So I had a similar problem and what actually worked pretty well was an external vacuum fan [1]. I tested it before by just using an inflator I had to pull a vacuum and I watched the CPU temp drop so I knew this was valid.<p>[1] this is just example, there's better ones I'm sure. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/KLIM-Tempest-Laptop-Cooler-Vacuum/dp/B08P8JCBB7?crid=YGMPNPAOYX5Y&sprefix=external+laptop+fam%2Caps%2C302&sr=8-6" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/KLIM-Tempest-Laptop-Cooler-Vacuum/dp/...</a>
I drilled some holes in my Framework laptop's bezel.<p>It isn't designed to be used with the lid closed which is what I do 99% of the time. After drilling the performance with the lid closed went up 30%, with the lid open up 5%. Removing the bezel with the lid open gives extra 10% vs normal bezel.<p>The nice thing is these can be swapped easily (magnets) and come in different colors. I used to have 2 until I stopped caring about my laptop looking weird in public.
We need way more of this content! Things that were tried and failed. I have spent so many head-scratching hours on problem solution approaches that others likely already tried and failed. In science we only celebrate success. Even then it is typically poorly documented.
So you say that you didn't notice the laptop temperature getting any lower, but this isn't too surprising to me, since this thing is going to be highly thermally limited.<p>I suspect that your setup <i>is</i> doing something, but the thing it's doing is allowing your laptop to sustain a certain performance level for longer. So what I would look at is some performance metric like e.g. peakflops() in a loop, or a video game FPS counter, and compare with and without the external fans.
Another thing author missed is thermal paste. I got way better cooling in my 2-year old framework by just replacing the dried out paste.
Totally noob question: Couldn't the problem just be that the laptop body not conducting heat so much? I think it'd be worth to try it with a macbook.
How feasible would it be for laptop manufacturers to add a slot in a laptop's underside cover to the CPU's heat pipe, and adjust the heat pipe's shape at this location? This would allow a dock to insert its own heat pipe through it, and dissipate the heat with larger fans and/or larger heat sink.
For Macbook Air there was DIY solutions where people added thermal pads to conduct the heat to the aluminium chassis and then use external cooling on that [1]. Since Air just has passive cooling, this gave major boost for long running tasks.<p>[1] <a href="https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-macbook-air-heatsink-and-heat-pad-mod.2241965/" rel="nofollow">https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-macbook-air-heats...</a>
It would risk the user touching the heatpipe during work, which is quite toasty under heavy load.
Raising it is the most important part. After that, if you can pop the bottom off while it's running, and swapping out the thermal paste are my go-to.
> <i>I picked the locations of the fans and their supports very carefully, and it’s clear that the intakes aren’t blocked.</i><p>Just double checking: Did you put the fans in the correct orientation and on the intakes instead of the exits?
Aren't those laptops designed to boost until it hits the max temp ? OP should test performance before and after.
I’ve had some mild success with external piezoelectric coolers. However, the form factor isn’t ideal (weird angle, which led to a lot of returns from other people, so it’s no longer on Amazon)
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