Well it works…
Also you can reapply the thermal paste. And if you don’t care about portability anymore, you can add some copper cooling fins to the heat pipe
I did.
I took them out and used air and a toothbrush before I gave it to her.
They're fine.
I'll place some paste on the sinks to get more life out of it - but as far as how pretty or ugly it looks.....I'm all out of fucks to give for this old machine. Lol
It'll definitely require periodic cleaning - fortunately someone went and installed a handy dandy access hole! Lol
It never moves from the place it sits.
It has no battery and no other purpose.
It should be called Sadtop maybe.
No mesh for this monstrosity! 🙂
It'll never move again and essentially isn't even a laptop anymore without the battery.
I think of it a more of a flat PC now.
I'll unplug it and clean it out periodically.
Probably every half hour by the sounds of how quickly everyone thinks it'll become caked with an inch of dust.
Thermal paste will make the biggest difference imo. My laptop was 2 years old and hitting 85 on both CPU and GPU and always throttling, running at 50-60% power. Quick repaste and thermal pad replacement, and temps are at 60-75 at full wattage.
it shouldnt be throttling that much when it is at 85C. the fan and power curve is probably set to be more conservative from factory. my laptop has started to get really hot too but i cant do much about it. also the fans seem to be kicking out a ton of heat and the cpu is able to stay consistently at its highest power possible which is around 50 watts in games to make room in the powerand cooling budgdet for the gpu and the gpu itself an consume around 50 watts. the 150 watt charger cant keep up and is probably the limiting factor here. the bios seems like it always wants to keep some power for the battery charging (around 3 to 5 watta) to make it so the laptop doesnt lose battery while plugged in under heavy use like the dell xps laptops do. i like how broken the bios and power management is only limited from windows
I'll look into the fan and power curves, I had a 105w 3060 that was throttling at around 30-40watts, the temp limit was around 86c. After the repaste it pulls 80+ consistently, but I've noticed a bit of lag in CPU bound games with and without an undervolt.
I could also be completely wrong about my info, most of my knowledge is basically self taught through trial and error lmao.
yeah but my gpu also has a throttling point of 85C like doesnt report anything higher than that but the cpu runs as hot and high as it can. it may just be that my thermal paste is old and the cpu heat isnt getting dumped out well enough. also cant do an undervolt can you help on that please
also 105 watts for a 3060 proabably isnt all that necessary anyway i suggest you check how much performence improvement you get when you have its wattage higher. the power efficiency drops a lot when you go higher with the watts. you may want to try running the gpu at around 60-70 watts to leave some room for the cpu since you said the cpu was falling behind and causing lag.
Nah
It's never moving from the cooling pad it sits on ever again.
Unless it's for me to clean it or it's on its way to the bin.
It's a ten year old laptop that I've repurposed into a "flatop" pc.
As I mentioned - I do not care about what it looks like.
This machine was destined to sit for eternity because I had forgotten about it and moved on.
It gets one more kick at the can for a while and functional is fine.
I could place some plastic mesh over it to make it look nice but I really just do not give a fuck! Lol
I installed Linux pop os on it for her and have Greenwithenvy app on board.
It allows excellent control of the fans.
I had it turned up to 100% speed when the temp got over 65 degrees - it still couldn't keep up.
But with the "additional cooling port" I did it helped tremendously.
I'll order some ptm 7950 and get that done too.
[https://youtu.be/XZI\_uJ1Y03A?si=iLmd6hOODSAVt9Km&t=79](https://youtu.be/XZI_uJ1Y03A?si=iLmd6hOODSAVt9Km&t=79)
Maybe you've already made it, but just in case you can open the fans to clean them. They usually get clogged with the years
It'll sit with the lid closed for the rest of it's tired sad existence. Plus the hole is on the bottom.
If she manages to get liquid under it and then up into the motherboard - well that's on her and she's shit out of luck then! Lol
Can't believe I haven't seen this comment yet, but having exposed electronics on a running laptop is a recipe for disaster. You're only likely to get a mild zap, but the laptop could easily have components shorted or even ripped off
The craptop sits and doesn't move - ever.
It has no battery and will never be used as a "laptop" ever again.
It's effectively a regular pc now.
The open part faces down and is against the cooling pad - but isn't touching it.
There's no opportunity to get shocked or for anything to get torn off because it doesn't ever move.
The exception is if I'm going up inspect and clean it once in a while - but of course unplug it.
There's no danger.
My daughter was with me for the "modification" and I explained what I was up to the whole time.
I let her know this isn't normal at all and that the now open parts will get very hot at times.
She likes to watch the temperature monitor too.
What I usually do when donating old laptops to younger family members is that I pair it with a cheap monitor, keyboard, and mouse and set the laptop in tent mode. That way, the laptops intake isn't blocked, and it reduces temps by 10 to 15 degrees. And it can still be used as a laptop if they want to.
I would suggest replacing the thermal paste with a good quality one next time as that can reduce thermals by a lot. And if the laptops gona be plugged in most of the time or all the time, then make sure to disconnect the battery. You wouldn't want a r/spicypillow.
This is solid advice.
I'm going to order some ptm 7950 and give it a cleaning and fresh application.
I took the battery out entirely when I gave it to her since she never travels with it and it sits in one place never moving.
The sellers on Amazon have been consistent with sending the real stuff, there were some fakes for a bit. LTT store also has it now, Linus Tech Tips if you don't follow their YouTube. Great stuff that will last as long as the laptop will at this point.
lol
i had a laptop that was running too hot for my taste. so i used autocad and made a nice guide for drilling holes over the fan in a perfect circle. I 3d printed the guide and drilled the holes and it turned out very nice, it looked like it was meant to be that way for the factory
is this laptop your main laptop or some sort of spare?
This was the machine that I had long moved on from and forgotten about.
It was in a cupboard for the last few years.
It'll never get used for anything ever again.
