Notebook cooler?

[TedShred]

I'm lovin' my new Sager lappy but it sure gets toasty. Like hot to the touch toasty. (SLI/ quadcore/ 7200rpm HD) I'll probably be getting this Zalman, unless someone can recommend something better?

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20516(ME).aspx

I don't care too much about sleekness or portability, just raw cooling. (The Sager's a 17" display, probably around 17+ lbs)

Cheers

[Martijn]

Have you considered undervolting the lappy? It can make a huge difference!

[TedShred]

THanks for the reply Martijn. I've actually just clued-in to the undervolting concept, and was reading the undervolting thread started by Frank M. Very interesting stuff!:up:

Do you know if that RMClock, or some other utility, would run ok on vista 64?

I wonder if the bios has undervolting options, I'm going to check that out shortly:) edit: nope, no voltage/tweaking settings in sight

Cheers

[Papu]

i have a laptop cooler for a Dell Xps 1530 , only ran me down about 30something dollars though , Akasa Twin 80mm fans and a Usb Hub in the back , its quiet and does the job of elevating it and cooling it down nicely , spending 70 dollars on one is a little OTT I think.

[TedShred]

Interesting, thanks. I've been poking around to find a cheaper 17" cooler, but not having much luck. (I couldn't find any Akasa coolers for sale outside the UK?) Though I did find a cooler that looks like a better performer than the zalman, the Vizo Ninja 2 ($60 in USA)

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Vizo/Ninja_2/5.html

compared to the zalman:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zalman/ZM-NC2000/3.html

the hunt continues!

[Lvcoyote]

Let us know what you end up doing and how it works. I have an older Sager Intel 3.0ghz laptop that gets pretty warm too. Been thinking about a cooler for it also.

[TedShred]

will definitely do that:up:

Fwiw, the most monstrous (and expensive) cooler I've found so far ($86 after $11 rebate):D

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997410

edit: wow, ppc's has the Antec beast for way less ($65, no rebate involved)

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=136&products_id=24475

edit: weird, just noticed the dimensions of the Antec 200 acccording to,

PPCs (consistent with Antec's website) • 0.9” (H) x 13” (W) x 11.2” (D) Weight: 1.6 lbs

versus different measurements on Newegg: 16.8" x 11.6" x 2.6" Weight: 3.56 lbs.

wtf?! you'd think the Antec site would be right, but actually the newegg dimensions seem more reasonable if it's aimed at the bigger lappies. me confused:confused:

edit: FYI, Performance PCs confirmed for me that the Antec's dimensions are as shown on Newegg, they're going to update their ad. (And hopefully tell Antec:p:)

[9800xpv]

Did you see this one ?
http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/NZXT_Cryo_Notebook_Cooler/index.shtml

They say it's the best they ever try.

[TedShred]

Did you see this one ?
http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/NZXT_Cryo_Notebook_Cooler/index.shtml

They say it's the best they ever try.

Thanks for that. I saw that one awhile back but kinda forgot about it - not sure how - I've now read a few reviews of the nzxt and they're all positive ('cept maybe for the noise). One guy claims to have seen up to a 15C diff with this puppy
http://www.tkarena.com/Articles/tabid/59/ctl/ArticleView/mid/382/ArticleID/24/PageID/94/Default.aspx

And it's in stock @ NCIX here in Canada which is nice....

What the heck, I'd like to get one sooner than later, so just placed my order for the NZXT at NCIX.. N.I.C.E. :up:

and:welcome:

[TedShred]

The NZXT cooler arrived today. (Nice 2-day delivery by NCIX:up: - after a bit of a delay caused by me screwing up the delivery address. D'oh!)

My first impressions are very positive. Super solid and cool-looking. It's not silent, but pretty darn close.:) I was playing Crysis a bit earlier (sans cooler) and GPUZ showed my temps at 80C afterwards. I just set up the cooler and finished a bit of Crysis and then the Lost Coast vid stress test - GPU-Z showed 68C.

Pretty WOW, but then again the lappy's been in and out of the sun during the afternoon, and I'm not sure I ran the "test" for the same amount of time, so I'm not sure how reliable the comparison is.

I'll try again tonight when the enviroment is more constant. I wonder... any suggestions for a good temp-testing tool that I could use in addition to GPUz? (I'm running on Vista 64. CPU is a Q9650). Any tips on temp-testing methodology?

[Lvcoyote]

Depending on the age of the Laptop, you might be able to use speedfan, and IIRC it has an option where it can save its readings in a text file at certain intervals. So, if you have it running in the background you can game away and have it log as you play.

[TedShred]

I'm just at the Speedfan website checking it out - looks good, I'll try it out. Thank ya!

[Lvcoyote]

No Problem.....GL!

[TedShred]

I'll post some numbers later on, as I want to run some more tests later today. (Speedfan works nice - thanks) I think the big temp diffs I was seeing before could be from testing with the lappy sitting flush on my (glass top) table versus sitting on the NZXT with the fans blowing. I tried running it this morning sitting on the NZXT, but without the fans going, and I saw some nice temp drops from that alone. (The glass was probably reflecting a lot of heat - d'oh!) So later on I'll try out all 3 scenarios, just a bit pressed for time atm.

[TedShred]

Here's the temperature readings using GPUZ and Speedfan (couldn't find the text file thing) at idle and load - load being one round of 3Dmark06. Ran it with (1) the lappy sitting on a wooden table (no glass top this time); (2) sitting on the NZXT Cryo LX cooler, but fans turned off and (3) on cooler with fans on. A couple of the numbers look a bit weird, but it wasn't exactly laboratory standards:p: In any event, it seems you get a lot of the benefit simply by using the NZXT as a stand even without the fans going.

2x 9800GTM/ Q9650/ 320G 7200rpm HD

Idle temps
1. on table
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/Testtableidle.jpg

2. cooler, fans off
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/Testcoolernofanidle.jpg

3. cooler, fans on
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/Testcooleryesfanidle.jpg

Load

1. on table
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/Testtableload.jpg

2. cooler, fans off
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/Testcoolernofanload.jpg

3. cooler, fans on
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh70/diggermats/LappySpeedfanfansonload.jpg

[9800xpv]

Hi,

Did you look at CoolIT Systems 's ?
It seems they are on the way to sell an xtreme cooler for notebook :
http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&Itemid=1

@+

[TedShred]

Wow, that looks pretty, um.... cool! :)

Too bad it's not out yet, CoolIT's in my hometown and I could have avoided the aggro/$$ of shipping completely. (Well, no real aggro with NCIX I guess)