Quiet gaming laptop

Andythe Random · 19 May 2017 at 18:42

Is there such a thing as a quiet gaming laptop?
Or is this a mythical beast like the unicorn?

MiSJAH · 19 May 2017 at 19:04

Big and chunky notebooks offer quieter use, because of bigger cooling solutions. Clevo/Sager make some monsters.

My X5 is thin and light yet with fans limited to 40% I can still game on the sofa next to the Doris watching TV (yay, headphones).

Mac_Geek · 22 May 2017 at 07:33

Andythe Random said:
Is there such a thing as a quiet gaming laptop?
Or is this a mythical beast like the unicorn?

Well, it would be hard since the fan would be running nonstop to keep it from heating. The quite Laptop that i have tried is probably Acer Aspire VX 15 with GTX 1050 TI.

Andythe Random · 22 May 2017 at 11:42

Mac_Geek said:
Well, it would be hard since the fan would be running nonstop to keep it from heating. The quite Laptop that i have tried is probably Acer Aspire VX 15 with GTX 1050 TI.

Makes sense, lower power, easier to cool, you can even get a passively cooled 1050Ti card for desktop. I guess I have to make my choice based on the power v noise scale.

MrFunex · 22 May 2017 at 17:14

I think, as the old phrase (almost) goes;

Quiet. Gaming. Laptop. Pick two.

That being said, the cooling system on my (6820HK/GTX1080) Alienware 17 R4 is impressive, fan noise is more of a background whoosh than other laptops, which doesn't seem so intrusive. Even when overclocked from 3.6 to 4.1GHz, I wouldn't say it's overly loud....

kaktus · 3 Jun 2017 at 13:50

I have an Alienware 17 R4 which is able to keep temps below 60c at 2700rpm fans. To put that into perspective, that's full settings on Doom at 1080p at near silent operation. Full settings GTA @2900rpm on the fans. No water cooling, just normal air cooling. To achieve this I arranged for a custom modder to do the following:

* repaste CPU and GPU with liquid metal (grizzly)
* heatsink re-machining to improve contact (tested with pressure paper)
* Fujipoly thermal pad replacements for all stock pads (on chipsets, ram chips etc)

Do this and you'll have near silent, ultra high end gaming laptop with nothing but air cooling. Head over to notebookreview forums and check out the Alienware repasting threads if you want to learn more.

Kohaashi · 3 Jun 2017 at 23:13

Asus G752.

Andrew_McP · 3 Jun 2017 at 23:29

I have a Lenovo Y700 (6700HQ/960M) and the fan noise is never what I'd call loud, even during a gaming session. Having said that, I've just had a motherboard replaced after only 6 months, so maybe it ought to be louder.

I know the 960M isn't supposed to be very powerful, but it seems to handle anything I've thrown at it so far. I don't worry about whether all the bells and whistles are engaged on games these days though, even on my desktop machine. Games long since got more than pretty enough to keep me happy.

Edit: for the sake of those researching at a later date, since its motherboard replacement my Y700 is 'significantly' louder during anything game-related. It's not horrible, but it's nowhere near as quiet as it was before. I suspect the BIOS has been tweaked for cooling and lifespan.

Peter450 · 4 Jun 2017 at 10:35

kaktus said:
I have an Alienware 17 R4 which is able to keep temps below 60c at 2700rpm fans. To put that into perspective, that's full settings on Doom at 1080p at near silent operation. Full settings GTA @2900rpm on the fans. No water cooling, just normal air cooling. To achieve this I arranged for a custom modder to do the following:

* repaste CPU and GPU with liquid metal (grizzly)
* heatsink re-machining to improve contact (tested with pressure paper)
* Fujipoly thermal pad replacements for all stock pads (on chipsets, ram chips etc)

Do this and you'll have near silent, ultra high end gaming laptop with nothing but air cooling. Head over to notebookreview forums and check out the Alienware repasting threads if you want to learn more.

If you don't mind me asking how much did it cost to have this work done and who did you use ?

Genoma · 4 Jun 2017 at 10:38

I had an Alienware 15 1070 for a few weeks from the Dell outlet, that thing was a jet engine and no good to me in the lounge. Sent it back. Interested in the 17s if they are quieter...

Andythe Random · 4 Jun 2017 at 12:24

Went for a Dell inspiron 15 7000 gaming in the end, the version with the 1050ti. Mainly because it was the cheapest that would play everything I want at decent quality and I didn't want to carry a big expensive laptop all round the country.
So far it has coped with everything on ultra except anti aliasing, and fairly quiet, not silent, but not disturbing in a living room situation.

kaktus · 5 Jun 2017 at 01:56

Peter450 said:
If you don't mind me asking how much did it cost to have this work done and who did you use ?

I got it done by iunlock who's been pioneering the process. Unfortunately he's based in seattle so I had him send it to Miami and picked it up there when I went on holiday. I do believe he has a contact here in the UK who does the same work (I'm anal about precision and quality of work so I wanted the very best job done but he also did a whole bunch of other things for me like install dual evo SSDs and transfer OS over, swap out killer WiFi for an Intel WiFi, upgrade the subwoofer, mouse pad, refit the display to eliminate all light bleed etc his work is exceptional). If you get in touch with him over at NBR forums he can point you in the right direction and discuss fees. He charges about $150 for the basic repaste and suggested to me at the time that his contact in the UK would cost about the same. Machining heatsinks, tuning OC and volts etc are more expensive obviously

The result however is priceless as I know of no other laptop running a 1070 card playing games at full settings and being whisper quiet.

kaktus · 5 Jun 2017 at 02:03

Genoma said:
I had an Alienware 15 1070 for a few weeks from the Dell outlet, that thing was a jet engine and no good to me in the lounge. Sent it back. Interested in the 17s if they are quieter...

It's a jet engine because Dell has done an abysmal job pasting, levelling heatsinks and thermal padding. The stock 17 is no better.

Once a repaste is done with liquid metal, the heat sinks are properly aligned or levelled if needed and thermal pads replaced it will be whisper quiet as well. The 15 runs slightly hotter by about 5C only due to decreased heatpipes, smaller fans and less airflow.

I recommend you head over to NBR forums and read through the alien ware repaste thread. You'll know everything about the problem and the solution by the time you're done with that thread

Genoma · 5 Jun 2017 at 09:58

I hear what you are saying, and I had read the repaste outcomes on Reddit, but for me the cost doesn't justify it as I'm unlikely to use it a lot. Went down the Nintendo Switch route instead, and so far it's been amazing.

Selekt0r · 6 Jun 2017 at 09:47

Andythe Random said:
Went for a Dell inspiron 15 7000 gaming in the end, the version with the 1050ti. Mainly because it was the cheapest that would play everything I want at decent quality and I didn't want to carry a big expensive laptop all round the country.
So far it has coped with everything on ultra except anti aliasing, and fairly quiet, not silent, but not disturbing

What is the screen like on it? Reviews of models with the full-HD TN panel said the screen was awful. I asked Dell (via web chat) about the screens on the current models and they said that all of them are now IPS panels, although I'm not 100% sure I believe them...

Andythe Random · 6 Jun 2017 at 18:20

From the vertical viewing angle, its TN. I didnt get mine direct from Dell though, so it may be that the newer stock from Dell will be IPS, I couldn't say.
The screen itself to me is not bad at all, pretty decent for TN, but that is rather subjective. I would advise trying to see one first hand if you can.