So you want to play games on your laptop, but your laptop is heating up like crazy.
Well, you’re in luck! This post is going to show you how to cool your laptop from overheating while gaming.
In fact, these tricks help me cool my laptop up to 12% cooler when I am gaming on AAA titles with the highest settings.
So if you want proven tricks to lower your laptop temperature while gaming, you will love these 5 great tips:
- Place Your Laptop on a Flat and Even Surface
- Use Cooling Pad to Get More Airflow
- Undervolt Your CPU and Get More Performance
- Reapply Your Old Thermal Paste to Help Dissipate Heat Better
- Clean Your Internal from Dust and Dirt for Optimal Fan Performance
Let’s get started.
Place Your Laptop on a Flat and Even Surface
This is the simplest and easiest thing to do.
By placing your laptop on a flat and even surface, the cool air would be able to get in and the hot air would be able to escape from within your machine.
If it’s on your lap or a pillow, then your laptop’s bottom will be uneven and create air gaps.
This will cause air to get in, but not escape. This causes your laptop to create a “vacuum,” and the heat has nowhere to go.
So make sure that your laptop is on a flat, hard surface at all times. I believe this should be the first thing you do to keep your laptop cool while playing a game.
Get a Cooling Pad to Get More Airflow
A cooling pad is a simple, cheap, and easy way to keep your laptop from getting too hot.
A Cooling pad prevents heat from building up inside your laptop.
How this works is that a cooling pad has fans that blow air on the bottom of your laptop, which helps cools your laptop.
This keeps heat from building up inside your laptop, which prevents it from getting too hot.
Again, it is very affordable. You can get a good one for around $20 – $30, and it is well worth the price. Plus, it is very easy to use.
All you have to do is plug it in and set your laptop on top of them, and that’s it!
They’re also very easy to transport since they’re relatively small.
So you can game anywhere while keeping your laptop cool while gaming.
Undervolting Your CPU to Reduce Heat and Get More Performance
Over time, CPU manufacturers have had to make their CPUs run faster and faster to be competitive on the market.
This has led to processors that tend to overheat quite quickly.
Undervolting is the process of lowering the amount of voltage going to your CPU.
Why would you want to do this? Because most of the heat that’s produced by your CPU comes from it trying to process instructions.
The more voltage you give your CPU, the faster it is, but it also creates more heat that may lead to CPU throttling.
By undervolting, we can decrease the heat produced without sacrificing speed too much.
Since the amount of heat produced is reduced, your laptop will stay cool while you are gaming.
Undervolting your CPU can also bring boost in performance to your laptop gaming performance.
To learn more about how to undervolt your CPU and why it can boost your performance, please watch this video by The Tech Chap below.
Reapply Your Old Thermal Paste
When your laptop is brand new, it comes with a fresh application of thermal paste.
Thermal paste is a substance in the form of a paste smeared on the top of the processor and your laptop’s graphics card.
This substance helps to transfer the heat away from the processor and disperse it throughout your laptop’s heatsink so your entire system will not overheat.
Over time, however, this thermal paste dries up and no longer works as well in dispersing the heat.
Plus, the thermal paste from your laptop manufacturer is usually poorly applied or has less quality in dispersing the heat.
So you might want to reapply your laptop’s thermal paste to a better one to help cool your entire system while gaming on heavy load.
It is quite a delicate process, so you might want to check youtube on applying a brand new thermal paste to your laptop type.
Or you can just go to a local computer store and get it done professionally for a small amount of money.
Clean Your Internal from Dust and Dirt for Optimal Fan Performance
Over time, dust and other particles will build up in the grills that let the heat out.
It causes your laptop to overheat because the fan is supposed to be pushing air through your laptop to cool it down.
But if there is a layer of dirt, then the air can’t circulate as well, and your entire system will get hot.
This also causes the fans to have to work extra hard to push the heat out, which in turn causes your laptop to slow down to compensate for the extra work the fan is doing.
To clean your fans, just buy a can of compressed air at your local grocery store and blow out the dust from the grills.
If you need extra help, you can look up videos online on how to take apart your specific laptop model.
A pro tip for you, never put your laptop on a carpet, as this is a haven for dust and dirt.
How Can I Keep My Laptop Cool While Gaming?
As you’re probably aware, playing games on your laptop can get pretty toasty.
Especially if you are playing with ultra settings on those AAA games like Grand Theft Auto V or Shadow of The Tomb Raider.
First things first, let’s talk about why this is even a problem in the first place.
Your laptop has a CPU and a GPU, and they both produce a lot of heat when working hard.
The CPU is in charge of things like checking your email and browsing Facebook, while the GPU is in charge of more graphics-intensive tasks, such as gaming.
When you’re just browsing the internet and checking your email, your laptop doesn’t need to work too hard, so the heat produced by the CPU isn’t a problem.
But when you’re gaming, your laptop has to work a lot harder to produce all the graphics, so the heat can become a problem.
To mitigate all this heat from the gaming session, consider doing all of my 5 tips above to keep your laptop cool for your gaming session.
Next, you might also want to optimize your laptop so that it can run faster for gaming.
I have compiled 16 great tips you can try to optimize your PC performance solely for gaming so that your laptop can run a bit cooler.
Lastly, if your PC still runs hot. You might want to do some check up on your fans.
I have read several reports from people in Reddit, forums, and Facebook groups that they got laptops with faulty fans.
Although it is rare to get shipped a faulty fan, but if my laptop gets overheat without any apparent reasons, I might check my fans’ condition to see if I get sent a laptop with faulty fans.
Okay, this is the last tip for you. Make sure your room where you play also has good temperature and good air condition.
I know this will not directly affect your laptop, but it will be a massive boost for you and your laptop to the overall gaming experience.
How do I Stop My Laptop From Overheating While Gaming?
If you have done all the 5 tips and check your parts but your laptop still overheat, my last tip for you is to lower your gaming settings.
For instance, if your current gaming settings are on ultra settings, you might want to reduce those settings to medium or low to avoid putting your system into a strain.
I am 100% sure lowering your settings can stop your laptop from overheating while gaming.
Plus, your laptop will last longer can give you more FPS and a more enjoyable gaming experience.
Is it OK if My Laptop Gets Hot?
The question of whether it is OK for a laptop to get hot is a crucial one to answer.
A laptop can get hot in many situations. For example, if you are playing games on your laptop then it will probably get hot.
However, having your laptop hot for too long is not good. For one thing, heat is the enemy of electronics in general.
Heat is bad for many things but the main one is that heat will accelerate the rate at which electronics fail.
So, if you want to have your laptop around for a long time, it is not OK if your laptop gets hot too much.
It will cause system failure to your laptop faster than ever and drop your laptop computing performance.
Also, read my in-depth post about how gaming can damage your laptop
Final Thoughts
So there you have it. All 5 great ways to cool your laptop while gaming to help you have a better gaming experience and a longer one too.
Now, I want to hear from you.
Which method will you use first?
Or do you have any other ways to cool a laptop while gaming?
Let me know and share it with the community by dropping a comment below.
