Laptop overheating while gaming

Gaming laptops truly are something. They are (relatively) light, portable, and pack a desktop’s worth of graphics processing power in a compact, easy-to-handle frame. But unfortunately, this very compactness is also their greatest weakness.

Even regular laptops can generate and trap copious amounts of heat. Put a powerful GPU inside it, and the situation gets much, much worse.

After all, there is only so much that hardware manufacturers can do to keep such a cramped space cool when both the CPU and GPU are under heavy load.

So, how do you keep your laptop cool while gaming?

Luckily, there are several things you can do to make sure your PC’s cooling system is functioning properly, and you can even give it an extra nudge as well!

Read on to find out what we’re talking about.

Step One: Proper Placement

Preferably, a laptop should be placed on a flat, solid surface when in use, and especially when it’s under heavy load.

When placed on a soft surface such as a bed or your lap, some or potentially all of the fan intakes on the underside will be obstructed, thus blocking airflow and preventing the cooling system from functioning properly. On the contrary, when placed on a hard surface, a laptop’s rubber feet elevate it slightly to allow the fans to pull in a sufficient amount of cool air.

If there is no convenient solid surface to place the laptop on, you can do one of the following:

• Keep it on your lap while making sure that you’re not blocking the fan intakes.
• Elevate it by using a book, a box, or any similar solid object as a stand.

Step Two: Cleaning

Considering that air is constantly circulating through a laptop, eventual dust build-up is inevitable. There is no way to prevent this, and the best you can do is clean your laptop regularly, preferably every three to six months.

Now, cleaning a laptop is quite simple. Here’s how to go about it:

1. Buy a can of compressed air. This is the only tool you’ll need to clean your laptop without opening it.
2. Make sure that the laptop is not powered and has had time to cool down before starting.
3. Hold the laptop on its side to expose the intake fan grilles on the bottom.
4. Bring the can close to the grille and spray. IMPORTANT: Always make sure that the can is in an upright position, or the liquid air might escape and damage the hardware.
5. Move and tilt the laptop around to clean out the intake thoroughly from every angle. Continue doing this until you can no longer notice any dust coming out.
6. Repeat the above for each separate intake.

Step Three: Additional Cooling

Apart from merely taking measures to ensure that your laptop’s own internal cooling system is working properly, did you know that you can also get a laptop cooler, or cooling pad, as they’re sometimes referred to?

This is a rather simple and relatively inexpensive accessory that can greatly help with any overheating issues you might be facing. As a matter of fact, a cooling pad is almost indispensable in the case of gaming laptops.

The way that cooling pads operate is simple: you place them on a surface, then place your laptop on top of them, plug them into one of the laptop’s USB ports, and let the fan(s) do their work. Ultimately, you will see lower temperatures during long gaming sessions thanks to the increased airflow.

Additional Measures

If you’ve done all of the above yet your laptop keeps overheating, there is most likely an underlying hardware or software issue that needs to be addressed.

Insufficiently Powerful Hardware

True, a dedicated GPU inevitably generates a fair amount of heat, but if we’re talking about a low-end GPU that is being pushed too hard by modern games, then the temperatures might get out of control. The same goes for CPUs with integrated graphics chips (nearly every Intel CPU) or one of AMD’s APUs.

So, if you see noticeable performance drops that accompany the heat increase, this means your graphics processor is reaching critical temperatures. In this case, you need to advance the cooling through either cleaning it or getting a cooling pad, and preferably both.

If that doesn’t help, there are two things you can do:

1. Lower the in-game settings. Obviously, this will make the GPU work less hard and, of course, generate less heat. It’s best to start with GPU-intensive features such as ambient occlusion or anti-aliasing. However, lowering the display resolution is a surefire way to help a dated or underpowered GPU keep up with the times.
2. Get an external GPU. These are an excellent way to get desktop-level graphics in a laptop, all the while greatly reducing its internal heat generation. However, they are quite pricey, and you should ensure that your CPU is powerful enough to handle the GPU that you plan on getting.

Faulty Fans

Most modern laptops (especially the ones designed for gaming) have multiple internal fans that help keep all of the components cool. If only one of those fans were to malfunction, you’d notice a spike in temperature.

The best way to check this without actually opening the laptop is simply to use your ears. Simply put the system under heavy load so that all the fans are spinning at high speeds and listen closely to each of the intakes. There are two giveaways to keep an eye — or rather, an ear — out for:

1. Rattling – A faulty fan is likely to produce various rattling, grinding, or heaving noises long before it breaks down completely. If your fan is making any noise that isn’t the usual steady humming of a spinning fan, there is a chance that it is not operating at optimal capacity.
2. Silence – Obviously, no fan will be sitting idle while a laptop is under heavy load. If you notice that a fan is generating no noise whatsoever while the laptop is under pressure, then it is almost definitely broken and should be replaced.

Now, tinkering with a laptop is not as easy as it is with a desktop PC. It’s best to have your laptop repaired by an authorized professional rather than attempting to do anything yourself.

As a matter of fact, never open your laptop if it is still covered by the warranty, since doing so will most likely void said warranty.

Laptop overheating is a common issue, and many gamers experience this problem multiple times in their lives. Playing games on your laptop is fun, but a hot laptop can affect gaming performance and damage the hardware before shutting down. Therefore, it is necessary to know what you are doing wrong that causes your laptop to overheat and how you can cool it down.

Here in this article, we are going to discuss the causes of laptop overheating and what methods you can apply to lower down its temperature. 

8 Reasons for Laptop Overheating while Gaming

There are various reasons for laptop overheating while playing games.

Premature hardware failure: A premature laptop hardware failure leads to laptop overheating.

Power settings: Laptop power settings can also cause overheating while playing games.