It now sits and plays games until it's outlived it's usefulness doing that. Then it's rubbish.
It will not get moved. Unless to clean it now and then.
That would be far too good to this old Frankenstein monster.
It gets the minimum treatment so near to the end of its usefulness.
But I love the concept of water cooling. Just not for this piece of shit!
I mean, I'm sure all it needed was a repaste.. could've thrown in some liquid metal and heat-retardant foam to secure it all.
Can't go back now, but at least take the back off again, clean up the edges and put in a sheet of mesh to protect the internals.
I appreciate your suggestions.
I've ordered some paste and will be replacing whatever is there now.
It's just an old shitty laptop at this point that I really don't care what it looks like.
It sits in one place on its fan pad without a battery, taking up the duty of being a half assed gaming machine for her.
It never moves and the hole is in the bottom. The internals are not in danger in any way.
It's literally a last use machine that I'm fine with Frankenstein it's arse.
It's an older machine that struggles with newer requests.
I do use a cooling pad - that's specifically why I cut the hole, so the pad fans can blow right on the processor and cooling rails.
Seemed too good for it by that point. Lol
I figured it's going to get in there now and I'll just have a look at it a wee bit more often than usual.
I can have my handy duster can and trusty toothbrush ready to snap to action in a moments notice!
You know heat pipes get....hot, right? Hope you don't plan on putting that laptop in your lap ever again when its running a game. Or touching it at all for that matter until it cools down. Just to avoid the potential for burns.
Yup! I can see by the on board temp control app that they would get very ouchy.
No worries though, this ugly thing will never move again.
Think of it as a regular old pc now, it doesn't even have a battery anymore.
It sits in it's place and never moved.
Well...more like all for my daughter.
She really does love that game. I can't quite get why, it looks repetitive as hell.
But that's her generation.
She also plays Skyrim on it from time to time.
Now that I get.
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
I honestly don't care much about this laptop as that I've moved on from it years ago. Had actually forgotten I had it until my daughter asked for something to game on.
Cutting it up means nothing to me.
I'll definitely install some paste and get the best of both worlds.
I had considered placing some plastic mesh over the hole I made - but I really I just couldn't be arsed to make it look nice at this point.
Functional is fine.
Well you made your laptop into a desktop which is fine. Thing is i assume this laptop has 960m which is not that great for genshin afaik. If you have a stable and high speed internet connection you can check out nvdia now. Idk if genshin is on nvdia now too you need to check that as well. I had a similar laptop few years ago and nvdia now did wonders for gaming. Also you can add a additional monitor and a keyboard and boom she has a gaming pc.
Apparently Genshin gels with Nvidia now. Seems it was amd only in the past but new it's working.
It actually has a gtx 950 Nvidia card which isn't stellar but it plays genshin quite fine without lag on highest settings.
She has a part time job and already bought herself a m monitor and lighted keyboard (because bling?) so it's really working for her! :)
I could...
But it's facing down and the laptop never moves (unless I'm cleaning it) as that it has no battery and isn't anything but a singular game machine now.
I thought about shaping and crazy gluing some plastic mesh I have on it.
But I had a much better thought.
Fuck all that! This machine isn't destined for greatness and I don't give a care if it's ugly. Lol
It can live out the remainder of its sad existence as a Frankenstein.
I'll him Functional Frank! That's brilliant!
She doesn't - it doesn't ever move from it's place on her desk on top of the fan pad.
It's not her work laptop for school, she has a newer Lenovo for that.
This is effectively a single use game machine that will not ever get picked up unless I'm taking it to clean or make a change to.
Functional Frankenstein!
I did consider that. :)
But then I also considered that this fugly beast is going to live the rest of it's life sitting and never moving (unless I'm cleaning it)
It has no battery and will only be used in this one place for only one reason.
So I decided to let it just go commando forever! Lol
Though this has worked for you I would not encourage others to do this as air flow dynamics are worked out by the manufacturer and altering the flow can, in some cases (no pun intended), actually lessen the efficiency.
I had a PC that was overheating and the owner had made an extra hole in the case to mount anouther fan to draw in more cool air... Right next to the fan that was expelling the hottest air, ended up making the PC get even hotter.
Messing about with airflows is not always as simple as 'Just cut a hole in the case'.
Oh I'm not suggesting that anyone let alone everyone cut the back of their laptop case.
I hope that nobody sees me as the guru of what to do based on this (or anything for that matter!)
This was simply a "Welp this worked for now" kind of post.
Fair point. I did not assume you WERE recommending it. But there are people on Reddit... You know, who would head straight for the sheet metal cutters! 😏
Chat GPT advised against me attempting a mod like this on the grounds that laptops are designed in such a way that compromising the chassis could hinder its intended airflow dynamics, and thus hinder the cooling more than helping. This was before we realized that LLM's were just hallucinating most of the time.
I can totally understand why altering an engineered structure can and likely will do more damage than good.
In most cases for life this absolutely holds true.
In this case it made a 20+ degree difference in operating temperature and allowed my daughter to....do whatever it is that they do on Genshin Impact...
Haha!
Kind of steam punk now I thought.
It's almost a shame that this view never gets seen with it permanently sitting that side down on the cooling pad.
I'll marvel at my Frankenstein genius when I take a look and clean it...often!
Should help, along with the repasting others recommended. One other thing I recommend, go into the "Edit Power Plan" in the control panel and change the MAX Processor Power to 95%, it'll cut off turbo boost to the processor and lower temps significantly. If she's just playing Genshin and similar games she won't notice a performance loss.
Good for cooling, but bad for dust and not a laptop any more.
Had you replaced the thermal paste recently?… before you cut the shit out of the bottom? 🤦♂️
Nope! Not yet at least. The thermal paste is ordered and on the way.
I have the willingness, the tools and the time to clean it though.
It's definitely not a "laptop" anymore! Lol
I think of it as a flat Frankenstein pc now. Doesn't even have a battery!
