life of your laptop is to keep it cool. So make sure you don’t heat up things with your lappy in a place that’s already hot. That won’t help chemistry at all.
4. Detoxify the vents
The fans and vents will over time gather a lot of muck and dust due to heat. This will reduce your laptop’s stamina and its processor will heat up more because it won’t be able to push out heat efficiently. So if you have a service center nearby and have a warranty, take advantage of it and raise a service request to get the vents and the internals cleaned. After the warranty period, you may take a call.
5. Keep the spills away
I have lost more than a laptop because of coffee and milk. It may sound all cool and romantic to enjoy a cup of your most preferred drink sitting next to your laptop but believe me, it’s a recipe for a disaster. Keep the liquids away as far as you can. Use separate desks, lock them in a cupboard…whatever just don’t bring them close to your desktop.
6. Get as much RAM as possible
If you’re buying a laptop where you can’t upgrade the RAM later (like a MacBook). Laptops with 16GB RAM will still be perfectly usable in five years, while a laptop with only 8 might struggle in a couple of years. But you can upgrade your RAM with most laptops, so don’t worry about that if you’re buying any regular laptop from Lenovo, Dell, Asus, and the like.
7. Need an SSD
you don’t want to use one of those old, slow mechanical HDDs anymore. SSDs make everything significantly faster. They’re the single most important thing to speed up a computer in 99% of the use cases.
8. Choose a Suitable Surface for Gaming
You shouldn’t use your laptop on a bad surface such as a bed. Instead, always have your computer on a solid surface, especially if you use high-performance applications. Soft surfaces such as blankets, pillows, or even your legs can block ventilation and thus significantly impair cooling. On hard surfaces, such as table tops, the rubber feet raise the laptop far enough so that the ventilation slots on the floor can still draw in enough air. So before you worry, run the temperature tests on a suitable surface.
9. Renew Thermal Paste
If your thermal grease looks bad in your laptop, you might want to think about changing it. This step is only advisable if you can get to the CPU without any issues. With older systems, the thermal paste may dry up over time and lose effectiveness. If your CPU is easily accessible, you can unscrew the CPU cooler and replace the paste or simply replace it with a better one.
This will reduce the temperature by a few degrees, however, it requires a little more technical skill. Of course, the same applies to the GPU, since the thermal grease can also be replaced here, but this often turns out to be more complicated.
10. Upgrade Hardware
Installing an SSD on your laptop can lower the temperature. The more busier your laptop is, the higher its temperature. Newer hardware that can cope better can drastically reduce the temperature of your gaming laptop. With laptops in particular, upgrading the hardware is often only possible to a limited extent, but at least something can often be done in the area of RAM and hard drives.
How to Keep Gaming Laptop Cool – FAQs
Conclusion
Making sure that your laptop is cool is an important thing to keep in mind when you’re going through an extensive gaming session. Any person who uses gaming laptops knows the importance of cooling in the overall system. If you are new to the world of gaming, you will learn all about the principles of cooling your gaming laptop in this article.
If none of the above tips help, there may be a defect in one of your hardware parts that cannot be easily solved. If your laptop is newer and still has a warranty, then it can’t hurt to contact the hardware manufacturer. Describe your problem, because the manufacturers are often already familiar with the issue and they can give you additional tips specifically for your device.
