I have a Ryzen 7 7840HS w/ RX 7700s and while the loud fan noise isn’t a game breaker for me, it would be nice if it wasn’t such a jet blast. Yes, I understand that it’s essentially par for the course. My question is, does anyone know if using a laptop cooling pad, the kind with a fan in them, would reduce the amount of total fan noise? I have my doubts about the efficacy of those devices, but I figured it didn’t hurt to ask.
Here’s one I’d consider getting if there’s reason to believe it’d make the room quieter.
I’m using a passive wedge to elevate the back of my FwL 13 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370) for improved airflow. For me, it’s helped with reducing the laptop temp by a good 2-3 degrees. It’s also improved the pitch of the fan sound.
For your use case though, I’m not quite sure that a cooling pad will help with the noise. Even if the cooling pad brings the temp down by a few degrees, since you’re pushing the system into a sustained perf zone (while gaming), the system is likely to be running the fan at full blast.
Heck, you may now have noise from the cooling pad fan as well (if you opt for the active pad option). Case in point: I bought this MagSafe charger with cooling and its fan is noisier than my laptop’s fan .
I’d be interested in other folks’ opinion, but I’d say that if you really want a cooling pad, opting for a passive wedge might be the better option to give your system more breathing room (might also help with sound pitch from the fan).
I place mine on this when I have the laptop connected up to the living room TV for gaming. Doesn’t seem to make it any quieter as the fans will still blast loud while gaming .
But it does help to move heat away from the chassis and I would think it helps to allow the cpu to boost for longer.
I’m using a KLIM Cyclone, mainly for elevation, but bere are my two cents:
First of all, it helps. Not with CPU/GPU temps per se, but it takes a lot of heat away from the bottom of the chassis, so the machine is cooler to the touch.
(I’m waiting for my thermal camera to arrive, so I can put numbers on the topic)
From my experience I have seen a cooling pad make a difference with fan noise while gaming on power saver or balanced, but it didn’t do a whole lot for high performance. That is with me using Zalman NC-1000s and NC-2000s.
Well, I slept on it and decided that I really want to know what impact it would have, so I ordered one. I’ll update this thread once I’ve done some testing.
I got the unit and did some quick testing. My CPU dropped about 5c and the bottom surface temp was a lot lower… but only if it ran at max power. At max power compared to not running the cooling pad, noise went from 44dB to over 60dB. It was so much louder than the laptop fans at full blast sounded like a whisper. That’s not an exaggeration, I had to open HWInfo64 to make sure they were actually running.
So, the answer is no. A cooling pad does not make it quieter. It can make it cooler, but I couldn’t translate that into a performance gain using BF6 as the load. If someone’s got any additional tests they’re interested in I can run it, but I’m currently panning to return the product.
My fans were so loud while gaming I couldnt play at night so my family can sleep (the bedrooms aren’t that near).
I had to switch from Windows 11 to Bazzite hoping I get fan control (that I didn’t really got), but I can control the Watts used.
So after a lot of research and try of multiples possibles solutions, underclocking the FW16 to at least 80/100 watts and trying to find balance betting acceptable performance is the only effective solution that can allow you to play while people sleep in the same appartement.
I personally prefer watt control over fan control, which I Haven’t found a good way to do yet, but therrs the fw-fanctl project that provides fan control options.
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