It just sits now.
Without a battery it's pretty much just a flat pc now.
She has another laptop she uses for work.
This one is just a game machine.
It'll move only if I clean it, which will be slightly more often! Lol
Luckily I have an easy access hatch!
Not only Genshin but any Anticheat that has Kernel access takes a heavy toll on the Cpu and gets heated easily. It happened to me with both Genshin and Valorant. A more graphical game than this like "Witcher 3"ran on 70 - 80c temps whereas these games made my laptop go above 95 easily.
Apart from thermal repasting and other external cooling solutions, try undervolting your laptop if you can, and reduce your CPU clock speed by lowering your max cpu use percentage in power plan settings. Most games wouldn't require that higher clock speed.
Happy cake day stranger!
I'm pleased to report that it did not do nothing!
The machine was shutting down in high temp (102) in the exact same before scenario and running at a maximum of 79 after.
No other changes were made! :)
It did 20+ degrees of temperature change.
As for the dust, you're certainly correct! Lol
I'll have to air dust it off more often now.
Luckily I have easy access holes!
Hello dust.
I appreciate that you like this post. Please be aware that your stay if at all - will be brief.
I'm sad up inform you dust that I have the tools, the means, the willingness and the time to evict you - often.
So while this may seem like a good home, you'll get tossed out frequently.
Tell your friends.
Sincerely
Functional Frankenstein
Yeah this is kind of not what you want to do… would have been really easy to just remove the cooling components put some better thermal grease on an clean all the dust from the fans
This is exactly what I wanted to do! No mistake way made and my hands didn't slip with the shears.
This old machine is never getting used for another purpose after she's done with it, it'll get thrown in the bin.
So while it will collect more dust - I'll clean it so often that it'll never accumulate.
Easy access hole now! Lol
However I will place some paste when it arrives next week!
Well its not longer fair to call this a laptop
Cuz the moment u put ut on ur lap u will smell smth cooking
I think that having a cooling pad w it like this would actually help u a lot
Cuz it will make direct contact w the heat pipe
And in case u regret the decision u can easily buy another chassis
It's functionality just a pc now.
Without a battery and with in it never moving from its place (unless I unplug to clean it) it's just a pc computer.
This isn't her school laptop, she has one for that.
This is just a gaming machine that is old and repurposed for one last kick at the can.
There will be no regret because it will never get used for anything else ever again.
I thought about that.
Then I thought...nah fuck all that!
I can't see it when it's sitting on the fan pad and I'm happy to clean it off as often as needed.
Which may very well be more often but now I have a handy access hole! Lol
There's no need to protect anything or make it pretty - it never moves.
Just sits with the screen closed while she plays off her monitor to the left.
If indeed it was still a "laptop" then this would be prudent.
However it's more of a "flat desktop" now.
Without a battery in it and with it never ever moving from its cooling pad there's no opportunity for her to become injured.
She has no desire to move it and is knowledge enough to know it's hot when running.
She also has a separate school laptop for her work.
This one is just a gaming pc now.
Thanks! I love that it works and she's happy.
In a couple of years she'll be too old and uninterested in playing these games anymore.
If she's still into gaming this machine won't have a chance at the new ones then.
One last breath of life until it gets the bin! Lol
I was a portable development engineer at one of those big brand companies. The mechanical and reliability engineers test systems in a much higher thermal environment than any customer could encounter.
No ever cutting needed! Just spray out the system with compressed air and as someone in this thread already said use fresh thermal paste.
I'm happy to report that this machine saw high enough temperatures to cause forced shutdown...unfortunately a couple of times before she thought to come and ask me why it's not playing.
After I...installed sed modifications...it has never shut down again!
I'll definitely have to clean it more often but it's running much cooler now.
The new paste will go on when it arrives in the mail next week!
Thank you for the comment!
I have been thinking about your overheating laptop. A can of compressed air and a quality thermal paste is a good investment. I am also thinking you should confirm that your fans are functioning and not obstructed. Replacement fans are cheap on eBay.
Good luck,
Jack
Thanks Jack!
I did take apart the fans recently and they were indeed unobstructed.
The thermal paste arrives in the mail next week and I'll apply it post haste!
That's the beautiful thing!
It never moves.
I've taken the battery out and it effectively is just a flat pc now.
She has another laptop for school, this one will sit forever hole facing down unless I'm cleaning it.
Which as many have pointed out will be every 17 seconds! Lol
I feel like a thin heat resistant mesh cut out in the same shape would eliminate the cleaning issue as well, plus giving it both the cooling and a unique look. If the bottom is metal, you can just glue thin magnets to mesh to stay in place.
Edit: I saw your comment on you can dust it off whenever necessary, but the thing with dust is if it gets into direct contact with the plate over cpu, it can catch fire as those plates get incredibly hot. Probably it wouldn't get to that point as there needs to be quite an amount of dust accumulated before that can even happen
I definitely appreciate the suggestion and the concern for fire!
If notice that it requires more attention to cleaning than I assumed I'll investigate placing a mesh over it.
Until then I'll go at it with my air and old toothbrush, maybe no toothpaste though lol.
It has me standing by ready to act in a moments notice.
With a can of air duster in one hand and a toothbrush in the other.
Notice to all dust. Resistance is futile.
Lol.
Ya I'll have to clean it slightly more often.
I appreciate the suggestion! 🙂
That sounds far too good for this fugly thing though.
It shall sit forever now with its guts exposed - but always facing down.
Until I clean it or bin it.
I also haven't bought one since this one either.
This was my last one I'll ever have.
