gaming optimization tweaks

jamos316 · 19 Oct 2016

hi,

i am starting getting into gaming on my laptop, my laptop hasnt got the best specs for gaming and would like to know if ut of there's any settings i can tweak to get the most the experience.

specs are: i7 2.9ghz, 12gb ram, amd 7570m radeon hd. hp elitebook 8470p.

recently im having trouble when playing call of duty world at war, 5 minutes into the gameplay the laptop just powers off. i presume this is to do with overheating so is there anything i can do here to set the fans on the highest?
i did look into the amd catalyst control center for gaming options and have set to performance, before was on balanced. the game now seems to run smooth after 30 minutes of gameplay.

Barman58 · 19 Oct 2016

Am not a gamer so any suggestions I give are based on technical factors.

Laptops are always less well specified than a desktop of the same age/cost

Turn down the quality settings as much as you can (only you can decide what level is acceptable)
Check your task manager for unneeded programs that might be stopped whilst playing (EG. do you really need to be checking Social media whilst gaming)
If you can set the laptop on some form of cooler pad ( if possible use an external controller/keyboard to keep laptop continuously cooled.
Always run on mains where possible as this will always run slightly better than battery

RoasterMen · 19 Oct 2016

It's definitely the temp on the laptop already reaching the shut-off point.. When was the last time your laptop got cleaned inside?

TairikuOkami · 19 Oct 2016

Get a laptop cooler. There are many around, I would suggest the one with a big fan and a metal made, not a plastic one. I have got Zalman ZM-NC3 and I have also removed laptop's bottom cover, my load temperature dropped by 20C. Note, that you should not touch the laptop like that down there or you might, well die.

jamos316 · 20 Oct 2016

i have taken off the back cover and cant see any dust, do you suggest blasting the fans with compressed air?
ive seen others that suggest to re apply the heat sink thermal paste but i dont feel confident to try and do this.

RoasterMen said:

It's definitely the temp on the laptop already reaching the shut-off point.. When was the last time your laptop got cleaned inside?

jamos316 · 20 Oct 2016

do i need to spend big money or can i get away with something like this...
6 Fans Laptop Cooler Mat Stand Tilt For 12 inch Cooling Pad | eBay

dont really have the money to spend a lot at the moment

TairikuOkami said:

Get a laptop cooler. There are many around, I would suggest the one with a big fan and a metal made, not a plastic one. I have got Zalman ZM-NC3 and I have also removed laptop's bottom cover, my load temperature dropped by 20C. Note, that you should not touch the laptop like that down there or you might, well die.

CountMike · 20 Oct 2016

Laptop coolers/stands are largely ineffective, better try one of this type: Amazon.com: Opolar LC06 Laptop Fan with Temperature Display and Cooling Pads: Computers Accessories

smirk24 · 25 Jan 2017

How many processes do you have? If you have a large amount of processes your cpu can run hot

Helmut · 25 Jan 2017

It is a Laptop and as such far from ideal for gaming. As you have found out some can overheat if they have a poor design.
I would check on that to confirm with something like CPUID HWMonitor, run it in the background doing something intensive and it should show the max temperature reached by the CPU etc.

There are no real tweaks. The hardware is what it is, nothing changes that. A standard Laptop has fixed hardware.

The settings in games are basically a swop between features and frame rates. That is one of experience to set those.

You obviously should be doing maintenance tasks by keeping intakes, fans clear etc. Pretty obvious by looking at them if dust needs removing.
Can't see that a cooling mat would make much difference, somewhat remote from where the cooling needs to be.