Cooling

V-PV-P State College, PA Member
edited June 2011 in Hardware
I'm running some really GPU intensive stuff on my laptop (Asus G72 w/ GTX260M) and it's running a bit warm. The place I work has a huge walk in cooler for beverages (it's a convenience store). It's not a freezer just a huge refrigerator. What do you guys think? Safe to put the laptop in there during the day while I'm in there? I read that it could be dangerous when you turn the PC off for a while and then back on but I wouldn't be turning it off until I get home and it would already be on in the morning before I put it back in the cooler. I may just end up getting a laptop cooler but I was curious.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2011
    Condensation will kill your PC.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited June 2011
    Just figure a way to remove the heat with ambient temps or you will risk condensation.
  • V-PV-P State College, PA Member
    edited June 2011
    Doesn't condensation typically happen at or near the colder things in the room? The laptop would be one of the warmest things in the cooler. I read up on what exactly ambient temps were but I'm not sure I quite understand the difference between that and room temperature.
  • V-PV-P State College, PA Member
    edited June 2011
    Sorry to double post but if my GTX260M is running a constant 84C under heavy load for long periods of time, would it be significantly damaging?
  • SuperStrifeSuperStrife Florida
    edited June 2011
    Since you are talking about a laptop, I don't believe there is an exact answer to 84C being damaging to your laptop. I know at the least you will have longevity issues running any laptop that hot, including killing your battery in next to no time.

    Condensation occurs on the surface of any object that is at the line of Humidty vs Temperature. The issue here is less that you would like to cool your laptop, and more that all plastic surfaces in your laptop cool easily and do not conduct heat well. This will leave you with small slivers of plastic with water on them, which is going to kill your laptop very quickly (as compared to your heat problem, which will lead to a slow death).

    I'm sure we've got more experienced people here than me who work with this specific problem (i'm an aero engineer), and i'd be interested to see if they have any other ideas besides these:

    1. Get a laptop cooler/fan that both ventilates the bottom of your laptop and cools it.
    2. Downclock your system. (usually components put in laptops are downclocked anyways, as you cannot dissipate heat as easily)
    3. If you could...well, run a tube from the cooler to an inlet on your laptop. Heat is radiated more efficiently when there is a larger temperature difference.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited June 2011
    V|P wrote:
    Sorry to double post but if my GTX260M is running a constant 84C under heavy load for long periods of time, would it be significantly damaging?
    I own an Asus G73JH with a Radeon HD 5870M. According to Asus there isn't an issue with temps running up to 100C(:tim:). I would imagine the same may apply in your case.

    If the heat concerns you, I would recommend getting the disassembly manual (it does exist and Asus will provide it if you can't find it online) and take things apart down to the GPU heatsink. Once you have that removed, clean it and apply some good thermal compound. That should help considerably and likely won't void your warranty - that usually only happens if you break a tape seal somewhere over the CPU.
  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited June 2011
    I have one of these on my MSI 18" laptop and it keeps it nice and cool throughout all my gaming, multitasking with work programs, etc. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997340
    The three 120mm fans are very nice coolers and very quiet.
    I would definitely recommend getting one.
    I chose this one because of the three large 120 mm fans, and the 2 ways to adjust the fan speeds.
    One is to just plug in the usb cable that comes with it, from your pc to the cooler and the temp regulates the fans.
    The other is to adjust the fan speed with a dial on the side of the cooler.
    It also has 4 USB ports for mouse, keyboard, storage, joystick, etc.
    Mine is an earlier model of this same one (3 USB ports) and I've had it running 5-6 days a week 6-9 hrs a day for 2yrs now with no problems.
    It does have some sharp edges around the side,so be aware of that when handling it.
    There's rubber feet on the bottom so you won't scratch any table surface.
    All in all I'm very pleased with it's performance and style.
    Hope this helps you.
  • V-PV-P State College, PA Member
    edited June 2011
    Cool, thanks for the help. I like the cooler you use Hawk, especially since it seems to fold to save space. I may look into getting some Arctic Silver and do mertesen mentioned. I imagine Asus used thermal tape like everyone else instead of paste.
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