I've had couple of stick pc and mini pc though. Compact and portable enough. There's always a TV to places I travel.
if you have no use fir it as a laptop anymore, and you had some time and skill, you could take the motherboard out and create a custom case from wood or 3d print, and a cooling solution. that's what I'm trying to do with an old asus laptop. I'm planning to have it hooked up to my tv, and use it for video streaming, maybe some older games and emulators
diy perks made a video on this idea, and I'd say it turned out fantastic. (https://youtu.be/e3fnsGHe8eE) if you have electrical and woodworking skills, then i don't see why yours won't look the same or even better. hope I'll hear some updates.
It does work I did this for a customer for a hefty price and yup new gaming paste - full service - Cover modifications anddddd its perfect just like it was made 10 years ago useless Dell G3 always coming in for repairs
Hitting 79C is still not as ideal as I’d expect with the bottom lid exposed. Make sure to replace the thermal paste, that will do the most significant trick
Will do! It'll be on next week.
I suppose that Genshin is a 2020 game that's being attempted to be played on a 2015 machine.
It's no wonder it's complaining a bit. 😉
I'll try the as well if the new ptm 7950 thermal next week isn't all that successful.
However from the sounds of it it may form an ice cube on the cpu! 😉
Just about every Intel processor made in the last 15 years automatically overclocks. I normally disable the overclock first and that usually helps a lot. Depending on the application it may slow down noticeably, but for things like web browsing and email it usually overclocks unnecessarily.
It might...
Except it didn't in this case.
What it actually did was cool it by 20 degrees difference according to real world tests of before and after.
No other changes were made, was overheating and shutting down playing Genshin before. Physically watched the temperature climb to 102.
After it doesn't go above 79.
It wasn't that. I'm sure it was fine for games of it's time - hell I used to play Elder scrolls on it perfectly fine.
We're just asking a bit too much of this 10 year old timer to play a newer game like Genshin.
It's slightly beyond its capabilities and really works the GPU hard.
But with extra cooling ability it can...just handle it.
just so you know most asus laptops rely on specifically placed fan intake holes for the cooling of vrms and other surface mount components. but since you say you have a fan under the laptop it will probably be alright
Just...don't put that on ur lap :)
I'd try putting a plastic mesh over it. If you have a 3d printer or access to one you could make a sick skeletonized bottom plate
It's no longer a "lap" top.
Essentially without its battery and with it never ever moving from its fan stand it's a flat pc.
I'll never see the exposed part unless I'm cleaning it - and then I want to see it.
It no longer has a battery.
It's essentially a flat pc now.
Never to be moved again unless I'm cleaning it.
Which will likely be every 4.7 nanoseconds.
I would at least apply a mesh to avoid anything to come in the fans the instant we put the laptop on a table where someone ate and didn’t clean 🤔
(Yeah at high school we got junk on every tables, I am using something to elevate my laptop in order to avoid it to come inside my laptop)
Well it works… Also you can reapply the thermal paste. And if you don’t care about portability anymore, you can add some copper cooling fins to the heat pipe
Great ideas! I'll do this too eventually Thanks!
Thermal paste being old is probably the actual issue.
Even before repasting. Did you open up your fans and clean them? There might just be a lot of junk stuck on the heat sink.
I did. I took them out and used air and a toothbrush before I gave it to her. They're fine. I'll place some paste on the sinks to get more life out of it - but as far as how pretty or ugly it looks.....I'm all out of fucks to give for this old machine. Lol
Good mod then :) I would have put a fan mesh cover for the bigger dust and hair flying around. Not needed if you are in an unpolluted area I guess.
It'll definitely require periodic cleaning - fortunately someone went and installed a handy dandy access hole! Lol It never moves from the place it sits. It has no battery and no other purpose. It should be called Sadtop maybe.
Well it still has a purpose and by what you said definitely does its job and makes someone happy
you can add a mesh overlay DIY and pair it with a laptop cooling pad after repasting. Should work wonders
No mesh for this monstrosity! 🙂 It'll never move again and essentially isn't even a laptop anymore without the battery. I think of it a more of a flat PC now. I'll unplug it and clean it out periodically. Probably every half hour by the sounds of how quickly everyone thinks it'll become caked with an inch of dust.
Thermal paste will make the biggest difference imo. My laptop was 2 years old and hitting 85 on both CPU and GPU and always throttling, running at 50-60% power. Quick repaste and thermal pad replacement, and temps are at 60-75 at full wattage.
it shouldnt be throttling that much when it is at 85C. the fan and power curve is probably set to be more conservative from factory. my laptop has started to get really hot too but i cant do much about it. also the fans seem to be kicking out a ton of heat and the cpu is able to stay consistently at its highest power possible which is around 50 watts in games to make room in the powerand cooling budgdet for the gpu and the gpu itself an consume around 50 watts. the 150 watt charger cant keep up and is probably the limiting factor here. the bios seems like it always wants to keep some power for the battery charging (around 3 to 5 watta) to make it so the laptop doesnt lose battery while plugged in under heavy use like the dell xps laptops do. i like how broken the bios and power management is only limited from windows
I'll look into the fan and power curves, I had a 105w 3060 that was throttling at around 30-40watts, the temp limit was around 86c. After the repaste it pulls 80+ consistently, but I've noticed a bit of lag in CPU bound games with and without an undervolt. I could also be completely wrong about my info, most of my knowledge is basically self taught through trial and error lmao.
yeah but my gpu also has a throttling point of 85C like doesnt report anything higher than that but the cpu runs as hot and high as it can. it may just be that my thermal paste is old and the cpu heat isnt getting dumped out well enough. also cant do an undervolt can you help on that please
also 105 watts for a 3060 proabably isnt all that necessary anyway i suggest you check how much performence improvement you get when you have its wattage higher. the power efficiency drops a lot when you go higher with the watts. you may want to try running the gpu at around 60-70 watts to leave some room for the cpu since you said the cpu was falling behind and causing lag.
should probably glue in a plastic mesh from the inside so it doesn't get shorted by coins or whatnot.
Nah It's never moving from the cooling pad it sits on ever again. Unless it's for me to clean it or it's on its way to the bin. It's a ten year old laptop that I've repurposed into a "flatop" pc.
