I'm scared to clean my laptop, is it really safe to do so?

[CallMeLeonidas]

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

I found a video of a guy cleaning my laptop, and while he does use different tools from what I'm intending to buy, the steps should be the same. However, he doesn't fully clean the heatsink, but I hope that won't make much of a difference. Is that video a good tutorial? I'm still quite scared to do it on my own even with that video because I don't want to break anything, and it was expensive when I bought it back in December 2020.

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

Well, disabling turbo is pretty much what we all do on laptop. You don't need throttle stop though. Just go into the control panel and power settings. Change maximum CPU performance to %99 (default is %100). This will cancel turbo boost.

Originally posted by Leonidas:

It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

That's not true. All laptop have poor thermal management because of their thin design. I've used and worked in many and they all have one thing in common, poor thermal management.

The heatsink needs to be cleaned for sure, as that's where thermal solution is applied. You want thermal pads also. As those like to rip apart sometimes when the heat sink is removed.

The coolers on laptops come in an array of cooling channels and fins. These have to be cleaned thoroughly and the appropriate pad thickness applied to create the correct cooling offset across the chips.

Good luck!

[nullable]

Originally posted by Leonidas:

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

Well how did you determine this? Because in my experience any gaming laptop will get pretty hot under high load, especially high gaming load. So what kind of differences are you claiming?

What temps are you getting, and under the same conditions what temps are the other laptops you're claiming getting? You might be making some assumptions that just aren't true.

Originally posted by Leonidas:

I found a video of a guy cleaning my laptop, and while he does use different tools from what I'm intending to buy, the steps should be the same. However, he doesn't fully clean the heatsink, but I hope that won't make much of a difference. Is that video a good tutorial? I'm still quite scared to do it on my own even with that video because I don't want to break anything, and it was expensive when I bought it back in December 2020.

The laptop doesn't need to be cleanroom clean. It just needs to not be layered in dust, and the exhaust ports should allow airflow. The difference between pretty clean and absolutely clean is negligible.

[CallMeLeonidas]

Originally posted by nullable:

Originally posted by Leonidas:

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

Well how did you determine this? Because in my experience any gaming laptop will get pretty hot under high load, especially high gaming load. So what kind of differences are you claiming?

What temps are you getting, and under the same conditions what temps are the other laptops you're claiming getting? You might be making some assumptions that just aren't true.

Without disabling Turbo Boost in ThrottleStop the CPU temperature gets up to 100C in demanding games, while the GPU gets up to 91C after cleaning it in April. If a game is not demanding and FPS is capped, the temperatures are lower. I use MSI Afterburner to measure FPS and temperatures.

This video shows my GPU having way lower temperatures, on par with my laptop when it's idle. Their CPU is an i7-9750H and mine is an i7-10750H, but even then the difference is massive.

[nullable]

I might look at some other videos, I am a little skeptical of what's being displayed and my feeling is there's some unstated variables because the temps in the video kinda seem absurdly low. Granted I haven't run such a low end GPU in like 15 years so maybe my expectations are skewed.

But no matter what his GPU stays in the 60c range, even in demanding games at high settings. And I can't help but wonder what some of the environmental variables are, like is he running the laptop in a basement at 55F or has the laptop hardware out of its case or something.

I mean if other videos from different sources show similar things, fine, I can accept the consensus. But offhand I am skeptical of what I'm seeing here.

[CallMeLeonidas]

Originally posted by nullable:

I might look at some other videos, I am a little skeptical of what's being displayed and my feeling is there's some unstated variables because the temps in the video kinda seem absurdly low. Granted I haven't run such a low end GPU in like 15 years so maybe my expectations are skewed.

But no matter what his GPU stays in the 60c range, even in demanding games at high settings. And I can't help but wonder what some of the environmental variables are, like is he running the laptop in a basement at 55F or has the laptop hardware out of its case or something.

I mean if other videos from different sources show similar things, fine, I can accept the consensus. But offhand I am skeptical of what I'm seeing here.

It might sound absurd, but I think I've given up on this laptop and decided to get an Xbox. It can run all games I want to play reasonably well even if the graphics on it are slightly worse than on my laptop. I'd rather take a console with good temps over a hot laptop.

