Laptop Cooling Pads

[Rabaxis]

Hey everyone,

 

I recently purchased a new gaming laptop*, along with a cooling pad**. My laptop has been performing well, capping itself out when it hits ~82 degrees. I'm outputting to a 2k 144hz monitor, and most high-end games are running around 70 - 100fps most of the time.

I'm really not sure how much the cooling pad is doing, and I'm wondering (1) if there's any way to check and/or manually change the speeds (also, does it matter what type of USB it's plugged in to?), and (2) if it would be worth it to purchase a different one altogether. Thank you guys for the help, let me know if there's any way I can specify my questions more!

 

 

*https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g5-15-se-gaming-laptop/spd/g-series-15-5590-se-laptop/gn5590dpessw?ref=p13n_rv_hp

**https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/coolers/notebook-cooler/notepal-x-slim/

[Aperture9999999]

The only way to check how much your cooling pad does is by running the laptop with the pad, and then without, and compare the difference. If you want to manually change speeds, Cooler Master probably has software you can use to adjust the speed of the fans. And finally, if the laptop is performing as well as you say, you do not need to replace the pad or change anything about the fan speeds.

[WoodenMarker]

No, it doesn't make a difference which usb port you're plugging it into as long as it's enough to power it.

The fan just runs at a static speed a long as it's powered --described as single speed on the website. 

You can just run a benchmark with and without it to see if there's any difference with temps or noise. 

[aisle9]

The main thing those cooling pads do is lift the bottom of the laptop an inch of more off of the surface of whatever they're sitting on, which allows for more airflow in. There's some benefit to the fan, but a lot of anecdotal testing, and some empirical, has shown that it's mostly just lifting the laptop up that gets the laptop to cool down.

 

That fan is single speed. There are laptop cooling pads out there that have a dial speed adjustment. I used one by Aukey for a year or so, and in my own anecdotal testing, the main difference that the adjustable fan speed made was noise. It didn't have much effect, if any, on temps whether the fan was run in quiet mode or in loud mode.