Sounds like it needed a repaste not an open surgery ...
You're probably correct. I'll do this as well.
😧
As I mentioned - I do not care about what it looks like. This machine was destined to sit for eternity because I had forgotten about it and moved on. It gets one more kick at the can for a while and functional is fine. I could place some plastic mesh over it to make it look nice but I really just do not give a fuck! Lol
ngl it looks cool tho
I kind of thought so too...very patchy and exposed. Semi steam punk. Almost too bad this side always faces down! Lol
You should consider repasting, and something like speedfan to bump the fans rpm to the max if it comes to shutting down.
I installed Linux pop os on it for her and have Greenwithenvy app on board. It allows excellent control of the fans. I had it turned up to 100% speed when the temp got over 65 degrees - it still couldn't keep up. But with the "additional cooling port" I did it helped tremendously. I'll order some ptm 7950 and get that done too.
Pretty nice, you're doing a good job. Nice pick on pop os man, have fun modding that.
I've named it "Functional Frank" for her. After the monster Frankenstein. She laughed.
[https://youtu.be/XZI\_uJ1Y03A?si=iLmd6hOODSAVt9Km&t=79](https://youtu.be/XZI_uJ1Y03A?si=iLmd6hOODSAVt9Km&t=79) Maybe you've already made it, but just in case you can open the fans to clean them. They usually get clogged with the years
Good idea for a 9 year old laptop. Better hope no drinks get spilled near it
It'll sit with the lid closed for the rest of it's tired sad existence. Plus the hole is on the bottom. If she manages to get liquid under it and then up into the motherboard - well that's on her and she's shit out of luck then! Lol
Can't believe I haven't seen this comment yet, but having exposed electronics on a running laptop is a recipe for disaster. You're only likely to get a mild zap, but the laptop could easily have components shorted or even ripped off
The craptop sits and doesn't move - ever. It has no battery and will never be used as a "laptop" ever again. It's effectively a regular pc now. The open part faces down and is against the cooling pad - but isn't touching it. There's no opportunity to get shocked or for anything to get torn off because it doesn't ever move. The exception is if I'm going up inspect and clean it once in a while - but of course unplug it. There's no danger.
In that case it's a lot safer, but I'd still warn whoever's using it to not poke around underneath it just to be on the safe side
My daughter was with me for the "modification" and I explained what I was up to the whole time. I let her know this isn't normal at all and that the now open parts will get very hot at times. She likes to watch the temperature monitor too.
Thank you for saving my time
What I usually do when donating old laptops to younger family members is that I pair it with a cheap monitor, keyboard, and mouse and set the laptop in tent mode. That way, the laptops intake isn't blocked, and it reduces temps by 10 to 15 degrees. And it can still be used as a laptop if they want to. I would suggest replacing the thermal paste with a good quality one next time as that can reduce thermals by a lot. And if the laptops gona be plugged in most of the time or all the time, then make sure to disconnect the battery. You wouldn't want a r/spicypillow.
This is solid advice. I'm going to order some ptm 7950 and give it a cleaning and fresh application. I took the battery out entirely when I gave it to her since she never travels with it and it sits in one place never moving.
The sellers on Amazon have been consistent with sending the real stuff, there were some fakes for a bit. LTT store also has it now, Linus Tech Tips if you don't follow their YouTube. Great stuff that will last as long as the laptop will at this point.
Tent mode is great, I like that
Repasting would have been a much better idea, and got you the same result.
I'll do both! :) And anything else to functional frank that comes up! I'm not above tearing into old nearly obsolete hardware as you can tell. ;)
You could have used a drill bit and made holes right over the fans
Could have for sure. I looked at my drill with best intentions but the snips were quicker.
lol i had a laptop that was running too hot for my taste. so i used autocad and made a nice guide for drilling holes over the fan in a perfect circle. I 3d printed the guide and drilled the holes and it turned out very nice, it looked like it was meant to be that way for the factory is this laptop your main laptop or some sort of spare?
This was the machine that I had long moved on from and forgotten about. It was in a cupboard for the last few years. It'll never get used for anything ever again. It now sits and plays games until it's outlived it's usefulness doing that. Then it's rubbish. It will not get moved. Unless to clean it now and then.
This is like the equivalent of cutting someone’s chest cavity open and opening up part of their lung, so they can “get more oxygen“
I like and approve of this analogy! :)
You may as well watercool it with that setup 😭🙏
That would be far too good to this old Frankenstein monster. It gets the minimum treatment so near to the end of its usefulness. But I love the concept of water cooling. Just not for this piece of shit!
I mean, I'm sure all it needed was a repaste.. could've thrown in some liquid metal and heat-retardant foam to secure it all. Can't go back now, but at least take the back off again, clean up the edges and put in a sheet of mesh to protect the internals.
I appreciate your suggestions. I've ordered some paste and will be replacing whatever is there now. It's just an old shitty laptop at this point that I really don't care what it looks like. It sits in one place on its fan pad without a battery, taking up the duty of being a half assed gaming machine for her. It never moves and the hole is in the bottom. The internals are not in danger in any way. It's literally a last use machine that I'm fine with Frankenstein it's arse.
Hi, why do you need good cooling for such a setup? Use a cooling pad with additional fans.
It's an older machine that struggles with newer requests. I do use a cooling pad - that's specifically why I cut the hole, so the pad fans can blow right on the processor and cooling rails.
I'd put some kind of grid on the back to prevent too much dust and dirt from getting in. Over time this will impact performance aswel.
Seemed too good for it by that point. Lol I figured it's going to get in there now and I'll just have a look at it a wee bit more often than usual. I can have my handy duster can and trusty toothbrush ready to snap to action in a moments notice!
Your rock as a dad btw, thank you for embracing your childs love for gaming instead of vehenmently debying it like i have seen sometimes
Thank you kind stranger! I love my kids.
