My laptop hit 95C before I tried a $7 fix that dropped it 20 degrees in one day

I was playing a game on my Dell G3 last weekend and noticed the fan was screaming like a jet engine. Checked temps and it was sitting at 95C under load, which freaked me out because I knew that couldn't be good for the hardware. I had read somewhere that lifting the back of the laptop helps airflow, so I grabbed two bottle caps from some soda I had and wedged them under the rear rubber feet. Ran the same game again after letting it cool down and my temps dropped to around 75C max, no joke. The difference was instant and I didn't spend a dime on a fancy cooler pad. Has anyone else tried something like this or found a better cheap hack for getting more air under their machine?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas_young14d ago

I heard some people even use a book under the back for the same effect.

craig.parker15d ago

Jumped right on this after reading it, man. I did the exact same thing with my old Acer Nitro 5 (it was a hand-me-down from my cousin, actually) and used two bottle caps from a Coke. That thing would hit 92C just browsing YouTube sometimes, but after propping it up it dropped to 78C like nothing. I also tried a cheap wire cooling stand from Amazon for like $12, but honestly the bottle caps worked just as well and didn't take up desk space when I was done gaming. The weirdest part is how much quieter the fans got, you know? I thought my laptop was just doomed to sound like a vacuum cleaner forever.