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Cooling Pads for Laptops

BlueFingersBlueFingers Posts: 904
edited March 2022 in The Commons

With the prices for desktop GPU what they are and with the current situation in the world, which I expect will drive prices even higher, I just bought a laptop with a RTX 3080 and 16 GB of VRAM. It was the most cost effective way for me to upgrade my setup.

However external laptop cooling is something completely new to me. I've already replaced the thermal paste in the laptop, and have seen examples of a 20 degrees Celsius (for those who use fahrenheit, I cannot be of any assistance sadly) difference on CPU and GPU temperatures with the use of an external cooling pads online. Nothing to be sniffed at, so I'm really interested in getting one. However reviews and tests, unlike for thermal paste, are sparse and not very consistent on the web.

My questions to you are: Do you render on a laptop with the use of a laptop cooling pad? What do you use, what is your experience with it and would you recommend yours?

Post edited by BlueFingers on

Comments

  • FrinkkyFrinkky Posts: 388

    I bought a Havit 3 fan cooling pad for my laptop. To be honest its effect was minimal at best. I found the inbuilt gpu temps were statisfactory at 80c (considering it is a laptop) but the cpu would quickly hit max tdp and throttle. I solved this by using ThrottleStop to undervolt the cpu by -200mV (but maintaining the same clock speeds), which is quite a substantial undervolt. How much another person could undervolt their device is purely down to their individual chip. Do a search for cpu/gpu undervolting guides for best advice. 

  • KrzysztofaKrzysztofa Posts: 226

    I'd like to know this too! I currently use a fanless tray, to at least always maintain a gap under the machine so air can flow.

    I will say mycurrent laptop (which is a potato compared to what you ordered) benefited greatly from me taking it apart and applying new thermal paste to its GPU and CPU cooler. It has led to an average of 3-5C decrease in running temp. It was a PITA to do though... not every laptop is straight forward to dissassemble.

  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449

    I have had luck with using a laptop stand that raise it up so air can flow under it and using a small desktop fan to blow air over the laptop, need to dust the area often though.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,263

    I use a laptop and my last 2 cooling pads have had 6 fans but they work so so at cooling. I still find that I have to stop for a while and let it rest. I'm still searching for the right one. The important thing with them though is to know where your HD and your GPU are located and be sure the fan setup on the cooling pad has a fan almost right under or they will not stay cool.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,532

    I used to use a laptop but the cooling stand I had gave me static electric shocks from the fans spinning cheeky

    I would not recomend that one.

    was 10 years ago so hopefully things have improved

  • BlueFingersBlueFingers Posts: 904
    edited March 2022
    @Krzysztofa Yes, thermal paste can make a really nice difference, for me it was about 8 degrees Celsius. @jestmart Yes, I'm using something similar right now to. Definitely better than nothing. @frank0314 Hmmm, yes that makes sense. I guess a cooling pad that works well for one laptop may not do so well with another depending on the design of the device. Explains the inconsistent reviews I saw online. Best reviews I've seen were for Coolmaster and Thermaltake products with some customers reporting a 20 degree C difference and others just 8 with the same product. Still, 8 degrees is significant enough for me to try one out. @Frinkky I will look into undervolting, I have over-clocked in the past but this is something new to me, thanks for the tip.
    Post edited by BlueFingers on
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