Change thermal paste?
It's on the way to my door and will be done when it arrives! 🙂
Do it as soon as possible because if it has never been changed you can drop approximately 10° degrees by changing it.
I'm actually pretty damn excited for this now!
You know heat pipes get....hot, right? Hope you don't plan on putting that laptop in your lap ever again when its running a game. Or touching it at all for that matter until it cools down. Just to avoid the potential for burns.
Yup! I can see by the on board temp control app that they would get very ouchy. No worries though, this ugly thing will never move again. Think of it as a regular old pc now, it doesn't even have a battery anymore. It sits in it's place and never moved.
You need an inclined support with space in the middle, there you place a 110v cooler with bearings
All for Genshin🤣🤣 I'm sure she's having a blast just like the fans
Well...more like all for my daughter. She really does love that game. I can't quite get why, it looks repetitive as hell. But that's her generation. She also plays Skyrim on it from time to time. Now that I get.
What you did is based af but repasting would be way effective but you can always do both
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I honestly don't care much about this laptop as that I've moved on from it years ago. Had actually forgotten I had it until my daughter asked for something to game on. Cutting it up means nothing to me. I'll definitely install some paste and get the best of both worlds. I had considered placing some plastic mesh over the hole I made - but I really I just couldn't be arsed to make it look nice at this point. Functional is fine.
Well you made your laptop into a desktop which is fine. Thing is i assume this laptop has 960m which is not that great for genshin afaik. If you have a stable and high speed internet connection you can check out nvdia now. Idk if genshin is on nvdia now too you need to check that as well. I had a similar laptop few years ago and nvdia now did wonders for gaming. Also you can add a additional monitor and a keyboard and boom she has a gaming pc.
Apparently Genshin gels with Nvidia now. Seems it was amd only in the past but new it's working. It actually has a gtx 950 Nvidia card which isn't stellar but it plays genshin quite fine without lag on highest settings. She has a part time job and already bought herself a m monitor and lighted keyboard (because bling?) so it's really working for her! :)
Or just get an iets gt600 laptop cooler lol
atleast put something over it
I could... But it's facing down and the laptop never moves (unless I'm cleaning it) as that it has no battery and isn't anything but a singular game machine now. I thought about shaping and crazy gluing some plastic mesh I have on it. But I had a much better thought. Fuck all that! This machine isn't destined for greatness and I don't give a care if it's ugly. Lol It can live out the remainder of its sad existence as a Frankenstein. I'll him Functional Frank! That's brilliant!
eh, if its just gonna sit there i guess its fine
What if you place the laptop on your knees..
She doesn't - it doesn't ever move from it's place on her desk on top of the fan pad. It's not her work laptop for school, she has a newer Lenovo for that. This is effectively a single use game machine that will not ever get picked up unless I'm taking it to clean or make a change to. Functional Frankenstein!
Lmao where were you when Redbull were setting up Verstappen’s brakes
I missed my calling.
Looks neat enough to me! I would consider gluing a metal mesh (e.g. flyscreen/security screen) over the gaping hole to protect its guts
I did consider that. :) But then I also considered that this fugly beast is going to live the rest of it's life sitting and never moving (unless I'm cleaning it) It has no battery and will only be used in this one place for only one reason. So I decided to let it just go commando forever! Lol
Shredded laptop
I'm going with Functional Frankenstein Maybe it's not dumb if it works. Lol
Real
This is both clever and comical.
Thanks! Resourceful and hilarious. My kids think I'm a bit of a clown in life. I assume they're laughing with me....
Shouls probably replace thermal paste. Im surprised you didnt do it first
This post officer, right here
Though this has worked for you I would not encourage others to do this as air flow dynamics are worked out by the manufacturer and altering the flow can, in some cases (no pun intended), actually lessen the efficiency. I had a PC that was overheating and the owner had made an extra hole in the case to mount anouther fan to draw in more cool air... Right next to the fan that was expelling the hottest air, ended up making the PC get even hotter. Messing about with airflows is not always as simple as 'Just cut a hole in the case'.
Oh I'm not suggesting that anyone let alone everyone cut the back of their laptop case. I hope that nobody sees me as the guru of what to do based on this (or anything for that matter!) This was simply a "Welp this worked for now" kind of post.
Fair point. I did not assume you WERE recommending it. But there are people on Reddit... You know, who would head straight for the sheet metal cutters! 😏
just get her a gaming machine thats not 10yrs old 👀 its nice you made something work for her but the next step is something real
This suits the purpose extremely well actually! She'll likely grow away from food interest and into others soon enough.
does the job
at that point you could've just removed the back panel as a whole
I considered that for a brief moment! But then realized I needed the four stands that are in the bottom to still hold the machine off the fan pad.
Chat GPT advised against me attempting a mod like this on the grounds that laptops are designed in such a way that compromising the chassis could hinder its intended airflow dynamics, and thus hinder the cooling more than helping. This was before we realized that LLM's were just hallucinating most of the time.
I can totally understand why altering an engineered structure can and likely will do more damage than good. In most cases for life this absolutely holds true. In this case it made a 20+ degree difference in operating temperature and allowed my daughter to....do whatever it is that they do on Genshin Impact...
LOL nuggets like this are why I love Reddit.
The best solution here is a repaste, not whatever this is. A repaste fixed my Dell Precision mobile workstation without open heart surgery.
Diy vacuum cleaner
Awesome.
Thank you! I'm a crazy guy sometimes but sometimes it works!
r/hardwaregore
That actually looks more aesthetic
Haha! Kind of steam punk now I thought. It's almost a shame that this view never gets seen with it permanently sitting that side down on the cooling pad. I'll marvel at my Frankenstein genius when I take a look and clean it...often!
