Laptop cooling

I have a two year old Asus Vivo with 17" screen and a decent i7 CPU in it. Just lately I noticed the internal cooling fans are running really quite fast an the machine gets quite overly warm to the touch, plus the machine is showing signs of slowing down despite me playing around to delete certain programs from the laptop. However I have checked the temps of the hardware and all are within acceptable limits.
So I got to thinking whether or not to get one of those cooling pads to increase the removable of the heat as is hopefully making the internal fan to slow down and so less annoying noise from it.
Any thoughts on this really appreciated.

ICIT2LOL said:

I have a two year old Asus Vivo with 17" screen and a decent i7 CPU in it. Just lately I noticed the internal cooling fans are running really quite fast an the machine gets quite overly warm to the touch, plus the machine is showing signs of slowing down despite me playing around to delete certain programs from the laptop. However I have checked the temps of the hardware and all are within acceptable limits.
So I got to thinking whether or not to get one of those cooling pads to increase the removable of the heat as is hopefully making the internal fan to slow down and so less annoying noise from it.
Any thoughts on this really appreciated.

Click to expand...

Cooling pads help. So do cans of compressed air for dust removal.
Always use the laptop on a hard surface. Never on your lap or on things like bed spreads.

Might be good.

It's also possible that the machine is full of crud. Cleaning it could help. You may have to partially disassembled it to do that. Then, blow it out with compressed air. If you use "canned" air, avoid spraying any of the liquid propellant into the machine. (Mainly because it might locally condense moisture.)

Ghot said:

Cooling pads help. So do cans of compressed air for dust removal.
Always use the laptop on a hard surface. Never on your lap or on things like bed spreads.

Click to expand...

bobkn said:

It's also possible that the machine is full of crud. Cleaning it could help. You may have to partially disassembled it to do that. Then, blow it out with compressed air. If you use "canned" air, avoid spraying any of the liquid propellant into the machine. (Mainly because it might locally condense moisture.)

Click to expand...

Thanks for that I will try out a pad before I delve into taking the back off and even possibly having to dissemble the machine which honestly I would prefer not to do. As for the compressed air option I do have really decent battery operated air blower/gun although accessing the innards is restricted due to the laptop having only a small grill underneath the machine directly over the fan intake which makes only being to blow through those slits. I don't have a very dusty spot where I use the machine and always on a flat table top surface.

I bought one of these


you can experiment by raising the front first.
What is the noise level of these cooling pads ?

The only way to deal with laptop heat is to turn off turbo boost and limit fps in games.
It's good that laptops have a small screen and you can use medium-type presets in games.
Don't buy a laptop if you don't need portability.

abactuon said:

The only way to deal with laptop heat is to turn off turbo boost and limit fps in games.

Click to expand...

Ok mate thanks for your reply now I will just have to go into the BIOS to see if I can do something about the problem. MY main concern is - is this core being so hot some sort of indication that the CPU is failing and maybe is the cause of the machine going slower the last few months?

John,

I urge you to act on the advice to look inside and clear out the cobwebs before considering any other action.
I imagine Asus provide a downloadable Service manual that will guide you in taking off the bottom cover.


Best of luck,
Denis

Going forward, I suggest you download a little app named Core Temp. It runs in your system tray showing you the core with the highest temp. You can hover on the temp in the system tray to see a reading of all cores or you can right click on the temp in the system tray to open the app. See screenshot Core Temp

glasskuter said:

Going forward, I suggest you download a little app named Core Temp. It runs in your system tray showing you the core with the highest temp. You can hover on the temp in the system tray to see a reading of all cores or you can right click on the temp in the system tray to open the app. See screenshot Core Temp

Click to expand...

I've been using Core Temp for years.

When I first started using it, Options > Settings > Notification Area was set to All Cores by default. I always changed it to Highest Temperature as it cluttered up the tray too much.

Ok I might just give it a go as I have been using HWInfo for years and have relied on what it is telling me.
What I don't get is why my CPU chip is so "out of order" with the core temps and voltages being out of whack as I have no way of controlling the core voltages via the very basic BIOS in the machine . se pic

Do you clean around the house - or just open the windows once in awhile, have a weekly shower and just hope (or pray) - you'll be fine - as the dust accumulates enough that you can write on everything? What about the car, do you cleaned that like - ever? Well, if that's the case your health is probably problematic. Same goes for your laptop. Some clean it every 6 months (2x a year). Tho, at least once a year - should be fine (if used in usual home - cause some work environments are dusty asf - so even 6 months would be to long). Point being - you have fans that pull air in a small enclosure and after enough time - they get clogged.

