Your gaming laptop can be a very powerful device, capable of running the latest games or rendering high-quality videos. However, due to the relatively higher wattage used by gaming laptops, especially the dedicated GPUs, the temperatures can rise up dramatically. So, can heat kill your gaming laptop?
Why Does Your Laptop Heat Up?
Gaming laptops pack very powerful components, specifically the CPU and GPU. It can have the latest SSD, hundreds of Gigabytes of RAM and still won’t heat to dangerous temperatures. When it comes to the CPU and GPU though, it’s a different story.
Your CPU is the brain of your computer, all tasks have to go through it at one point or another. On the other hand, the GPU is responsible for rendering and showing all graphical interfaces, especially games.
It should be obvious by now that the CPU and GPU are doing most of the work on your precious laptop. That being said, they’re also using the most power. And the more electric wattage used the more these components heat up. In gaming laptops, the CPU and especially the GPU are more powerful than average laptops. Meaning they use more power and therefore, heat up faster.
Will Heat Kill Your Laptop?
Manufacturers implement cooling methods in all devices to maintain a safe temperature. That’s usually easier when it comes to desktop PCs. However, due to the small laptop sizes and how compact they should be, efficient cooling is harder to achieve.
After all, heat is the end of all electronics at some point. That being said, your gaming laptop is actually tougher than you think! Most gaming laptops can heat up to 100-degree Celsius, which is very dangerous if maintained for a long period and can indeed shorten the lifespan of your laptop.
So, There’s No Hope?
Luckily, your laptop will thermal throttle in the case of extreme temperatures, decreasing its performance level in order to lower the temperature and survive whenever it needs to. The last option that your laptop will go for if it can’t reduce the heat, is an instant shutdown to save the components inside.
Also, manufacturers implement fast, powerful, and unfortunately loud fans in your laptop to dissipate heat from important components. There are also usually two dedicated fans for each of the CPU and the GPU.
Air cooling using the fans is not the only way to go, some manufacturers complement this with the use of heat pipes or creative positioning of the components. For instance, Razeris known for having great cooling and heat management for its laptops despite their slim designs.
What Can You Do To Reduce Heat?
Reducing heat produced by your laptop can be done in many ways. And will extend the life-span of your laptop. Here are a few simple ways that you can follow to achieve just that.
Allow Proper Ventilation
Make sure that your laptop’s airflow is clear and smooth. To achieve that try to keep your laptop on a solid flat surface. Also, make sure that all ventilation holes aren’t blocked by anything.
You can even support the airflow of your laptop by using a cooling pad with the laptop which has proven to drastically reduce laptop temperatures.
Replace Thermal Paste
Thermal paste is a compound that allows heat to move from your components; CPU and GPU to the heat pipes and the fans. Usually, in the entry or mid-level gaming laptops, the thermal paste is either poorly applied or is of very low quality. So, it’s recommended that you re-paste it correctly with a high-quality thermal paste.
If you’re not familiar with the process, I recommend that you go ahead and take it to a professional as poor application of thermal paste can cause more issues.
Reduce The Load
Instead of running games at the maximum possible graphic settings, consider taking it a step or two lower than what your laptop can run it at. That will mean that it won’t need to run at full power and therefore produce less heat.
Get a Quality Laptop
Amidst all these tips which cost you extra effort, why not just settle for a quality laptop whose design takes care of all these issues? Check out Razer gaming laptop here.
Wrapping Things Up
Can Heat Kill Your Gaming Laptop? Yes, it can and probably will at some point. That doesn’t mean that you can’t extend the life of your gaming laptop for as much as you can. If handled properly, your laptop can last until you’re due for an upgrade anyway.