Imagine playing your favourite game on your laptop for a long time, and it gets heated up in the middle of an important position in the game where you could lose all the progress if it is not cooled down immediately. In this guide, I will discuss with you: How to Cool Laptop When Gaming? Read till the end to get valuable solutions. Read more about How Long Do Gaming Laptops Last?
How to Cool Laptop When Gaming?
The most common mechanism in a laptop is the cooler; the cooler is in GPU, CPU, and motherboard. It automatically cools down your laptop, but if it doesn’t, it must not be functioning correctly. So it would help if you looked to check the fans out or upgrade the software of your laptop to the latest version.
Another fundamental way to cool down your laptop is to place it in an open space because we tend to play games indoors in a room full of humidity and lack of air. Once it gets some air from outside and is kept on a cooling pad, your laptop will be cooled down.
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Detailed guide: How to Cool Laptop When Gaming?
There are plenty of cases on the internet in which people explained their laptop ran out of function because of constant heating issues. It could be because of various reasons, and you need to keep a check on all of them so that your gaming laptop is safe and you cool it down as soon as possible to increase its durability.
The laptop is heated because of more than usual usage and the unideal temperature it is exposed to. If you live in a country or place with a lot of heat in the atmosphere and your room temperature is always high, then you could experience this issue.
This issue could also be because of outdated hardware, apart from traditional heating reasons. If you update your gaming laptop’s internal hardware timely, you will not face these issues as the gaming laptops are designed in a way that they can absorb the heat. Hence, if you are facing this issue, it must be because you are not updating your internal hardware’s timely manner.
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Laptop getting heated more than usual:
Laptop gets heated when you play heavy games or multi-tasking, obviously because it is running more load than usual, so the fans and internal cooling system is helping the laptop to keep in control. However, if you experience the laptop’s fans spinning more than usual, your laptop is getting warmer without playing games or multi-tasking. There must be a problem which you need to fix as soon as possible before it damages the internal components.
Another way of knowing that your laptop is getting heated is its performance. You will suddenly experience lags during gaming and feel that your laptop’s speed has slowed significantly because of extra load on important gaming components like CPU and GPU. They clock as an alarm when the temperature is too high to keep the laptop safe.
If you see these indications, do not ignore them as running your laptop with a full load even when it’s getting heated for a long time. In worst cases, it could lead to permanent damage to your components, which means more expenses to replace them all, or the whole laptop. So better take these warnings seriously.
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Tricks to keep your gaming laptop cool:
Don’t worry if you are facing this issue, as I have mentioned ways through which you can cool down your gaming laptop or save it from potential heating in the future. Do not miss any point in this guide, as it will be helpful for you to keep your laptop’s components and your hard-earned money.
Make sure you have a suitable surface for the laptop:
When you are gaming on your laptop, it means that your laptop is working at its full potential so that it will get heated. To minimise the heating or keep the ventilation on, you must select the surface on which you place the laptop wisely. Please don’t put it on the bed, pillows etc. They tend to stop the ventilation, which results in heating your laptop and disturbing the performance of your laptop.
On the other hand, if you have a solid surface to put your laptop on, it would give you more space for ventilation, and there will be enough space for passing air. Whenever the laptop starts to get heated because of the surface, your laptop will be able to cool down through its natural fan cooling mechanism.
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Buy a gaming laptop cooling pad:

Another important way of keeping your laptop cool is buying a laptop cooling pad, an inexpensive method to keep it cool. They have external fans, which keep your laptop cool when the internal fans aren’t able to perform or not able to manage the extra heat.
You keep your laptop on the cooling pad, which is connected to your laptop via a USB port.
Now there are two types of laptops, one type sucks the cold air from below and removes the warm air from the sides, and the other type is the opposite. Make sure you know which style your gaming laptop belongs to choose the best laptop cooling pad.
The best cooling pad for gaming laptops in 2022 is Thermaltake Massive 20 RGB. However, you can also explore options from other manufacturers and choose the best one that suits your computer.
Keep a check on your laptop’s fans:
Every laptop’s natural mechanism is its fan, which cools down your system when it gets heated. So it is always wise to check the fans before anything else as they provide the airflow throughout the system. If one of the fans fails to perform, you should replace or fix it as soon as possible before the computer components get damaged because of excessive heat. You can also check the current fan speed (RPM) from your system.
Your laptop’s fan is faulty if it makes rattling noises for a long time before it finally dies. If one of your laptop’s fans is making these grinding noises, this is an indication for you.
