laptop cooling Better Laptop Cooling

[BusterGrob]

Hey Everyone!

So, I have a 2019 Sager (Clevo) laptop with an i7-9750h and an RTX 2060, 32g ram. I bought this last year for video editing and web design, with plans to be able have my work space be relatively mobile. Obviously, with the world as it is, I haven't gone anywhere for the last 6 months, and now my laptop is almost completely stationary, and it seems that it will stay this way.

Now, this machine was not designed to be quiet. Its a pretty powerful machine that performs well, and while I'm doing heavy work loads, I usually have my headphones on which blocks the noise. However, several times a week, I use my computer for video meetings, and I cant have my headphones on for these. During these meetings, I have my video brought in through OBS, then into zoom, with Nvidia broadcast handling my mic audio. This usually puts my CPU at about 15-20%, and my GPU at 10% (Second monitor hooked up). My fans will usually ramp to 30-50%, which isn't bad, but is distracting when I'm in a mostly quiet meeting trying to focus.

My goal is to improve cooling over all, but specifically so it can run quieter during low /medium usage. Obviously, the best way to have good cooling on a laptop is to sell it and get a desktop, but that's not an option for me, so I have a few questions for y'all. I'm an enthusiast, but still new to a lot of this, so I apologize if these seem stupid.

• Would there be a real benefit to repasting?

• If I did re-paste, would going liquid metal pose more risks on a laptop? Are they worth it?

 

• I'm thinking of making a DIY cooling pad. On my laptop, its almost completely vented on the bottom, with vents out the back and sides of the chassis. I've seen that the general consensus on most cooling pads is that they don't do much, but I can make a cooling pad that would have static pressure, not just blowing at the shell. I essentially would just use some foam strips on the pad top make a seal when I set the laptop on the pad. The idea is same or greater air flow, just with bigger, quieter fans. I cant think of any reason it would, but could positive air pressure damage the laptop at all?

Sorry for the longer post, but I appreciate your thoughts and inputs here. Thanks!

[SlashedM]

1 minute ago, BusterGrob said:

• Would there be a real benefit to repasting?

There could, and could not be. I don't remember the last time someone changed the paste on a brand new laptop.

 

1 minute ago, BusterGrob said:

If I did re-paste, would going liquid metal pose more risks on a laptop? Are they worth it?

If you move your laptop a lot, I'd be cautious to do so. If you don't move it often, I think its worth it, Linus did a video, but it could also be bottlenecked by the fan/cooling design.

 

2 minutes ago, BusterGrob said:

but could positive air pressure damage the laptop at all?

I don't think it can, I have a cooling stand for my laptop, been working fine for months now.

[BusterGrob]

16 minutes ago, SlashedM said:

There could, and could not be. I don't remember the last time someone changed the paste on a brand new laptop.

I dont know if it would make a difference, but its a little over a year old. 

18 minutes ago, SlashedM said:

If you move your laptop a lot, I'd be cautious to do so. If you don't move it often, I think its worth it, Linus did a video, but it could also be bottlenecked by the fan/cooling design.

Not really. I do occasionally, but for the most part it just sits on the little stand I got so it was closer to my monitors height. 

 

Any other thoughts on this? Thanks!