[nullable]

Nothing wrong with consoles. And while I like PC gaming, I'm not kidding myself or downplaying some of the challenges it presents to users. You really have to not mind going into the abyss sometimes, and the abyss isn't a fun place where most people want to hang out. But for someone like me who's spent untold hours wading through it I'm used to it so it just doesn't bother me, but that doesn't project onto everyone equally.

The best thing I can say is maybe come back to the issue in a couple of days, maybe it won't seem like such a hassle with fresh eyes.

[Raoul]

Originally posted by Leonidas:

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

I found a video of a guy cleaning my laptop, and while he does use different tools from what I'm intending to buy, the steps should be the same. However, he doesn't fully clean the heatsink, but I hope that won't make much of a difference. Is that video a good tutorial? I'm still quite scared to do it on my own even with that video because I don't want to break anything, and it was expensive when I bought it back in December 2020.

He does clean the heatsink though, what do you mean?

It's a decent video but a quicker way to do this for your situation, before taking the heatsink and fans off, use the electric duster (while holding the fans so they don't move and get damaged) to get all the dust out and then alcohol the old paste off and reinstall, don't bother with the thermal pads it won't make much of a difference and you'll be done in 1/3 the time.

Also you don't need to remove the battery, ram, ssd and wifi adapter none of those. For you only disconnect (not remove) the battery, wifi adapter, LCD connector and fans in that order and the heatsink will come out.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

How old is it? Unless it's overheating then you shouldn't need to open up the internals for cleaning.

It's easy however to blow dust out of the intake/exhaust area as well as blow out the keyboard. Then wipe down the screen and keyboard with Iso-Alcohol on a lint free rag

[Karumati]

Originally posted by Leonidas:

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

I found a video of a guy cleaning my laptop, and while he does use different tools from what I'm intending to buy, the steps should be the same. However, he doesn't fully clean the heatsink, but I hope that won't make much of a difference. Is that video a good tutorial? I'm still quite scared to do it on my own even with that video because I don't want to break anything, and it was expensive when I bought it back in December 2020.

If you scared to do it yourself then just pay someone else to do it.

[CallMeLeonidas]

Originally posted by nullable:

Nothing wrong with consoles. And while I like PC gaming, I'm not kidding myself or downplaying some of the challenges it presents to users. You really have to not mind going into the abyss sometimes, and the abyss isn't a fun place where most people want to hang out. But for someone like me who's spent untold hours wading through it I'm used to it so it just doesn't bother me, but that doesn't project onto everyone equally.

The best thing I can say is maybe come back to the issue in a couple of days, maybe it won't seem like such a hassle with fresh eyes.

I also like PC gaming for its flexibility, it does come with responsibility, and it can prove to be problematic for some, but perhaps it's worth it, so I will try.

Originally posted by Raoul:

Originally posted by Leonidas:

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

I found a video of a guy cleaning my laptop, and while he does use different tools from what I'm intending to buy, the steps should be the same. However, he doesn't fully clean the heatsink, but I hope that won't make much of a difference. Is that video a good tutorial? I'm still quite scared to do it on my own even with that video because I don't want to break anything, and it was expensive when I bought it back in December 2020.

He does clean the heatsink though, what do you mean?

It's a decent video but a quicker way to do this for your situation, before taking the heatsink and fans off, use the electric duster (while holding the fans so they don't move and get damaged) to get all the dust out and then alcohol the old paste off and reinstall, don't bother with the thermal pads it won't make much of a difference and you'll be done in 1/3 the time.

Also you don't need to remove the battery, ram, ssd and wifi adapter none of those. For you only disconnect (not remove) the battery, wifi adapter, LCD connector and fans in that order and the heatsink will come out.

I don't have an electric duster, and I don't want to spend too much money as I'd already spend a lot on things I want to use to clean it.

Why not use thermal pads? I read a review (though old at this point) saying that it helped massively reduce their laptop's temperatures.

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

How old is it? Unless it's overheating then you shouldn't need to open up the internals for cleaning.

It's easy however to blow dust out of the intake/exhaust area as well as blow out the keyboard. Then wipe down the screen and keyboard with Iso-Alcohol on a lint free rag

It's overheating a lot, reaches 91C on the GPU and 100C on the CPU, and starts throttling within a minute of heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. Bought it in December 2020, probably manufactured in October 2020 judging by install dates.

