Laptop video card & overheating.

[SirJoseph]

So, i have a alienware M17x laptop. Its about 2-3 years old. I have had to completely restore it about 5 times, and now im having problems with the video card, the fan and overheating. The video card is old and isn't what it used to be. The overheaing however is becoming the biggest problem. Literally 5 minutes after turning it on it sounds like a jets engine starting up and outputs a ton of super hot air. And i can not feel any air intake even though i have the laptop propped up. The fan is without a doubt dusty, and you can hear it turning and it vibrates the machine.

So my question is, what do? I am currently saving up for a new desktop, ~1000$. Yet, im a far way off. So in the mean time, what does anyone suggest to help fix my problems. It really effects my in game performance (running on lowest settings). Plz Help!


Sir Joseph

[Asciiguy]

Do something to make sure your laptop is propped up a bit, maybe use a book or something so you have space under your computer and the heat can disperse a little easier. Or you could always buy one of those laptop cooling pads like this.

[Badpaladin]

Open it up and blow out the dust bunnies, if you haven't done that in 2-3 years it's bound to have a ton in there that's probably making a pretty big contribution to your heat. You can also ghetto-rig a cooler if you don't feel like buying one, they're easy to make and knock off a few degrees.

[nwo]

Dust is a laptop's worst enemy, I had to clean my old laptop as often as once every 3 months, but that's because it was on 24/7. I would also recommend a cooling pad, because having a blazing hot laptop in contact with your skin for prolonged periods of time is unhealthy.

[klaps_05]

Buy a laptop COOLER, it works insanely good towards any type of overheating problems.

[SirJoseph]

Thanks everyone for the help, i have since cleaned out my laptop with condensed air can, and it worked wonders. Yet, a new problem has occurred!

Now every 20 mins, my fps DROPS. i mean from 60 fps to about 10-2 fps. WHAT HAPPENED?! it will only last for like 5 mins, but i don't want to run into this problem during a raid.

[skiiwee29]

still seems like overheating. Would probably be a good idea to look into possibly repasting your GPU as most likely your current thermal paste on there after 2-3 years is probably about done.

[Cantii]

First and foremost, download the latest drivers for your video card, uninstall your old ones, reboot, run Driver Sweeper (or something similar) to clean out left over driver material (there's always leftovers from uninstallation), reboot and then install the updated drivers. If that doesn't work, then maybe you botched something when putting it back together/putting covers back on.

Maybe you put a screw in wrong or something (I know for a fact those Alienware M##x laptops are a NIGHTMARE to work on). Did you remove the heatsinks or anything? Those are a pain in the ass to get back in properly. If you did, make sure there's nothing blocking them and that they're seated correctly (you'll know if they are or not, only one way for them to go in/out).

Also: If your laptop is still under warranty, call Dell and tell them you need a new video card. Having a service tech do it for you is just leagues better and easier... and make sure they send a heatsink with it as well. They rarely do if it's not requested, and it pisses me off a lot.

[Deleted]

Take it to a computer store, some of them have compressed-air devices (20 times better then the little cans ) and they can simply open it up and completely clean it.

[nwo]

If you think you did a good job cleaning it, the free way of doing a quick diagnostic is to download and run Speed Fan. When your FPS drops, check your temps and let us know what they are.

[shawndeweerd]

My wife's laptop was running very similar to this.

It was running almost 95 degrees when running WoW.
Now this ran a piped heat sync vs a onboard fan. Thus the fan was on the edge of the computer.

After merciless cleaning of the fan duct and the surrounding area's of dust bunnies I was running WoW at 55 degrees.

This ramped my FPS from about 2fps to nearly 10 or 12 with addons running. 25 to 30 without.

Just give it a thorough cleaning and make sure there is nothing obstructing airflow.

If you are encountering any black screens or failed booting then you may have GPU issue vs a heat issue.
I have heard of instances of GPU's becoming unslotted from intense heat. (mainly in HP laptops)

Hope this helps.

[Deleted]

I had to spend a shit load of money buying a desktop, cause of the exact same problems everyone have mentioned. The labtop was in the expensive end from my POV anyways - 10.000 DK. Not sure what that is in Euro or US dollars sorry. Anyways this supposedly hardcore IT geek working at HP (the brand of my labtop), claimed that it didn't matter, if the labtop was standing on a table 24/7 with no additional cooler. He said that it was build to handle it, which made me a bit confused since I could almost burn my fingers on it.

My conclusion was that labtops aren't really that great for playing WoW or similar games and now I only use it for school and work related stuff:/

[nwo]

HP laptops are famous for their overheating issues.