LSudlow Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 We receive many questions about random slowdowns in games and, unfortuntaely, most of the time the problem is that our laptops are just plain overheating. When you are playing a game you're really pushing your system to its limits, and many laptops are forced to throttle down to avoid melting down. Sometimes the machine's fan may be faulty, but most of the time the fault lies with a case that simply doesn't do a good job of dispelling heat. Assuming the fan works correctly, the solution for most of us is to make sure the cooling fins (usually inside one of the vents on the back or side of the laptop) stay clean and free of dust. A periodic blast from a can of compressed air usually does the trick. Canned compressed air is inexpensive and comes with a tube that delivers a powerful blast exactly where you want it, between each fin. You'll be amazed at how much dust comes flying back out at you. Definitely worth the price. Here are a few links to some products: Shopping.com Kensington also makes two versions that work well: Kensington Dust Blaster Kensington Duster II Most office products stores have them, usually located with other keyboard/monitor cleaning products, etc. Electronic stores definitely should have them. Pieter's comment: It's just compressed air in a can, get it with the long pointy stick for good aim. Have a good blast around the fans and any ducts used for air flow, also the key board is a haven for dust as well. Do be careful as you can blow off the blades of the fans if too much oomph is used (not common but can happen). And you don't need to take anything apart, so no warranty worries. Look on the rear panel of your machine... There's an air vent right next to your power cord connector. Inside, you'll see the cooling fins. Just blast between them with the compressed air and you should be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joel Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 Just a little testimonial here... Before compressed air: Temperatures in the low 70s (Celsius), fan at full speed with intermittant CPU speed cutbacks from 2.8 GHz to 1.6 GHz After compressed air: Temperatures in the high 40s to low 50s, fan either off or at low speed and no CPU speed cutbacks This is on my one-year-old Inspiron 5150. Without the speed cutbacks and the noise of the fan running at full speed, it's like getting a new computer. Thanks for the tip! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darmdorf Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 I'd like to quote myself from the HOW TO: Cooling paste thread: The cooling fans and heatsink fins should first be carefully cleaned from all accumulated lint and dust. Don?t fall prey to the enticing siren syndrome! Don?t even think of letting the poor cooling fans rotate freely under the influence of a vacuum cleaner or compressed air! Be sure to use a toothpick or other suitable instrument to block the fan blades from rotating freely. Those small bearings are extremely fragile, and will be severely damaged at any Rpms above their normal rating. That means, as Pieter already commented, one should either place the can nozzle through the fan blades, or otherwise block them with something suitable when cleaning the fan blades directly or any other internals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted April 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 Excellent point! If you use very short blasts you can avoid more than a slight rotation of the fan and should be okay. Obviously this only works for light cleaning. If your machine is seriously clogged, protecting the fan is a must. Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexploR Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 At last I've cleaned my laptop. I didn't expect the compressed air would be _so_ cold. My laptop was frozen during cleaning process and covered with frost. As I didn't have a screwdriver but only a knife, I removed the keyboard and reached system fan only. Blocked system fan with paper clips and blowed it from both sides. Blowed processor fan only from outside. Maybe next time I'll get there. I thought it won't power on after that freezing but now it's working and the temperature is about 10C degrees less than before. Regards, Gennady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 After you freeze your laptop, turn it on and run 3Dmark with your graphics card and processor running at full speed, that should thaw your PC out...... :) lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematiker Posted November 23, 2005 Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 Being a FX5600Go user I try everything that I can to increase the performance and I tried this today. The temperature of my HDD (the only sensor that programs can read) dropped a little but not at all in gaming. It still shoots up to 50degrees Celcius and well as you would guess the CPU is probably much hotter. So here's a question that is off-topic: "Which program to use to monitor temperatures in the computer?" I tries Motherboard Manager and also EVEREST Home Edition*. They only read HDD temperatures. I am sure that there is a temperature sensor in my CPU but haven't found any program that could actually read from it. I think that it has something to do with my stupid mainboard (MEDION FID2060++). Any suggestions? *:I really recommend this software to everyone in this forum. It's just incredible. Lists every little information about your hardware very quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipper Posted November 23, 2005 Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 SpeedFan worked for my go5700 GPU core. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yep Posted December 25, 2005 Report Share Posted December 25, 2005 If your GPU core supports it, there should be the option in the Nvidia Control panel to see the temperatures. For CPU, Speedfan worked for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekomancer Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 I just have a question. While using the air to blow the dust away. Doesn't it make it scatter inside first? making it go everywhere on the components? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Marley Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 At last I've cleaned my laptop. I didn't expect the compressed air would be _so_ cold. My laptop was frozen during cleaning process and covered with frost. As I didn't have a screwdriver but only a knife, I removed the keyboard and reached system fan only. Blocked system fan with paper clips and blowed it from both sides. Blowed processor fan only from outside. Maybe next time I'll get there. I thought it won't power on after that freezing but now it's working and the temperature is about 10C degrees less than before.Regards, Gennady Don't hold the can upside-down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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