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When it comes to buying a gaming laptop, you may ask yourself about the overheating concern when you’re thinking of upgrading it.
Indeed, all tech gets hot while in use, but does overheating pose a risk to powerful laptops for gaming?
Is It Common for Gaming Laptops to Overheat?
Yes, the gaming laptops might overheat. It does not matter what type of laptop you are using, the laptop will heat up when you run high-end tesks. While there are several ways to keep your laptop cool, it is mandatory to keep it cool to keep it running smoothly.
An overheated laptop is one whose temperature is so high that the system shuts down or becomes damaged. The problem usually occurs when you overwork your gaming laptop by performing too demanding tasks.
A graphics card running something it cannot handle is an excellent example of this. The standard gaming laptop doesn’t simply overheat, but just like any other technology, it can if it undergoes an extreme test.
You can avoid overheating your gaming laptop by ensuring your laptop is capable of handling your chosen game, in addition to checking the processor.
What Causes Gaming Laptops to Overheat?
Following are some vital things that can cause gaming laptops to overheat.
1. Multitasking
It can cause your computer to become hot when you run several programs simultaneously. The more programs you run on your laptop at one time, the more performance you need.
Your gaming laptop will begin to heat up if you have multiple other apps or browsers open. It will undoubtedly cause the laptop to get very hot very quickly. In some cases, you use different browsers simultaneously, which can also cause your laptop to heat up.
2. High Room Temperature
A gaming laptop’s temperature is not the only factor to consider; consideration must be made regarding the room’s temperature. Your laptop will likely be heated up while you play games in a hot room.
If you have a gaming laptop, it is a severe problem. The solution to this problem is to ensure your room has adequate ventilation and your room temperature is average.
You can make your room temperature normal with small vents, and it will stay that way for some time. Using fans will keep your room temperature normal without compromising your laptop’s safety.
3. Laptops Thermal Paste Issue
All laptops come with thermal paste, whether a gaming laptop or a simple laptop, but thermal paste can reduce its effectiveness. A gaming laptop that loses its thermal paste starts to heat up and causes lags in your games.
It will help keep your laptop cool while playing games by replacing the old thermal paste and using a new one. You can quickly get a new thermal paste for your laptop and get the best performance with it because it is effortless to apply it.
4. Software Virus
You might have installed malicious programs or applications on a gaming laptop that could introduce viruses. Different anti-viruses are available and Windows Defender, but sometimes they can’t protect the laptop from the virus, and the virus enters the software.
The virus will make your laptop run slower and warmer when it has the virus in its software. Viruses should not be present on your laptop.
5. Faulty Laptop Fans
Fans are one of the most critical components of your laptop – they help it cool down. The fan cannot run properly if it has any problems. Therefore, your laptop will overheat and interfere with your gaming experience.
Read more: How to Clean a Laptop Fan Without Compressed Air
Additionally, you can buy a cooling fan for your laptop that will be very useful and enable you to play for long periods. You can efficiently cool it by placing separate cooling pads under your laptop and adjusting the cooling fans’ speed.
What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Overheating on Your Gaming Laptop?
You can prevent overheating of your gaming laptop by following the following methods.
1. Regular Cleaning
Keeping your laptop clean at least once a year helps prevent dust and other particles from collecting around fans and clogging the air intake vents.
As a result, there is better airflow and less heat build-up inside your laptop.
2. Close Unnecessary Programs
Some programs run continuous cleanups and updates automatically at startup even if you are not using them. So, the stress on your laptop’s CPU results in it overheating.
The system reduces its CPU load by closing these programs via the Windows Task Manager. Use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” to open the task manager.
You can browse through the list of programs running on your computer once the Task Manager appears. You can shut off programs you don’t need by right-clicking on them and selecting “Exit.”
Select the “Startup” tab at the top to stop specific programs from running at startup. Choose the “Disable” option after right-clicking on the program you want to shut down.
3. Reapply Thermal Paste
You place a thermal paste between the processor, graphics card cooler, and the heat spreader to increase heat dissipation. However, its effectiveness can deteriorate over time, and you may need to replace it.
There is a chance that it wasn’t applied correctly in the factory, preventing proper heat dissipation in new gaming laptops. Using liquid metal as a substitute for thermal paste can also provide better results.
Ensure liquid metal doesn’t touch other components on the motherboard if you prefer it over regular liquid metal. It is better to use liquid metal to transfer heat than thermal paste.
However, if the liquid metal leaks or spills, the motherboard might short circuit. Therefore, you need to be careful and use very little liquid metal. Read your laptop’s manual thoroughly before removing it to replace the thermal paste, so you don’t void the warranty.
4. Checking Fans
Temperature increases usually cause fans to speed up. But in some cases, your laptop can become quite hot when this doesn’t happen. Your BIOS settings are to blame in most cases, especially if you upgraded them recently.
Pressing the BIOS key during startup will allow you to access BIOS settings. Each brand will have a different BIOS settings interface.
A fan configuration setting should be available under the hardware monitor settings. You can use SpeedFan software if your BIOS doesn’t allow you to adjust the fan speed.
Due to its intended audience, it may not be user-friendly since it is specific for power users. However, there are plenty of tutorials available on the internet to help.
5. Upgrade Hardware
You can lower the temperature of your laptop by upgrading it. Your laptop will run hotter if it is under heavy use. Hardware that can handle higher temperatures can significantly lower your gaming laptop’s temperature.
It is usually only possible to upgrade laptop hardware to a limited extent, but mostly you have the option to upgrade RAM and hard drives. The hard drive and CPU will use less power by having more RAM since files won’t have to be transferred between RAM and the hard drive as frequently.
If you choose an SSD over a mechanical HDD, your system will generally stay cooler and perform better. So, by upgrading hardware, you can also prevent your gaming laptop from overheating.
Conclusion
Gaming laptops are known to become hot due to their high processing power. In some cases, however, CPUs and GPUs can reach temperatures over 80°C, which indicates that there is likely a hardware problem.
Once you fix each of these problems, your laptop should run cooler, and you can enjoy playing games again. If you have a new laptop, be sure to have it examined during the warranty period.
