Improving Laptop Temperature/Airflow

[Buffy]

My laptop runs hot as hell when it runs FFXI. Toshiba Satellite from 3 years ago. Can I manually dictate the fan setting to get set to max somehow? Idc if that makes it loud.

Buffy

[Icari]

Get a laptop cooler

[Krandor]

Get a laptop cooler

Simple as that. Generally speaking only other option for controlling the temps of your laptop is to repaste the GPU/CPU

[Decy]

had one of those laptops ages ago before i bought a new machine.. always over heated on me, i got a laptop cooler and generally avoided covering the fan and everything was cool again.

[Pikarya]

Not all "laptop coolers" are going to work efficiently for EVERY laptop. Even $40+ dollar ones (lol) just wont work if your laptop intake ports are in completely different positions.

I personally use a laptop lift stand for docking purposes. Then I've modified 3x 80mm fans zip-tied to the rear of the unit. That way cold air blows evenly under the unit, while giving it space elevated for air to find its way. Cost me $10 dollars to make, dropped temps in Summertime from 48* load to 36*. Your results will obviously vary, but its better than buying a huge assortment of coolers to find your best bet.

Lastly, one thing people forget to notice is that these coolers usually operate via USB. Not only is pulling power from the laptop itself counter-efficient. But it also runs at a lower voltage. What I've did to make this better in my situation. Is get a spare 12v wall brick and splice it, then connect the fans as usually with some electric tape. That way your cooling setup has a dedicated power source.

http://i56.tinypic.com/j8k4mu.png

• 1x 12v wall/power brick
• 3x 80mm fans (I bought these off Newegg for dirt cheap, cut the LED's with some wire cutters since I don't like rice)
• 6x 80mm fan grills (3 for the intake to cover (keep wires from getting caught, whatever) The 3 grills on the exhaust (part not viewable in the pic since its facing the laptop). I bent the bottoms of the fan grills so they keep the fan unit at a "\" angle.
  
• Generic laptop stand (the one I got was $1 at a local Dollar-General. Was advertised as "As seen on TV".
  
• Electrical tape (Obvious, can use heatshrink if you want to be a fancy cat)
• Zip-Ties (Use these to firmly attach the 80mm fans to the elevated dock
• Something to splice the wires

Goodluck.

[Cheerios]

My laptop elevation consists of putting 2 cans of tuna fish on the rear under-side of my laptop. Laptops don't really need cooling fans, just decent elevation without much covering the bottom. There are plenty of fan-less pads that cool more effectively than ones with fans.

[Cheerios]

yay double post

[toonces]

You guys should also play around lowering with your CPU voltage.

Each laptop/cpu has different settings and there is almost no danger about it since is Software based and with a reboot you pretty much are at normal voltage in case you botch it. Just google your computer and should find some tips for yours.

UTILITY:
http://cpu.rightmark.org/products/rmclock.shtml