Laptop gaming and heat

[SuperMatt]

So, I recently bought Dragon Age for my 17" Powerbook 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo. It looks really great and actually seems to run quite smoothly. However, it takes only seconds before the fans start to kick in, and soon they are really humming along, and the computer gets quite warm.

1. Can I run this game at a low setting and cap the frame rate or overall CPU usage to keep this from happening?

2. Alternately, can anybody recommend a powerful laptop cooler? I've been reading about and feel drawn towards the Zalman NC-3000, but I thought gamers on here might have better experience with laptop cooling than I do.

 

[zao8350]

i have the 2.8 ghz core duo 15" and i mainly game on it. The heat isn't that much of an issue. I thought about buying a cooler but instead i just elevated the back of the laptop with a zippo lighter box so it gets a little air under there and it's still going strong. i've had the computer a year and have logged a LOT of hours gaming. several almost all day gaming stints as well. I had the GPU overlcocked for about a month as well.

All this is to say you don't really need anything for cooling unless the noise bothers you or you're leaving the computer in your lap. I just wouldn't worry if I were you. That's just my opinion.

 

[No1nfoProvided]

i have the 2.8 ghz core duo 15" and i mainly game on it. The heat isn't that much of an issue. I thought about buying a cooler but instead i just elevated the back of the laptop with a zippo lighter box so it gets a little air under there and it's still going strong. i've had the computer a year and have logged a LOT of hours gaming. several almost all day gaming stints as well. I had the GPU overlcocked for about a month as well.

All this is to say you don't really need anything for cooling unless the noise bothers you or you're leaving the computer in your lap. I just wouldn't worry if I were you. That's just my opinion.

+1. My MBP1,1 (>4 years and still going strong) has logged a grip of hours playing games and it keeps getting hot. It gets hot when just idling Windows as well and I just haven't worried about.