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Old laptop is so hot, any way to throttle the GPU?

chickadee

chickadee

chickadee

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Joined
14 Feb 2015
Posts
476
Location
Scotland
I have an old Toshiba laptop I would like to use as a little desktop for my parents (they have a screen/KB/mouse and it would be a nice upgrade).

specs:
AMD turion X2 ZM-80 2.10Ghz
ATI mobility HD3650
4gb ram

So its still a cabple machine for web browsing and word processing.

My problem is the damn thing is a radiator. The heat is insane and was actually given to me because it was burning the last owners legs.

So i was thinking i could throttle/underclock the GPU to try and cool i down because it will only be powering a 19" widescreen monitor and never any games.

Any idea?
 
Open it up and clean it out. Probably full of dust. Make sure all the fans are actually working. Though a quick google found others complaining of heat with this CPU. I would doubt its the GPU in normal use.
 
Yeah if heat is building up when your just word processing then its probably just full of dust like Ospreyo says, if its still hot try changing the thermal paste.

Like you said underclocking the GPU might be a good idea if its not one that lowers its clocks automatically like modern GPUs. Ya can install Afterburner, underclock it and tell it too boot with windows with your saved overclock.
 
BluD said:
Yeah if heat is building up when your just word processing then its probably just full of dust like Ospreyo says, if its still hot try changing the thermal paste.

Like you said underclocking the GPU might be a good idea if its not one that lowers its clocks automatically like modern GPUs. Ya can install Afterburner, underclock it and tell it too boot with windows with your saved overclock.
Click to expand...

I cleaned it out completely and its the same.

I did however install the AMD control centre and it gave me options to throttle down a bit which lowers the temps a good bit. I feel i could probably drop the clocks a good bit since it will never touch a game.

Not really sure how to UNDERclock......not really something I have tried before
 
If you're feeling adventurous, open it up, remove the heatsinks, and replace the likely cheap "bubblegum" thermal compound with some good stuff.
 
Monkeynut said:
If you're feeling adventurous, open it up, remove the heatsinks, and replace the likely cheap "bubblegum" thermal compound with some good stuff.
Click to expand...

I know how damn easy laptops are to take apart and how damn hard they are too put back together. I would rather not risk somthing like that as it will work as it is just now but it might not after im done with it :D
 
That gpu should be barely ticking over. Maybe try a different driver? Otherwise the thermal paste as others have said. Ssd always makes everything better. Resit the cpu and heat sinks.
 
chickadee said:
I know how damn easy laptops are to take apart and how damn hard they are too put back together. I would rather not risk somthing like that as it will work as it is just now but it might not after im done with it :D
Click to expand...

If it is old, then it is going to need its heat sinks cleaning out. More than likely looks like the lint collector from a tumble dryer by now.
 
Old laptops were always like this. I had one with a 3ghz desktop P4 in it and a desktop Radeon 9200 and that thing could sure scorch your balls.

I would just get a lap table. I have an Asus ROG 17" laptop with a desktop GTX 460 in and that thing is a proper chestnut roaster too when it wants to be.
 
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