Dedicated graphics card: Having a laptop with an external graphics card can also be a problem. These video cards use more power than integrated graphics cards, thus producing more heat while playing games.

Overclocking hardware: Overclocking the graphics card is one of the common things. Gamers do this to improve their laptops’ gaming performance, but this can also heat up your machine.

The reason behind overheating is that when you increase the clock rate of your system components, they perform more operations per second. This leads to more stress on GPU or CPU, and thus more heat is produced.

FPS (Frames per Second): Smoother gaming experience can only be possible with higher FPS. But sometimes, this higher FPS becomes the cause of system overheating. If your laptop overheats while playing games, then indeed, your gaming performance is causing this. Higher frame rates put extra stress on GPUs that causes the overheating of laptops.

Non-Working fan: A non-working or a slow-running fan can also cause a laptop overheating because of less air passing over the laptop’s internal components.

Dust: You can’t ignore dust as it is considered one of the main reasons for laptop overheating. Dust restricts the flow of air internally, which causes your laptop to look like a cooking gadget. If your fan is running, but no air is passing out from the vent, then indeed dust is creating such problems.

Malware: Malware can also cause your laptop to overheat while doing simple tasks or gaming. Spyware, viruses, and adware put a heavy burden on the central processing unit as well as other components of the laptop. This additional burden causes the laptop to heat up.

Other than all these things, the habit of using your laptop on a bed, pillow, or any soft surface is a laptop killer. Soft surfaces can block the air vents that result in laptop overheating. 

How to Cool Down your Laptop?

In this section, we are going to share some useful tips on how you can cool down your overheated laptop.

Connect your laptop to its charger

Some games require more power, and when they don’t get enough power, they cause the laptop to overheat. Therefore, it is suggested to always connect your laptop to its charger during your game sessions. This may prevent overheating, but if the problem continues, move to the next solution.

Replace your charger

If your laptop starts overheating once it gets connected to the charger, then surely there is a problem with your charger. Check whether the charger you are using is the right one for your notebook. If not, then replace it with the new one. But before connecting it to your laptop, make sure you have checked its wattage and output voltage.

Restart your laptop

If charger replacement is not the solution, try restarting your laptop.

1. To restart your notebook, you need to stop your game and save it.
2. Close all the background running apps and turn off your notebook.
3. After turning it off, remove the charger and battery (if it is not built-in).
4. Allow your laptop to cool down for about 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Place the battery again, plug the charger, and turn on your laptop.

Make use of task manager

Apps and programs running in the background can also dominate the processor and other system resources. As a result, your laptop begins to heat up.

So, how can you open the task manager while playing your favorite game?

The method is easy to follow. To invoke task manager on your screen, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard. Now check the applications and processes under the Processes tab.

Select those apps that are eating your CPU and memory. And then End Task them one by one.

Use the integrated graphics card

Gaming laptops feature both integrated and dedicated graphics cards.

It is known that a dedicated graphics card uses more power as compared to an integrated graphics because it handles hardware-intensive tasks, so might be your graphics card is causing laptop overheating.

If this is the problem, then it is suggested to use integrated graphics temporarily. It will use less power than a dedicated GPU and will not cause the laptop to overheat. But you have to compromise on the performance in specific games as integrated graphics can’t give the same dedicated GPU performance.

To use an integrated graphics card, you need to set it as your default graphics card. And for this, you need to check your dedicated graphics control panel software.

Limit your FPS

Many gamers prefer high FPS while gaming because it offers a smoother gaming experience. But it could also be the reason behind laptop overheating.

If you are playing at 100 FPS, make it down to 60 FPS. This will reduce the strain on your GPU, and automatically the amount of heat produced will be reduced.

Undo GPU overclocking

Another thing required to cool down your laptop is to undo your GPU or CPU overclocking. Many gamers overclock their GPUs to achieve better performance, but this could be another reason for your laptop overheating.

Therefore, it is recommended to change the clock settings and get back to the actual value. But if the problem continues, then you can also under-clock your hardware. This will surely reduce performance, but you will be able to get rid of overheating issues.

Change laptop power settings

There are chances that your laptop’s power settings are causing heating issues during gameplay. So, what is the solution for it?

All you need is to modify the power settings of your laptop, and it is a simple and easy process.

1. First, click on the Start menu and type of power.
2. Among the search results, click on Power & sleep settings.
3. Under Related settings, click on Additional Power Settings.
4. A new window will pop up where you need to locate your selected power plan and click on Change Plan Settings.
5. Now, click the Change Advanced Power Settings. Here, go to the Processor Power Management section and set both the maximum and minimum power states to lower values. According to some gamers, setting the value to 5 did the job for them.
6. After changing the value, click Apply and press OK to save your changes.

Elevate your laptop

It is really a bad idea to keep your laptop on the bed, sofa, or any other soft material. This blocks the air passages and causes the laptop to overheat. Therefore, it is advisable always to elevate your laptop during use. It would help if you placed it on a flat elevated surface so that air can flow better.

Make your laptop clean

Everyday dust and handling also affect the performance of the laptop. The internal fans daily meet with dust that can reduce their speed. This results in laptop overheating. So, if you are an expert, you can open the screws of your laptop; otherwise, take your machine to a professional.

Read more: 5 Easy DIY Methods to Clean Laptop Screen and Keyboard without Damaging It

If you don’t want to give your notebook to a professional, you can still remove dust from fans and other internal components by using pressurized air. In this way, you will never need to open the laptop’s backside to clean it internally.

Invest in a cooling pad

You can also cool down your overheating laptop by using a cooling pad. If nothing works, invest in a cooling pad to provide a sufficient amount of air to the internal components. This will keep your laptop cool while gaming. 

Conclusion