r/redneckengineering • u/GC_Painter • 4d ago
Uh.....D.I.Y computer cooling pad?
Hope this is redneck enough lol
Wanted to play VRChat but my computer overheats easily and since I was worried about pieces melting and I'm still looking at actual cooling pads...I figured this would do well.
It surprisingly did. When I touched the computer when done it was a little hot, but not to the point it'd burn me!
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u/SkullOfOdin 4d ago
I remember playing Lol like that with my old laptop. At the end of a game my left hand were cold as fuck lol. Good times.
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u/Jijijoj 4d ago
Top tier redneck engineering. Simple yet effective
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u/GC_Painter 4d ago
Not as flashy though sadly. Needs more tape lol But thank you! Hope you have a nice day!
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u/anubisviech 4d ago
If it overheats, you probably need to clean it. Unless it doesn't actually overheat an just gets a bit hot.
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u/GC_Painter 4d ago
Ima be honest I don't really....know how to clean it. But I figure it does make some sense since the games that make the computer overheat the worst is VRCHAT and Spiritfarer (which are pretty bulky games from what I know). But thank you!
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u/horneymilfinyourarea 4d ago
there was a tieme where the only computer I had was a $40 chromebook with a screen that only worked sometimes, and also overheated if I didn't do this with a fan. I used a blanket to create a funnel and a place to put my laptop
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u/baphometromance 4d ago edited 4d ago
Id recommend cleaning inside the machine, but I also wanted to mention that you will get better cooling if you can find a way to lift it up off of the surface of the fan a little bit so that the air has a place to go. Right now you're certainly getting some level of improved thermals, but a lot of the possible air flow is getting blocked by the laptop acting almost like a wall. You want air to leave the fan and either go into the vents in the case or have room to deflect off of the bottom face of the the laptop and get pushed out from under the sides. And like the other guy said, you'll do better if you can lift the fan off the surface of the table too, but at that point it would get kind of precarious I'd imagine. You could probably whip something together that would work with some good old fashioned zip ties though
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u/GC_Painter 4d ago
I'll look into it, but honestly for now the setup does it's job. Which is I don't have to worry about accidentally making it overheat to the point of breaking it. It took months to save up (and I was lucky because if I remember I got a decent chunk of that money from selling something, though that's a whole other thing) and I don't think I'd be able to afford any repairs or god forbid a new laptop...
I'm rambling though, thank you for the advice!
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u/mr_bigmouth_502 4d ago
It infuriates me that they make laptops that can get that hot. I know it's fashionable to make everything thin, but they should really make thicker laptops with bigger heatsinks so that they don't get that hot in the first place. If they really want to make them thin, then they should stick to using lower-TDP components.
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u/HistoricalTowel1127 3d ago
You are doing it wrong, redneck. You want the fan to draw away the heat not blow on the decvice. Blowing in it blows dust into all the little cracks and stuff. If you turn fan the other way it works just as good and better for equipment.
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u/Generic_Fighter 3d ago
I was thinking of doing something like this for my PS3 but it turned out it just needed a new hard drive. Might bookmark this post in case I need it someday.
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u/GC_Painter 3d ago
....Snap I was not expecting to actually be giving other people inspiration when I posted this. Thank you!
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u/LastChingachgook 4d ago
I mean, if it makes you feel better. That’s probably not helping the cooling much.
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u/GC_Painter 4d ago
It wouldn't? What should I do then?? Still looking at cooling pads and it'll take me a few months to pro'lly get a good one.
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u/TurboJake 4d ago
This is literally good enough you're getting airflow to take the heat away from the computer, and likely brush a bit through. Only characteristic I'd be a bit concerned of is getting excess dust up inside the computer. Keep your area clean and it should be a non-issue. Ignore that comment, this is literally cooling as you think it should.
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u/KyloWrench 4d ago
No clue what they are on about, this would absolutely help the cooling. It sounds like you’ve already seen that. The only thing I would point out is ideally you need the back side of the fan clear to suck in more air to blow on the pc. If you want to keep with the subs aesthetic you could put the fan on 4 beer cans like table legs to allow airflow under it
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u/Patrol-007 4d ago
That’s actually clever - I have a bunch of fans that size and never thought of that 👍