Vostro 3550 - Overheating when playing games

My Vostro gets really hot at the left vent and also at the vent underneath at the left side. The screen starts artifacting badly and eventually bluescreens if I don't hold the laptop in the air for a minute or two to cool. I quite often play games in bed with the laptop resting on the duvet and this is when the laptop overheats. This is obviously not ideal for airflow.

Anyone recommend a cooler?


I'm considering either the Coolermaster U2 plus with two movable fans, or the Zalman ZM-NS2000 with a fixed 200mm fan. The Zalman can be tilted to 4 positions and has stops to prevent the laptop sliding off. But I don't know which one cools the laptop more effectively.

There are 3 vents underneath the Vostro, two are in the middle and one is to the left on the silver bit. I don't know which fans serve them better, the single large fan or the smaller movable ones.

 

Based on the CPU model I deduce that the notebook is at least 2 years old. I would therefore first consult the user manual to see how to take the fan out and remove all the muck that has most likely built up on the heat exchanger.

Any supplementary cooling will then be more effective if the internal air paths are clear but you may find that once the internals are unclogged then the temperatures become OK.

John

 

Sounds like a good idea. Yes it's 2011 that I bought it. I'd be very happy to remove the fan.

I've seen a youtube video and the fan is facing up meaning you have to replace tons of stuff including the keyboard and complete top panel. Bit of a faff but it's just a few screws and clips so I'll have a go at that.

 

Well I took it apart last night. Took me a few hours but was fun and nerve wracking at the same time! Thought I'd broken a connector at one point.

Here's pics I took of the process for anyone interested.

Postimage.org / gallery - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Yeah, had to gut the whole laptop to get to the CPU and GPU TIM. Cleaned off the old hardened stuff and applied Arctic Cooling MX2. I put on a bit less MX2 than in the pic, but not much less. Idle temps haven't changed.

CPU still idles at 52/54c. GPU idles at 51/52c. Harddrive idles at 42c. I've heard it's not uncommon for the Vostro 3550 CPU to idle in the 50's or should it be much lower?

Having said all that, maybe I've improved overall temps under load. Temps during prime95 and intel burntest are much more like they used to be when I first bought the laptop. Just had Prime95 large FFTs running overnight for 7 hours and the highest temps recorded were 76c CPU, while the GPU got to 63c and the harddrive 50c so is that decent?

 

I'm sure noone's really that interested but an update anyway.

Changing the TIM has indeed made a huge difference. While idle temps have not shown any improvement, the load temps are where it's showing the new paste is working. I played a game last night for a few hours, resting on my duvet where gaming normally makes it bluescreen and reboot. But the GPU temp only went to 56c and remained at that. The CPU temp went to about 68c. No hint of overheating or artifacts on screen, so no bluescreen or rebooting. Yay! I ordered a coolermaster U2 yesterday for £17 from amazon before I discovered this. It'll still be nice to receive the cooler, but right now, it's looking like the new thermal paste is doing it's job well. *pats myself on the back*