For example:


Not to mention some laptops - have a really bad cooling design - thus, they get messy quite fast. Even the paste can dry out and needs to be replaced (this alone could increase the temperatures considerably). If you're afraid to clean your laptop - to open it up, check some services in the surroundings - the majority tend to offer a cleaning maintenance (cleaning the fans + repaste). And only then (after handling the maintenance) - would be worth to take into account a cooling pad.

PS. Try searching your exact laptop model on YouTube - you might find a step by step guide how to safely disassemble & reassemble it.

ICIT2LOL said:

I have been using HWInfo for years and have relied on what it is telling me.

Click to expand...

HwInfo is an excellent program and I use it as well if I'm troubleshooting an inssue. As I stated, AFTER you get your issue resolved Coretemp is good to have so you can see your temp at a glance at any time.

I would be concerned that along with dirt that the thermal paste has hardened. I've seen some computers, (laptops and PCs) that the factory did a really crappy job of applying paste. I know it's not that old but it's always possible.

A lot of modern systems, especially laptops which tend to have less efficient dust removal systems, are fitted with temperature monitors that are linked to the processor and reduce the speed it runs at to reduce potential overheating issues .
I would suspect dust contamination in any laptop that starts to slow in it's operation

neves said:

PS. Try searching your exact laptop model on YouTube - you might find a step by step guide how to safely disassemble & reassemble it

Click to expand...

Yes neves mate I know how to disassemble the machine as I cleaned out the dust from the fan yesterday.

glasskuter said:

I would be concerned that along with dirt that the thermal paste has hardened. I've seen some computers, (laptops and PCs) that the factory did a really crappy job of applying paste. I know it's not that old but it's always possible.

Click to expand...

Yes Glasscutter I should have replaced the compound with one that I like while in the machine yesterday

barman58 said:

A lot of modern systems, especially laptops which tend to have less efficient dust removal systems

Click to expand...

Yep barman mate the air venting on this laptop is pretty ordinary and like I said to the others I should have done the other stuff as well as just blowing the dust out of the fan which luckily was the only spot where it had accumulated in any amount. I should have taken a pic of the board while in there and you could see it is very basic opposed to some I have worked on.

But it will all have to wait until I have set up a spare laptop for my granddaughter

Well have installed Coretemp and am getting some rather surprising temps now see pic

Looks normal to me. That's with basically no load. Monitor it is as you put a normal load on it. Open up several browser tabs. Play a youtube video, etc. If you are a gamer play a game. Do what you normally do and watch the temps.
I would still use a cooling pad if it's stationary on a desk.

Ok Glasscutter I will give what you say a whirl and see what eventuates.

Seeing that it climbs up to 85*C (not necessarily a big deal) - it's probably power/frequency throttling to reduce heat. Undervolting could help - but you don't need over 4 Ghz (achievable with turbo boost). The base frequency is only 1.8 GHz - so even the middle ground could suffice - like limiting the max frequency to 3 Ghz. When it comes to laptops (due to having a limited cooling design) - the max potential of a CPU is far from ideal. Yes, it can go that high - but the slowdowns you're experiencing are usually tied to throttling - to safety features which get triggered and lower the wattage and frequency to cool the CPU down. Thus, the slowdowns - from using a CPU at 4.7 GHz that all of a sudden runs at 900 Hz and as the CPU cools - climbs back again - only to do it all over again (rinse and repeated). Which is why - limiting the max frequency - looking for a sweet spot which doesn't trigger any trigger any Throttling - actually translated to a better experience (since the frequencies run stable - not scaling up and down to extremes as it happens when throttling is triggered all the time).

The thing is - modern CPUs (it's still a10th generation i7 CPU - despite of being a limited model to fit its Power Efficient naming) = really potent even at lower frequencies - but the majority don't realize that. Have mine set to 2.6 Ghz - and i can't complain performance wise, yet at this frequency - the fans are silent and the CPU never goes above 62 *C. Do have a cooling pad as well.

You can limit the max frequency using the Windows Power Plan, tho this setting is hidden by default - so here's how to activate it:


After adding it - you just go to your custom power plan and will find it at Processor Power Management - add a value of 3000 Ghz then test it out. See if it still throttles. Easiest way to check that - is by using:

Click on Limits like so...


And the Tab should be completely Black (no Yellow or Red warnings) if not Throttling in any way (since above system is throttling in multiple ways).

glasskuter said:

Going forward, I suggest you download a little app named Core Temp. It runs in your system tray showing you the core with the highest temp. You can hover on the temp in the system tray to see a reading of all cores or you can right click on the temp in the system tray to open the app. See screenshot Core Temp

Click to expand...

I have Core Temp in the tray but I also use it with its Core Temp Gadget. Note I use 8GadgetPack to use gadgets in Windows 10 and 11.

Thanks neves I will have a look at doing that but I have found that using the default power plan rather than the high-power setting keeps the temps within a sensible range averaging around 60C.