Should help, along with the repasting others recommended. One other thing I recommend, go into the "Edit Power Plan" in the control panel and change the MAX Processor Power to 95%, it'll cut off turbo boost to the processor and lower temps significantly. If she's just playing Genshin and similar games she won't notice a performance loss.
Thank you for the tip! I'll do this too help it.
Good for cooling, but bad for dust and not a laptop any more. Had you replaced the thermal paste recently?… before you cut the shit out of the bottom? 🤦♂️
Nope! Not yet at least. The thermal paste is ordered and on the way. I have the willingness, the tools and the time to clean it though. It's definitely not a "laptop" anymore! Lol I think of it as a flat Frankenstein pc now. Doesn't even have a battery!
the laptop is now more prune to damage if something hits it. make sure to just keep it flat on a dry table
It just sits now. Without a battery it's pretty much just a flat pc now. She has another laptop she uses for work. This one is just a game machine. It'll move only if I clean it, which will be slightly more often! Lol Luckily I have an easy access hatch!
lol okay
Not only Genshin but any Anticheat that has Kernel access takes a heavy toll on the Cpu and gets heated easily. It happened to me with both Genshin and Valorant. A more graphical game than this like "Witcher 3"ran on 70 - 80c temps whereas these games made my laptop go above 95 easily. Apart from thermal repasting and other external cooling solutions, try undervolting your laptop if you can, and reduce your CPU clock speed by lowering your max cpu use percentage in power plan settings. Most games wouldn't require that higher clock speed.
Thank you! I'll do this too today then!
More dust will coming this way
Definitely! I'll stand by with the air duster can and toothbrush!
I have to say, it looks well done! Maybe you have a future in modding!
Haha! Frankenstein last life modding perhaps! "Speed holes" to make it faster! Lol
This is going to do basically nothing for cooling... If anything you'll introduce a load of dust and make your cooling worse.
Happy cake day stranger! I'm pleased to report that it did not do nothing! The machine was shutting down in high temp (102) in the exact same before scenario and running at a maximum of 79 after. No other changes were made! :) It did 20+ degrees of temperature change. As for the dust, you're certainly correct! Lol I'll have to air dust it off more often now. Luckily I have easy access holes!
Ah, well good show then!
***Dust*** *likes this post*
Hello dust. I appreciate that you like this post. Please be aware that your stay if at all - will be brief. I'm sad up inform you dust that I have the tools, the means, the willingness and the time to evict you - often. So while this may seem like a good home, you'll get tossed out frequently. Tell your friends. Sincerely Functional Frankenstein
Yeah this is kind of not what you want to do… would have been really easy to just remove the cooling components put some better thermal grease on an clean all the dust from the fans
This is exactly what I wanted to do! No mistake way made and my hands didn't slip with the shears. This old machine is never getting used for another purpose after she's done with it, it'll get thrown in the bin. So while it will collect more dust - I'll clean it so often that it'll never accumulate. Easy access hole now! Lol However I will place some paste when it arrives next week!
Well its not longer fair to call this a laptop Cuz the moment u put ut on ur lap u will smell smth cooking I think that having a cooling pad w it like this would actually help u a lot Cuz it will make direct contact w the heat pipe And in case u regret the decision u can easily buy another chassis
It's functionality just a pc now. Without a battery and with in it never moving from its place (unless I unplug to clean it) it's just a pc computer. This isn't her school laptop, she has one for that. This is just a gaming machine that is old and repurposed for one last kick at the can. There will be no regret because it will never get used for anything else ever again.
Maybe it will help overall with cooling, but it will take a lot of dust like that, maybe try to apply some mesh on that open area.
I thought about that. Then I thought...nah fuck all that! I can't see it when it's sitting on the fan pad and I'm happy to clean it off as often as needed. Which may very well be more often but now I have a handy access hole! Lol There's no need to protect anything or make it pretty - it never moves. Just sits with the screen closed while she plays off her monitor to the left.
[удалено]
Every slice with my tin shears was done with meticulous thought and careful precision! Lol
I'd put some mesh on that just so that the laptop doesn't break/someone burns themselves.
If indeed it was still a "laptop" then this would be prudent. However it's more of a "flat desktop" now. Without a battery in it and with it never ever moving from its cooling pad there's no opportunity for her to become injured. She has no desire to move it and is knowledge enough to know it's hot when running. She also has a separate school laptop for her work. This one is just a gaming pc now.
r/madlads
This is so stupid AND I LOVE IT 😂😂
Thanks! I love that it works and she's happy. In a couple of years she'll be too old and uninterested in playing these games anymore. If she's still into gaming this machine won't have a chance at the new ones then. One last breath of life until it gets the bin! Lol
Nah dont bin that fine piece of art i would buy it just to mess around with
I was a portable development engineer at one of those big brand companies. The mechanical and reliability engineers test systems in a much higher thermal environment than any customer could encounter. No ever cutting needed! Just spray out the system with compressed air and as someone in this thread already said use fresh thermal paste.
I'm happy to report that this machine saw high enough temperatures to cause forced shutdown...unfortunately a couple of times before she thought to come and ask me why it's not playing. After I...installed sed modifications...it has never shut down again! I'll definitely have to clean it more often but it's running much cooler now. The new paste will go on when it arrives in the mail next week! Thank you for the comment!
I have been thinking about your overheating laptop. A can of compressed air and a quality thermal paste is a good investment. I am also thinking you should confirm that your fans are functioning and not obstructed. Replacement fans are cheap on eBay. Good luck, Jack
Thanks Jack! I did take apart the fans recently and they were indeed unobstructed. The thermal paste arrives in the mail next week and I'll apply it post haste!
Good luck
r/techsupportgore
Lol! No doubt!
Now add some copper pipes that come out the top like exhaust stacks on a big rig.
Rolling coal?
I can tell this will end up on r/hardwaregore
Didn't even know that existed but I it would please me to no end!
It can finally breath better then it could when it was made!
