[WhydoIask?]

I have most of the parts for this, so I was wondering if this would work: I just bought Battlefield 3 for my laptop, and it's so warm in my house (because of a wood stove,) that my laptop overheats and shuts off after about 15 minutes of gameplay (this is the only game that causes this.) My laptop has its fan intake on its bottom, and I have a cooling pad with moveable fans on the bottom (the pad is a mesh that the fans clip onto) that blow upward. If I were to place another mesh on top of the pad, tie 3/16" tubing in rows 1/2"(or smaller) apart, run ice-cold water through the tubing (literally ice-cold, I can run the tubing outside my house to get it near freezing,) and place my laptop on top of the tubing (making a laptop-tubing-cooling pad sandwich,) do you think that the tubing would cool the air under my laptop enough to make a difference?

I would love anyone's opinion.

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If it's that cold outside, why don't you just play outside?

In all seriousness I have no idea, it sounds like it might work however whether it is enough to keep the laptop cool or not... I wouldn't think so. Also you'd have to be careful in case of condensation or anything appearing on the tubes and potentially getting blown into the laptop.

[Troy]

If it's that cold outside, why don't you just play outside?

In all seriousness I have no idea, it sounds like it might work however whether it is enough to keep the laptop cool or not... I wouldn't think so. Also you'd have to be careful in case of condensation or anything appearing on the tubes and potentially getting blown into the laptop.

[Digerati]

If you can't play outside, how about further away from the stove? Also, note that notebooks are notorious for having heat related problems. This is because notebooks are nearly impossible for the normal user to clean the interior of all the heat trapping dust that gets sucked in by the fans.

[WhydoIask?]

Thanks for the info guys. I know that it's tough to really cool any laptop, I'm just looking to lower the temperature by a degree or two. I guess I'm wondering how cold the air has to be before it starts helping.

[Troy]

Perhaps time to upgrade to a desktop with watercooling?

[WhydoIask?]

Well, I am due for an upgrade before I go to college; I can check out ibuypower.com or techbargains.com over the summer, and I can grab a cheap notebook from Costco to carry around with me.

But in the mean time, I'ma put together this tubing system and see what happens. The water pump (the piece I'm missing,) is coming today, so all I need is a bucket full of water, with a few handfuls of snow.

[Digerati]

I guess I'm wondering how cold the air has to be before it starts helping.

While the temperature of the air certainly matters, it is really the volume of air (CFM - cubic feet per minute) that makes the biggest impact on cooling performance.

[WhydoIask?]

Yeah, that's why I like my cooling pad: I can move the fans around, and put one underneath the vents, and essentially blow air directly into them. Not to mention the fan inside my lappy has serious power behind it, and the rubber feet on the bottom are a good 1/2" tall.

You were right, I think the problem was that I had the thing on my lap while playing, on a couch, within 20 feet of a hot wood stove. If I make this thing, I'll be keeping it in my bedroom a good 50 feet and 3 walls away (after I remove the copious amounts of dust from everything that is not my bed. I seriously brought the cooling pad up there for two hours one day and the fan blades got covered in dust!)

[WhydoIask?]

I feel kind of stupid now. I made the "cooling" pad (I used copper tubing instead of plastic, it works much better,) and it helped a little: I was able to play Battlefield 3 for about an hour before it crashed. I don't remember why, but I decided to open up my laptop afterwards to clean the dust out again (I did it a little while ago,) and I opened the fan casing this time (I never did that before because the fans never looked dirty,) and HOLY HAIR, BATMAN! There was a nice thick layer of dust and hair covering the vents around the cooling pipes! I cleaned the vents off and the laptop's running cooler by (if I remember the old temps correctly) almost 5 degrees Celsius.

I also had to repaste the CPU, because I had to take the CPU's cooling pipe off to clean the GPU's vent. I didn't have thermal paste, but my neighbor had some automotive Dielectric grease, which appears to act like thermal paste, but is more the consistency of an ointment than paste. Was it wise to use that?

[Digerati]

Was it wise to use that?

Not all dielectric greases are the same. For automotive, they primarily are used for two purposes, (1) to keep the weather out and (2) to prevent "galvanic" corrosion due to galvanic current which occurs when dissimilar metals come into direct contact with each other. Note I did NOT say anything about heat transfer. While using that was probably better than nothing, today you need to head out to Radio Shack, Best Buy or your local computer store and get some real TIM, clean off the old and apply a fresh new layer of the proper stuff.

[WhydoIask?]

Well, one feature, according to the back of the tube, is "dissipate heat," so while it is better than nothing, I'm getting thermal paste. Unfortunately, the nearest electronic store is too far away to just go and get it; I'd waste more in gas than on the paste (even at RadioShack prices.) It's a good thing my Amazon Prime trial hasn't ended yet, so I'm using my free 2-day shipping to get it here fast.

Edited by WhydoIask?, 12 February 2012 - 08:15 AM.

[Digerati]

Well, one feature, according to the back of the tube, is "dissipate heat,"

Good. Still, I would urge you to get the correct TIM - one designed for electronics. Note that even Wal-mart carries a couple types - at least the one here does.

[rshaffer61]

New Egg starting at $4.99 with free shipping.

TigerDirect starting at $4.99 but shipping is not included.


Just a couple of suggestions

[WhydoIask?]

Already ordered some Arctic Silver 5 with free 2-day sipping.

[Digerati]

Well, that typically does not count weekends. In any event, I would use that computer sparingly and only as necessary until you can get it corrected.