DIY Laptop station

TiamatGorgon · September 17, 2022

This may look like a meme, but I can assure you that it's not

My ASUS TUF505DD Laptop display died yesterday, One of my family members bought me the laptop like 3 years ago. The laptop itself also has been experiencing thermal throttling for a few months. I've tried cleaning, Adding new thermal paste, and Cooling fan and still nothing works. The only time that thing runs smoothly is when I remove the back cover.

So, being a broke college student like I am, I decided to make my laptop into a stationary desktop. And so Behold... my DIY laptop gaming station plan. Mainly Consist of a Plastic cupboard as the case, A couple of PC fan for cooling, and an HDMI monitor.

I got a few questions before starting this so-called "project". Which one is better for laptop cooling a Generic PC Fan or a Desk Fan? Also, does the fan need to be intake or outtake since my dorm AC is always turned on?

Any help appreciated... Thanks

McRo · September 17, 2022

This looks neat. Did you consider saying screw it and modifying the bottom cover of the laptop to add some fan holes? It would still be clunky, and sounds pretty memey too, but it would still be "portable" that way lol.

If you use PC fans you can control their speed, aka their noise, for when you want them on but are only watching videos, or maybe if you let it update or downloading overnight. I'm guessing you could find more powerful nonpc fans, but you really only need enough power to get the job done right? So personally I'd go with a PC fan solution, and use something like an arduino to control the fans since you probably can't attach more fans to the motherboard (without doing more meme level stuff lol). You could have a nob sticking out of the plastic cupboard allowing you to control the fans manually.

I intend to try it someday but haven't yet, but you might even be able to get temperature readings from your pc using software and then having the arduino control the pc fans based off the data. I know getting data to and from an arduino is trivial, just haven't tried reading temps from a pc yet.

Edited September 17, 2022 by McRo
deleted "Not sure how much." musta been leftover from a deleted sentence

McRo · September 17, 2022

Ahh I meant to also add, if you go the arduino route, you could hook up temp sensors to that and attach them to places on your laptop and the arduino could control the speeds based off those temps. Ardunos are like USD$2, with the temp sensors and wires and stuff assuredly costing less than $10 total. (From aliexpress at least, I can't justify paying the middlemen on amazon and ebay and stuff so idk the prices from there)

TiamatGorgon · September 17, 2022

7 minutes ago, McRo said:

This looks neat. Did you consider saying screw it and modifying the bottom cover of the laptop to add some fan holes? It would still be clunky, and sounds pretty memey too, but it would still be "portable" that way lol.

If you use PC fans you can control their speed, aka their noise, for when you want them on but are only watching videos, or maybe if you let it update or downloading overnight. I'm guessing you could find more powerful nonpc fans, but you really only need enough power to get the job done right? So personally I'd go with a PC fan solution, and use something like an arduino to control the fans since you probably can't attach more fans to the motherboard (without doing more meme level stuff lol). You could have a nob sticking out of the plastic cupboard allowing you to control the fans manually. Not sure how much.

Yes actually, I saw some guy on youtube drilling the back cover of the same laptop as a solution for the heating problem. However, since this thing was a gift from a family member. I'd have to deal with a lot of guilt by just drilling this thing. Also, the laptop is still going to be portable (Just not that usable for heavy usage) after this project Since I'm not going to glue/screw this thing to the drawer...Thanks for the tips

McRo · September 17, 2022

Np and good point on the guilt from mutilating a gift lol I forgot that part.

I'm sure somebody will be by with a better answer, but I'd go with an intake fan and outtake, but I think intake would be more important. I think you'll have better cooling blowing cool air directly at the laptop than you would trying to suck the heat away from it as the blowing effect is more exact. It blows where you point it. An outtake only solution would be pulling hot air from everywhere, but you really only want to focus on the air directly at the hot components.

If you just want simple, working, cheap, I'd go for desk fans. Just make sure not to get some that are too weak. I noticed the USB hub in the picture, I'd avoid using USB powered fans unless they're some of those better ones with a battery. Battery ones were about $8 from walmart around here, and they will still cool your laptop for a few hours before the battery dies.

Also that USB hub looks very similar to one I have. Even with the external power supply feeding the hub power, it really doesn't provide much power to the USBs. All the data speeds seem fine on it (usb 2.0 for mine), so I wouldn't count on it being able to provide much power to fans if that was part of the plan.

The rechargeable fans I got from Walmart are more powerful than the wall powered fans I got from there with only about a $2 difference in cost. Test the fans, get a good one, don't be afraid to test them in the store or take them back lol. The rechargeable fans were about $8 around here.