Keeping my Asus G51 cool

JesseM

Posts: 237   +10
I've had my Asus G51 for a little over a year now, and have been fully aware of its overheating issue. With only this webpage open and no other programs running except SpeedFan, the GPU temp rises until the fan kicks in at 89C.

All this wasn't too big of an issue in the past until I started playing the Crysis 2 demo. My hardware can run the game just fine, looks very smooth, but my GPU really starts heating up. While playing Crysis 2 windowed at 720p and lowest video settings, my GTX 260m will fairly quickly reach 102C and will top off at ~107C with the fan blowing full speed.

Just today I drilled 7 small holes in the infamous fake vent on the bottom of the G51 case, and it didn't seem to make any difference at all.

Ambient room temperature is around 64F (18C) so that shouldn't be an issue. The laptop is on a wooden desk with the back propped up.

I'm considering buying/making a laptop cooling pad, but I'd really prefer to try to further mod the case of this thing to cool it off. It seems like people have been very successful with the case mod but for some reason it isn't doing the trick for me. I drilled much smaller holes, which could be part of the problem, but I still expected to see at least a few degrees of difference with any holes at all. Before I cut a huge hole in the bottom of my laptop, does anyone have any other ideas? I'm worried that cutting the entire fake vent off will keep the other components from getting cool, fresh air.

Please help!
 
Update: It's been almost three months since my initial post and the problem persists (possibly getting worse). I just put new thermal compound on the GPU and CPU (Arctic Silver 5) after carefully scraping off the old stock stuff, which was pretty much fried off completely where it contacted the cores. The temps are surprisingly almost exactly the same as before. It's possible that when the fan kicks in it cools faster, but the GPU still hits ~89C while idle and 100C+ while gaming.

I'd really love to know what I can do to keep my temperatures down. I'd rather not go out and buy a cooling pad. It seems pretty ridiculous that the fan has to kick in 100% when my laptop is sitting closed with no programs running and very few background services and processes running, especially considering it cost >$1000 and is less than two years old.
 
Thanks for the tip, I did get all the dust out that I could (there wasn't much at all).

On a different note, I realized that my graphics card is located directly beneath where my palm rests when I'm gaming (using the WASD keys) which certainly doesn't help keep the card cool. I'm beginning to think there's not really much I can do besides purchasing a laptop cooler.

Anyone have any recommendations for laptop coolers? I'd prefer one that doesn't run off USB power, but I can't find many of these. I'm also open to making my own if anyone has any schematics/instructions as I'm not sure how to power the fans.
 
I know this is an old thread, and you probably already know the info that being provided, but here it is anyways.

For the back plate modification follow this guide type in asus g60vx cooling mod on youtube. it should be the 4th video down. Your laptop is similar enough to use this guide. I am assuming your warranty is up, or you don't care, because this obviously will void it.

If your warranty is still applicable than you can try passive cooling by applying gpu/cpu cooling blocks available at amazon or ebay type in self stick copper heatsinks they are for the xbox 360 but will work with your gpu.

I also suggest taking a look at these guides on notebookforums:
Type in "grab copper and drill now notebookforums" in google. shows you how to apply the heat sinks

You could also visit the g51 owners lounge at notebookforums.


Most of this information is probably redundant, but it has helped me immensely in modifying my Asus g51vx-rx05. My max temps under load (furmark) never exceed 92c. My idle temps are: gpu:58c, cpu: (T9800) 32c. Temperatures obtained from CPUID Hwmonitor. This is before the fan mod. I expect lower temps after words. I am hoping to never have my card above 90.

Hope I helped, as I had to take all the hyperlinks and links out, and that was a rather painful experience.
 
Thank you thesnappyfinger, that really helped a lot. I had quickly gone through all the info you mentioned and decided to buy some of those little copper heatsinks (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108071). I have yet to install them, and yet to drill more holes in the case.

I also bought a Cooler Master U3 cooling pad and that has made a huge difference. My temps look about the same as yours (max out at ~92C, idle at ~60C) with the bottom of the case removed completely and fans blowing full speed, but without the heatsinks installed. I need to send in the laptop to Asus and I'll install the sinks and drill the case after that. I'll post an update with temps.
 
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