Inspiron 9100 - more heat management questions.

Hello everyone, I've just got a new Inspiron 9100 (reading this forum you guys can't get rid of them quick enough, but it was a very good deal in the UK for what I can afford - £1200 on ebay, warrantied with Dell).

I knew it would run hot. Idle CPU temp is 52-55C (the house central heating is still on!), but the fans do a great job of kicking it down when running the CPU under a load. BTW the lappy is brand new so no need to blow out the air vents yet. Been looking at all kinds of laptop cooling solutions possible but all seem quite useless - where are liquid chilled cold plates?!

I have the back of the laptop propped on a video case to improve ventillation and its only ever on a table. What I wanted to know is - can you remove the RAM cover and leave it off? It looks as if the cover is only trapping heat and the RAM cover panel is the hottest part of the underside...

Also - is there something you can do to the CPU (I do NOT want to change to a Northwood - no money or desire for that matter)? Like some kind of improved heatsink/grease. Where is the CPU on the 9100 - do you have to remove the whole base - I haven't been able to find this info anywhere.

I'm not worried about the temps too much but it would be great to control them effectively to prolong the lifespan of the components.

If anyone has bright ideas about heat management in the high end Dell laptops (assume NO component replacement), here's your chance!

Thanks!

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P4 3.4 HT (Prescott), 1.5Gb RAM, 15.4" WUXGA 1920x1200, ATI Mobility9800 256Mb, 60Gb 7200rpm, CD/DVD+-RW, XP Pro.

OK, just one question this time - is it safe to take the cover off the RAM compartment and leave it off to improve heat dissipation? Or will this introduce dust into the system?

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Inspiron 9100

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I think I'll stop being paranoid about the heat - the I9100 seems pretty good at managing itself! at the moment the idle CPU temp is 57 and when I was running HL2 a few hours ago it was levelling at around 54! (obviously with the fans on high most of the time).

No no, I'm through with the cooling malarkey! The pads add noise, there's the whole suck/blow issue (onto the underside), they would actually prevent the free air access I'm getting at the moment by having the back of the laptop propped up on a videotape, and they will make the I9100 too tall for typing. The heatpipe thing by most accounts does veeery little as you don't get the tight contact between it and laptops with feets (why didn't they design one the size of a CD case or an A5 pad so that the user could attach it snugly with some kind of thin non-permanent adhesive to the part of the laptop that is hottest, and then prop up the back of the laptop on a videotape as everyone should be doing anyway - that way you get improved air access to help the fans AND the heatpipe business for say the RAM compartment, or your battery). When I can afford it, I will try to rig up an air conditioner/dehumidifier unit to blow FREEZING air across the bottom of the laptop (might get frostbite on my mouse hand though). I hope someone invents a decent laptop CHILLER! There are some plausible ideas out there, so why don't they give up on the 'fart in the wind' laptop pads!!! Whew, rant over

What you if you're wrong?!

Yes, now that's I've had some firefights in HL2, the CPU is levelling at around 62-64. I'm happy with that. Still think that propping the back of the laptop is the best idea, it just feels warm after gaming. In fact it *feels* much hotter with normal usage, even though all the temps are lower - suppose because the fans never bother to kick in on high. Its the RAM compartment that feels the hottest. Probably also best to use a book (or a videotape like me) rather than beer bottle caps like most people seem to - give it all the breating space it needs + better incline for using the keyboard.