I have a Thinkpad L440 that I use as a daily driver. I was looking for a laptop fan cooler, but I don’t know if a fan base that just pours air from below is the most ideal, considering that the hot air comes out of the fan from the left side.
Is there some fan that might attach to the side and helps put cool air in the vent? Does that exist? Does that make sense?
Anyway, If what I say is nonsense, what fan cooler do you recommend for using with my laptop?
It will help a lot of considering that gets a bit hot while gaming, so I play for about one hour or 2, unless the game is pretty low weight like Half Life.
This is just my personal opinion based on my own direct experience, I’m sure someone could potentially prove me wrong, but here goes:
Cooling pads are snake oil. If your machine is too hot and it’s been in use for a year or two, you need to replace the thermal grease / compound between your CPU/GPU and the heat pipes that transfer heat to your fans. Assuming none of your fans are broken, the thermal compound is the culprit.
This sounds like a difficult task. It’s not. The necessary tools and materials cost about the same as a cooling pad. Generic instructions on YouTube (search “laptop repaste”) should give you a close enough demonstration to perform it on your own machine, but there are likely instructions out there for your specific model.
It’s as simple as: open the laptop case. Unplug the battery connector. Locate the center plate of your heat pipe assembly which will have multiple numbered screws. Unscrew them and lift the heat pipe assembly, exposing your CPU and GPU, which will be two mirror finished metallic surfaces. Clean the old grease off with lint free cloth and 91% isopropyl. Apply a small amount of your new grease (I use arctic mx-5) enough so that when smushed down it will cover the whole chip, but not so much it’ll squirt out the sides. Replace heat pipes and screw down the screws in the order of their numbers, just snug them, don’t go nuts with torque.
My gaming laptop was hitting thermal max of 99C. I did this and it rarely gets above 80C, which is pretty normal for gaming or other high loads. If the air coming out feels warm, that’s a good thing. Before doing any of this use a temperature utility like real temp on windows or btop on Linux to get an idea of how hot it gets. If it’s under 90 on your heaviest use case, don’t even bother.
Hi, thanks. I changed the thermal grease. I know how to do it but thanks for the detailed instructions anyway, would be useful for someone who doesn’t yet know how to do it. Lucky I still had a bit of thermal in a tube. For now I think is doing ok. Here’s a screenshot of btop while I was running Fallout New Vegas. This one and Spec Ops the Line are the heaviest games I’m playing RN, but of course I keep the graphics settings low. I see the fan is quieter having only my web browser open.
Oh good, glad to hear it. Yeah, for a laptop with discrete GPU while gaming, 82c as an average temp is totally normal. If it starts frequently getting above 95c, it’s time for another repaste. You’re good to go homie. Don’t wast your money on a cooler pad, you won’t see any meaningful different in your thermals if your machine is already on a hard flat surface. The only way I could see them being worth any amount of money is if you actually use your laptop on your lap, or in bed, just to prevent any restriction of airflow.