Another sign is total silence and no sound of a fan at all. It means that your laptop’s fan has died and would eventually cause overheating when it is under load.
Clean your laptop fans dust in 3-6 months:
Dust can cause the fans to jam out if they are not cleaned after every 3-6 months because dust makes them work slower and disturbs the airflow. Once you wash them, the cooling mechanism will work properly, and your laptop’s internal performance will also increase.
Renew the Thermal Paste of your gaming laptop timely:
Thermal grease also helps your computer cool down, so if it looks terrible, renew it as it also plays a vital role in cooling down your processor. Once the thermal paste lose its effectiveness, it could screw up your processor over time. It is technical, so better consult an expert if your thermal paste has dried out.
Update the Hardware to the latest version:
Technologies are improving with every year, so you should keep updating them if you want to play high-end newly released games. If you have an old RAM, consider replacing it or adding an SSD card to your gaming laptop, as it also helps reduce the temperature by providing more power to your system while playing your favourite game.
Increasing the RAM and processor of your gaming PC decreases the temperature as you can put more load on your PC. And it won’t get heated a lot as the burden is shared between newly installed laptop components, so better update the hardware when possible. It will boost your gaming performance as well in 2022.
Multitasking on your laptop:
Try to keep your tasks to a minimum while using the laptop, do one thing at a time. A task manager on your laptop will help you out in this case, and you can figure out which application is running in the background, causing more load to the laptop.
Reduce the GPU settings in Games:
Suppose your gaming laptop has essential components installed, and you don’t have a budget to upgrade them. In that case, you can set the graphics card settings in your games so that only the required amount of graphics are utilised, and your laptop doesn’t get heated because of more load.
It will increase the frame rates and your gaming, giving you a better gaming experience. Another option is installing external graphics cards, which are a little cheaper and can easily be installed on your gaming laptop.
Finally, let me give you some valuable advice which you should consider to keep your gaming laptop components checked and maintained timely. Most of us have played high-end games on gaming desktops rather than laptops, and we have fixed them whenever they had any minor issues.
But improving the laptop is not as easy as setting up your gaming desktop. And as gaming laptops are much more expensive, you should always consult an expert before repairing them on your own because it could cost you a lot if anything goes wrong.
If your laptop has a warranty, go for a claim rather than fixing it on your own because it will void the warranty and won’t be helpful for the future if you ever want it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it okay for a gaming laptop to get hot?
You could be playing a high-end game on a gaming laptop and expect it to be hot sometimes. But if the laptop does it regularly, heat could seriously damage your computer components because running your gaming laptop on the heat for long periods could harm internal components. If we take the example of two of the most critical gaming laptop parts which boost your gaming experience, GPU and CPU, are designed to run at higher temperatures. The performance will be significantly down, and you will feel it during your gameplay if the laptop is heated more.
Does the cooling pad help the laptop while gaming?
It does help your laptop to be calm during your gameplay because it checks the temperature constantly and helps your laptop keep cool. But it doesn’t help improve your gaming experience because it makes you feel there’s something extra on which your computer is sitting. Those extra couple of fans on the back of your laptop would irritate you while playing the game. So it is your preference. If your system is a bit older, you could choose this option. Otherwise, natural cooling mechanisms are usually enough for a new laptop to keep cool, while high-end gaming games are in 2022.
How to cool a laptop with ice?
You better not think of considering this option. Because the ice consists of water and it will destroy your computer once the water gets into it directly. Condensation will be created due to ice and will create moisture inside your gaming laptop which will cause serious harm to your laptop’s internal components.
How to cool down a laptop without a cooling pad?
There are plenty of ways to cool down your laptop without a cooling pad. You can check if its fan is functioning correctly; if not, fix it. You can replace the thermal paste if it has been removed because of overuse. Please check your laptop’s temperature regularly, as it would help you fix the problem before it gets out of hand. You can clean the air vents regularly for better airflow.
Keep a laptop on a flat surface, check your game settings and keep them at mid-level graphics and CPU settings so that it consumes less power. Lastly, ensure you get an external GPU if you are playing high-end games because it will help you share the load of your favourite game and won’t put pressure on the internal graphics card; hence won’t heat up quickly.
Final words:
This ends our guide: How to Cool Laptop When Gaming? Where multiple methods were discussed with you on how to cool down your laptop and how you can make sure it doesn’t get heated up quickly. If you have more questions like this, you may ask.
Thanks for reading!