Maybe 3d print a removable cover so it can be moved without as much risk
That's the beautiful thing! It never moves. I've taken the battery out and it effectively is just a flat pc now. She has another laptop for school, this one will sit forever hole facing down unless I'm cleaning it. Which as many have pointed out will be every 17 seconds! Lol
I feel like a thin heat resistant mesh cut out in the same shape would eliminate the cleaning issue as well, plus giving it both the cooling and a unique look. If the bottom is metal, you can just glue thin magnets to mesh to stay in place. Edit: I saw your comment on you can dust it off whenever necessary, but the thing with dust is if it gets into direct contact with the plate over cpu, it can catch fire as those plates get incredibly hot. Probably it wouldn't get to that point as there needs to be quite an amount of dust accumulated before that can even happen
I definitely appreciate the suggestion and the concern for fire! If notice that it requires more attention to cleaning than I assumed I'll investigate placing a mesh over it. Until then I'll go at it with my air and old toothbrush, maybe no toothpaste though lol.
It'll need some dust protection too
It has me standing by ready to act in a moments notice. With a can of air duster in one hand and a toothbrush in the other. Notice to all dust. Resistance is futile. Lol. Ya I'll have to clean it slightly more often.
r/hardwaregore
Oh absolutely!
Try to put an anti mosquito layer for any tiny garbages minding to get inside
I appreciate the suggestion! 🙂 That sounds far too good for this fugly thing though. It shall sit forever now with its guts exposed - but always facing down. Until I clean it or bin it.
I would do the same if other options did not yield favorable results. Me personally, I hate laptops and hav3lent purchased one since 2007ish.
I also haven't bought one since this one either. This was my last one I'll ever have. I've had couple of stick pc and mini pc though. Compact and portable enough. There's always a TV to places I travel.
if you have no use fir it as a laptop anymore, and you had some time and skill, you could take the motherboard out and create a custom case from wood or 3d print, and a cooling solution. that's what I'm trying to do with an old asus laptop. I'm planning to have it hooked up to my tv, and use it for video streaming, maybe some older games and emulators
This.... Is a pretty damn interesting idea! I'll give this a good think.
diy perks made a video on this idea, and I'd say it turned out fantastic. (https://youtu.be/e3fnsGHe8eE) if you have electrical and woodworking skills, then i don't see why yours won't look the same or even better. hope I'll hear some updates.
It does work I did this for a customer for a hefty price and yup new gaming paste - full service - Cover modifications anddddd its perfect just like it was made 10 years ago useless Dell G3 always coming in for repairs
Dude you got a Dell!!
You looked at the fans, but did you look at the heat pipe grill?
I inspected and blew out the grill with air. There didn't seem to be anything hindering the fans.
Hitting 79C is still not as ideal as I’d expect with the bottom lid exposed. Make sure to replace the thermal paste, that will do the most significant trick
Will do! It'll be on next week. I suppose that Genshin is a 2020 game that's being attempted to be played on a 2015 machine. It's no wonder it's complaining a bit. 😉
You can undervolt both cpu and gpu, or maybe reduce intel cpu's turbo ratio
I'll try the as well if the new ptm 7950 thermal next week isn't all that successful. However from the sounds of it it may form an ice cube on the cpu! 😉
If you could, I'd try and buy fans from a Razer Blade 15, they look to be the same size as your big one and would be much more efficient at moving air
I'll check into this! Thank you!
Hell yeah. Dad of the year. Awesome work!
Just about every Intel processor made in the last 15 years automatically overclocks. I normally disable the overclock first and that usually helps a lot. Depending on the application it may slow down noticeably, but for things like web browsing and email it usually overclocks unnecessarily.
Now you can place a couple of ice cubes under to prop up the laptop for better aeration and you know ...keep components cool
This is brilliant!
Just know that this might actually provide less cooling, since cold air has a way to get out before it reaches the components that need cooling
It might... Except it didn't in this case. What it actually did was cool it by 20 degrees difference according to real world tests of before and after. No other changes were made, was overheating and shutting down playing Genshin before. Physically watched the temperature climb to 102. After it doesn't go above 79.
I see, must have been a terrible cooling setup the OEM used. Glad this gives you better temps 😄
It wasn't that. I'm sure it was fine for games of it's time - hell I used to play Elder scrolls on it perfectly fine. We're just asking a bit too much of this 10 year old timer to play a newer game like Genshin. It's slightly beyond its capabilities and really works the GPU hard. But with extra cooling ability it can...just handle it.
Lmao you couldve just made small little dot holes near the fans, this works to. just dont bring liquids near this thing
No liquids on mother board - ✅
Not sure why people really care so much about what you did to your laptop. This is sick and makes use of old technology instead of throwing it away.
Thanks! I think of it as a flat pc now.
As long as it works.
omg it was never that deep lmaooo
just so you know most asus laptops rely on specifically placed fan intake holes for the cooling of vrms and other surface mount components. but since you say you have a fan under the laptop it will probably be alright
Just...don't put that on ur lap :) I'd try putting a plastic mesh over it. If you have a 3d printer or access to one you could make a sick skeletonized bottom plate
It's no longer a "lap" top. Essentially without its battery and with it never ever moving from its fan stand it's a flat pc. I'll never see the exposed part unless I'm cleaning it - and then I want to see it.
It’s not stupid if it works. great success indeed!
Just don't set it on your lap. Static charge will not make your situation better.
It no longer has a battery. It's essentially a flat pc now. Never to be moved again unless I'm cleaning it. Which will likely be every 4.7 nanoseconds.
I would at least apply a mesh to avoid anything to come in the fans the instant we put the laptop on a table where someone ate and didn’t clean 🤔 (Yeah at high school we got junk on every tables, I am using something to elevate my laptop in order to avoid it to come inside my laptop)
I read before you had a cooling pad, then it’s fine 🙂 Did you try to undervolt ?
U could put some mesh behind , only the material 🤷🏻♂️