Originally posted by Karumati:

Originally posted by Leonidas:

So I've got an Acer Predator Triton 300 PT315-52 that gets hot whenever I do anything unless I disable Turbo in ThrottleStop, and even then it gets hot during heavy gaming with uncapped FPS. It's really annoying considering that laptops with similar specs get way lower temperatures even in very demanding games.

I found a video of a guy cleaning my laptop, and while he does use different tools from what I'm intending to buy, the steps should be the same. However, he doesn't fully clean the heatsink, but I hope that won't make much of a difference. Is that video a good tutorial? I'm still quite scared to do it on my own even with that video because I don't want to break anything, and it was expensive when I bought it back in December 2020.

If you scared to do it yourself then just pay someone else to do it.

I asked someone if they can replace the thermal pads, and they said that it's not necessary despite how old it is. I can't really trust them, and when I got it cleaned by someone it didn't help much, though it did stop dropping GPU clock hard every few seconds.

[WarBucks]

Uncapped FPS is always going to max out the thermals on any laptop.

A more useful temperature would be locking it at say 30, 60, 90 etc. If say a simple game is maxing at the temps at 30 then you have a thermal problem no doubt

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Start with Undervolting the CPU and enforcing a 60-90 FPS cap and see how it does.

[Karumati]

Originally posted by Leonidas:

Originally posted by Karumati:

If you scared to do it yourself then just pay someone else to do it.

I asked someone if they can replace the thermal pads, and they said that it's not necessary despite how old it is. I can't really trust them, and when I got it cleaned by someone it didn't help much, though it did stop dropping GPU clock hard every few seconds.

Find someone else to do it then, there is many ppl that can sort it out.
Also do not play with fps higher than your screen refresh rate because you don’t see extra frames

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Especially on Laptops all that extra FPS is just going to have cpu and gpu work harder and output more heat for zero benefits to you

[8-The-General-8]

Originally posted by WarBucks:

Uncapped FPS is always going to max out the thermals on any laptop.

A more useful temperature would be locking it at say 30, 60, 90 etc. If say a simple game is maxing at the temps at 30 then you have a thermal problem no doubt

Yes, I use Nvidia (Rightclick desktop and 3D settings option) to cap frame rates globally at 60. I have also been experimenting with process power management as several here have suggested in my thread on my issues with my Acer Predator Laptop.

I have been screenshotting Predator Sense (Only have fan management as an option, thanks AcerCare that got uninstalled with zero support now from Acer with a laptop only 5 years old...) with the different Power Management plans and advanced settings at 99% and 100%. I made a mistake of NOT setting Battery to 99% WITH Plugged In at 99% also, initially over weekend tests in my thread and after plugged in and battery both at 99% results have been surprisingly noticeable with reduced temps.

I will update my thread with screens soon on this.

One thing I discovered was that if your CPU is i7-7700HQ (at least) or older, you can forget future compatibility with WIN 11 (Not that I care.for a laptop personally ((Except Steams recent brash move to abandon all OS prior to WIN 10 in a few months accessing their games...))..) and baseline access tools such as XTU from Intel seem to have abandoned support... Bloody awful, really.

Really useful thread! Thanks.

P.S.

I watch a lot of vids on laptop repair lately to ahh get a bit of an idea what I can tackle easily and not, especially with regard to repasting CPU etc, which unfortunately was an harrowing experience with a really old Acer VG3 lappy lol!. I have built a PC once or twice in the past but I freeze up in a laptops innards as discussed briefly in my thread.

I know one thing for sure in the future though, if I need solid advice and experience, it's faarrr better to invest time here than trawling the internet for often sites saturated with popup adverts, some clueless authors of redundant articles on gaming/tech sites and forums with really piecemeal advice, let alone recommending oftenquestionable tools/progs to manage hardware. : (

Might be of use to OP :
steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/3826424631148827190/

.
P.P.S.

I think one of the posters here mentioned buying a miniblower for getting the dust out of a laptop case and added that to the coolingpad I am getting as a first QoL solution. Plus Artic Silver Thermal paste as suggested to me when I get frustrated enough in the end to repaste CPU. If not, then at least I know I can get the tech guy who will fix it for me, eventually, to use it instead of some alternative. I am too isolated currently to get anyone experienced doing this at present, which is a major problem and forcing me to do it myself. In lieu of no doubt really extortionate cost...