My laptop has been getting very hot and slow for some time now when I play games like Fortnite, Minecraft or Paladins. It is an Asus Zenbook, unfortunately I can't give a more detailed description, since the purchase was a little earlier. When I play on the laptop, I do it on my sofa and there's a pad under the laptop (my English book.), So that it actually gets enough air. Nevertheless, it gets incredibly hot (even if you only press the W for a long time, you can already feel the hot key) and the game does not run completely smoothly when I do not play it with mains operation.
I know that a laptop isn't suitable for gaming anyway, but I've been doing it for about 2 years. So far I have never been worried, but today he crashed while playing (this has never happened to me before) and that somehow panicked me.
The CPU load is 60-70% (Fortnite).
Can this cause damage?
CPU, RAM, graphics card and battery emit a lot of heat. Laptop cases are built extremely tight, so ideal for heat accumulation. To dissipate the heat sufficiently is the freestyle that every laptop manufacturer has to master so that the laptop becomes halfway gaming-compatible.
The fact that you already mentioned that Fortnite runs slower on battery power tells me that the laptop is working at the limit of performance. So also with power connection. In addition, you can set in the energy options of Windows that it should also work at full capacity - but the battery will then discharge much faster.
However, what you can't prevent is the fact that the CPU and graphics card tend to underclock and run slower when they get too hot. A pure protective mechanism that is supposed to prevent more serious damage. If it gets extreme, games will crash.
The English book is definitely better than the sofa, but still not good. Documents that store heat but hardly give off (e.g. Mattresses or fabrics) are generally fatal. Books absorb heat only to a limited extent, but also means that the heat stays with the laptop. However, the laptop not only wants to blow out its waste heat via the ventilation duct, but also emits a not insignificant part of the heat downwards. A mat that absorbs heat easily, but can also release it again, is ideal (e.g. A glass table, since the heat is radiated downwards almost immediately). Incidentally, there are also cooling pads with active fans on which you can place the laptop. This also cools the case from below.
But there may also be other reasons why your laptop gets hotter than before and tends to crash: dust or old thermal compound on the CPU. It can therefore be worthwhile for experienced users to unscrew the device after a few years and to remove dust from the ventilation duct, fan and heat sink. Maybe the fan has gotten away too and rotates slower than before due to worn bearings? Would also explain the poorer cooling performance. Fans are usually very easy to replace and buy as spare parts. But be careful, taking apart laptops can be difficult, depending on the case model. If necessary. Better give someone who has already done that. Exactly the same applies to thermal paste. Too much or too little, and the cooling effect is worse than with the old paste. But there are already thermal pads to buy so that you no longer have to dose the paste.
My thoughts on this, hope they help you further.
