[eminton]

so this has happened before but it was all the time. When i play World of Warcraft my fan in the top left corner of the laptop is running pretty high. and its hot, yes i know its supposed to be hot cause of the cooling, but it seems just hot. the fan doesnt cool down until i leave WoW. is it just wow making the cpu run harder so the fan is picking up the slack? or is there something else?


i have a Powerbook G4 1.67 processor, 1gig of ram, 100gig hard drive, 128 video card. there is a cooling pad underneath the computer but the fans of the cooling pad are centered underneath the laptop. when i try getting the fans underneath the top part it doesnt help any


HELP! or help me learn what its doing

[tinkered]

Yes, gaming is very strenuous for a computer, both for the CPU and GPU. Both the CPU and GPU generate heat when pushed, causing the fans to kick on to full boar and to not stop until the stress is ended and the computer has cooled. The aluminum case the PB and MBP have also works as a secondary heat spreader, meaning that the case gets hot to the touch but is actually improving convection.

There are several things one can do to improve heat dissipation. The simple, passive, thing to do is keep the vents clear. After that you can elevate you computer on a stand that leaves plenty of room for air circulation. If you want to actively cool your computer, you can get a fan or even and stand with a fan. The ultimate solution it to set up your computer in a walk in freezer. Although, I won't let your computer's temperature drop below freezing, as that can be detrimental too, so you'll need to keep playing WOW.

[amazing]

I second the idea of getting a small, very quiet, desk fan that you set up to blow across the slightly elevated laptop. That's the best solution, because it'll cool both you and the laptop. Too much heat's gotta be not so good in the long run, regardless of the design parameters.

[JoshuaZ]

Well having a cooling pad under your computer is probably the most proactive thing you can do. A proper stand under a laptop so air can move around is key, especially when gaming. My Macbook Pro gets wicked hot when I load up a game.

Try running a program like iStat and check your temp after playing for a while. I`m courious about how hot your computer is at. You can also check the speeds of your various internal fans as well.