How Can I Cool My Computer?

[rabbit]

It's a laptop.  I've been looking at cooling pads, but all of them have mixed reviews.  As of about 3 minutes ago, these are my temperatures:

and for you crazy Celsius people:

[Hitmen]

One of my friends bought a really cheap one that did nothing. He got pissed at it and ended up buying a more expensive one which apparently works really well. My suggestion would be looking for something that looks like a quality piece of work (like, something metal instead of the cheapo plastic ones) and spending a little more money than you would otherwise. I'll try to see which one he has next time I talk to him.

[abc]

http://www.hackaday.com/2006/10/13/removable-laptop-water-cooling/

lol.

[Newby]

Your shit is practically on fire. G'damn.

[iago]

Well, the general advice is to keep it on a hard, flat surface, like a table. Leaving it on, like, a bed is a bad idea.

Beyond that, I can't help.

[abc]

I'm getting

Fan1: 0 RPM
Fan2: 0 RPM

..lol is that bad?

[Newby]

Well, the general advice is to keep it on a hard, flat surface, like a table. Leaving it on, like, a bed is a bad idea.

Ehh, I had a laptop that got up to 189°F or something to that extent sitting on a cabinet colored brown. At least it claims to have gotten that hot. And that was the system telling me that when I ran FreeBSD on it.

[d&q]

Use a glass case and submerse all the internals in cooking oil.

[nslay]

Those temperatures look pretty normal.  My system with normal use is about 40-50C (right now its 45C), depending on the room temperature.  When its compiling or otherwise using 100% CPU, its about 65-75C, depending on the room temperature.

If you're worried there is a problem, I'd recommend checking for a BIOS update.

EDIT: I should mention, normal for a laptop

[Warrior]

Stick it in the freezer.

Happy to help.

[LordVader]

The main thing i've heard specially in regards to laptops, and especially sony viao's etc.
Keep any laptop as was suggested away from walls and able to properly vent
The little slots you see on the back/bottom aare the only places air can be circulated in/out etc..

Their are also docks you can get for laptops that keep it proped up and have fans on the base to help cool them etc..
I've not tried these but I would imagine they would help some, you can find them at any retailer online newegg.com, or any descently large comercial store like bestbuy etc..
I would do some research first on the different brands.

[iago]

I'm getting

Fan1: 0 RPM
Fan2: 0 RPM

..lol is that bad?

Probably means it is having trouble reading the ACPI thing. Stick your finger in. If you feel pain (that's not electrocution), your fans are fine.

Use a glass case and submerse all the internals in cooking oil.

That works poorly on a laptop. You end up with greasy fingers.

Ehh, I had a laptop that got up to 189°F or something to that extent sitting on a cabinet colored brown. At least it claims to have gotten that hot. And that was the system telling me that when I ran FreeBSD on it.

That's probably a bad thing. Even if it doesn't break immediately, it's not going to take long before having a hardware failure.

[rabbit]

Well, when I watch shows/movies on it, I usually lie in bed and stick it next to me (though I've been using a book to keep it up a little).  When I'm not doing that, it sits on a desk right next to my air conditioner...

[Blaze]

I left my laptop on once in my bed and when I came back I got the pixels were starting to change colour turning black and it was pretty damn hot.  :\

[Newby]

Ehh, I had a laptop that got up to 189°F or something to that extent sitting on a cabinet colored brown. At least it claims to have gotten that hot. And that was the system telling me that when I ran FreeBSD on it.

That's probably a bad thing. Even if it doesn't break immediately, it's not going to take long before having a hardware failure.

Yeah. The fan was on the bottom, and blew hot air right back into the machine. So, I turned it off and it hasn't been turned in since.

[Hitmen]

Ehh, I had a laptop that got up to 189°F or something to that extent sitting on a cabinet colored brown. At least it claims to have gotten that hot. And that was the system telling me that when I ran FreeBSD on it.

That's probably a bad thing. Even if it doesn't break immediately, it's not going to take long before having a hardware failure.

Bah, that is nothing. Before I finally added some better cooling to my computer about six months ago, my processor idled at 80-85ºC and went up to 90-95ºC under load (occasionally tripping the bios auto-shutdown at whatever the default temp to shut off was). I built this computer in... 2001 or early 2002. My processor still works. Old AMD Athlon = spaceheater, but they can sure take the temperature load

[iago]

When you can start cooking food on a processor, there's a problem.

Although in this case, the oil-cooling idea might be a good one. Fill it with oil and cook french fries!