Gaming laptops are comparatively relatively light-weight and portable. The graphics processing power is very high in gaming laptops.
Even general laptops will generate a good amount of heat when you use it for a long time and you will see that as the age of the laptop increases, the power reduces.
Along with a powerful GPU, graphics card and many other functionalities while increase the performance of a laptop, it is obvious that the hardware will produce a considerable amount of heat.
Hardware manufacturers have not come up with a better solution than this. In order to keep such a cramped space cool, we need to take some considerable amount of measures.
So, how do you keep your laptop cool while gaming? Luckily, there are a number of things you can do to ensure that the cooling system they put in place is functioning properly, and you can even give it an extra nudge as well!
Ways to keep your laptop cool while gaming
1. Physical Maintenance- Keep Your Laptop Clean, Dust and Grime Free
The way we keep all our furniture and home clean, it is imperative for us to ensure that we keep our laptops free from dust. Since constant air passes through the different components, it is obvious that dust and grime too will be collected.
You may watch various videos to understand the process of complete cleaning of your laptop. You may also give it to a service center and ask them to service it along with the cleaning and maintenance.
(:HowTo:) Properly clean & maintain your laptop
How to clean a laptop
2. Proper Placement
This is a problem which we all face regularly. If your gaming laptop is new, then it does not heat up fast, however, the moment it completes a few years, it starts heating up very frequently. A laptop should always be placed on a flat, solid surface when in use, especially when you are playing games.
Also if there is no AC in the room, then sit near the window for some natural air. Never play games in a stuffy room because it not only will reduce your gaming experience, it will also damage the components due to overheating.
If you place the laptop on a soft surface such as a bed, couch, bean bag or your lap, some or all of the fan intake grilles on the underside will be obstructed. This will block the airflow completely and will prevent the cooling system from functioning properly.
When you place your laptop on a hard surface, its rubber feet will elevate it slightly so as and will allow the fans to pull in a sufficient amount of cool air.
Alternatively, you may choose to buy a laptop stand to elevate the laptop.
3. Additional Cooling
Once you have ensured that your laptop is cleaned and has proper ventilation in the space you are sitting in. These cooling pads will ensure the proper positioning of your laptop too.
Get a good quality laptop cooler, or cooling pad and that will ensure that while heavy gaming sessions, your laptop is properly cooled off.
The cooling pads are not very expensive, but they will ensure that you get proper processing speed during your sessions with your favorite MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena) or RPG (role-playing game) games.
Cooling pads are easy to use as you will have to place them on your table and then place your laptop on top of them. Once that is done, just plug the cooling pad into one of your laptop's USB ports, and you are all set to go. The fan will cool your laptop to a considerable amount.
You will see a significant difference in the performance of your gaming sessions and they will be much smoother. The increased airflow will keep your laptop components intact and your laptop will not shut down due to overheating.
The only thing which you have to keep in mind is to ensure that you buy a good quality one.
4. Connect your laptop to the charger
This is a quick-fix which you can do until you find a permanent solution to your laptop’s performance. Since some games are intensive in nature and need more amount of hardware power, the laptop heats up as it is unable to cope up with the request from the processor.
If your laptop's processor is old, or of older generation, then it is highly likely that it will not be able to provide enough power during the gaming sessions.
Hence we suggest you to connect your laptop to the charger and power it on during the gaming sessions. It will surely impact the battery life and we do not recommend you to use it for a long time.
This is just a temporary solution and we suggest you to look for the permanent solutions fast so that your gaming laptop's life is enhanced.
5. Replace your charger
If you have plugged in your charger while playing games, and you are facing overheating issues, then it is the time to change your charger.
6. Limit your FPS
All of us gamers know that higher the FPS smoother the gaming experience, however if your laptop's processor speed and GPU speed is not high enough to be compatible with games with high FPS, we recommend you to either upgrade your laptop, or stick to basic games.
To play games with 100 FPS, you need to have a laptop with higher configuration. So lower the FPS, and that will put less stress on your graphics card.
7. Underclocking your graphics card
We gamers often overclock your graphics card so that the performance can be enhanced. However, the flip side of this action causes our laptop to overheat as it puts extra stress on the hardware. Hence unless you have a new laptop, with really good configuration, avoid overclocking.
So the first step will be to disable all overclock settings and revert them to the default values. You may also look at the hardware settings and under-clock them too. Please check out these videos for better understanding-
How to easily underclock you GPU with a software?
How to cooldown your GPU using only software!
8. Changing your power settings
Changing the power settings of your laptop, and it may help you to reduce the over-heating. There are multiple YouTube videos and articles available on the internet to guide you with this process. Watch these videos to understand the concept better.
Windows 8.0 professional - Change power management settings
Tech Tip: How to change your power settings in Windows 10
9. Use integrated graphics card instead of dedicated graphics card
To understand the hardware bit, let me tell you that the integrated graphics doesn’t use a lot of power and hence the processor gets enough power to distribute among the rest of the components and applications. Since dedicated graphics use a lot of power, they produce more amount of heat.
Hence this is a quick workaround, and it is possible that your dedicated graphics settings need some fine tuning. We would recommend you to check your graphics control panel software like the Nvidia Control Panel or the AMD catalyst control center.
Make use of this video, or check some articles online to understand how you can do it.
10. Replace the components which are not working
A dedicated GPU (Graphics processing unit) will generate a good amount of heat during an intensive gaming session.
However, if your laptop has a low-end GPU and you are using it for an intensive game which has a very high FPS (Frames per second), then you are making your processor to work harder which will in turn heat up your laptop significantly.
So first try to get your laptop clean and use a cooling pad, however if it still does not work, that means you will need to replace your GPU or buy a new laptop with better specs.
Before you buy a new laptop, you may choose to try these and if they work for you, then we will be happy.
Replace the faulty fans-
Most of the gaming laptops have multiple internal fans in order to keep the components cool. If the fans have become faulty, then it is better to get them replaced. If your fans are producing a lot of rattling noise, then it is time to visit a service center with your laptop and get your fans replaced.
Also if the fan is completely silent, even then it is a cause of worry because it is supposed to create a small amount of humming sound.
