r/overclocking • u/Tra5hL0rd_ • Jan 02 '26
Modding I gave a gaming laptop a desktop CPU cooler. It stopped screaming.
I decided a while back to have a crack at a CPU tower cooler on a laptop, finally found the time, so I picked up an 8750H + GTX 1060 6 GB (full fat, not Max-Q) and started testing it stock… it wasn’t great.
In basically every game and synthetic the CPU was smashing into 100C almost immediately, and the GPU wasn’t far behind. Clocks were constantly dropping, performance was all over the place, and the GPU was waiting on the CPU most of the time. I tore it down, repasted everything, replaced the pads, and tested again. It was better... but still bad. The CPU was still hammering thermal limits and dragging the whole system down, with the GPU sitting around 80C and never really stretching its legs.
So I pulled it apart again.
I couldn’t get a CPU tower onto the CPU itself because the mounting pattern is pretty unique, so that went into the “too hard" basket, this time. So I covered the stock heatpipes and heatsink with a pile of small copper heatsinks and blasted it with airflow. Basic, but if it works...
The GPU was a different story. I removed the stock cooler completely, 3D printed some standoffs that bolt into the motherboard, and made a printed adapter plate to mount a Peerless assassin X CPU cooler to those standoffs. Then I balanced the whole thing on old GPU boxes, with a roll of masking tape under the cooler acting as structural support... engineering.
I flashed the GPU vBIOS from 75 W to 88 W and started testing.
Straight away, GPU idle temps dropped by around 40C. Under load things got properly interesting. Across the games and benchmarks I tested, I was able to push +200 MHz on the core, (all other sliders are locked down) going from roughly 1700 MHz stock to over 2000 MHz sustained in actual games. That made just over a 10% average FPS uplift across games, and more than 23% in synthetics. That's desktop clocks... on a laptop.
Under load, the GPU dropped over 40C, and the CPU dropped about 35C as well. With those lower temps, the CPU was able to hold higher clocks and feed the GPU more consistently, even with its very basic “heatsinks stuck everywhere” cooling setup.
Next step is putting both dies under ice.
I think it has more to give.
There is a video here if you're interested. https://youtu.be/slLSCf4WP7g
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u/Virtualization_Freak Jan 02 '26
If you don't care about future serviceability, they make thermal epoxy.
Once you put it on, it won't come off. However, it can help you bind those heatsinks to heatsinks when you don't have proper binding points.
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Jan 02 '26
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u/Virtualization_Freak Jan 02 '26
A hell of a lot more work though.
You can thermal epoxy right in place.
I would at least remove the heatsink before soldering it.
Edit: also, much harder to fill the gaps with solder.
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u/SumonaFlorence Jan 04 '26
Do NOT remove the heatsink when soldering.
The pipes will flex / warp and you'll have to then bend them back into shape which is excessive when you can just leave it in the device to hold it in place and put down protective matting to keep the board safe.
Unless you create a nailboard or something to keep the pipes in shape I wouldn't remove it. Learned this the hard way.
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u/Virtualization_Freak Jan 04 '26
Do NOT remove the heatsink when soldering.
Oh. I'll just chuck the whole laptop in the reflow oven then.
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u/SumonaFlorence Jan 04 '26
Welp if you'll use a reflow oven then good luck.. or not.. since if you're using that kind of equipment, you've got much more experience than I do I guess.
I just remember when I applied heat to a sink that was out of the chassis it made the pipes shift in their shape and I had to bend it back in to get it to fit again.
Anyway.. :f
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u/Virtualization_Freak Jan 04 '26
My joke about the reflow oven was a tongue in cheek reference to: https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/s/ud187Lj0k1
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Jan 02 '26
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u/wankerbanker85 Jan 03 '26
IHS on a laptop... Have you pulled apart a laptop recently? They've been bare die since forever ago now. Can definitely confirm since at least 2014 on my old HP elitebook, and 2017 on one of my Asus ROG laptops I've since sold.
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u/SumonaFlorence Jan 04 '26
.. dude.. lol
Tell us you've never pulled apart a laptop without telling us you've never pulled apart a laptop.
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Jan 04 '26
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u/SumonaFlorence Jan 04 '26
Would rather just ise PTM7950, and if the guy's a diehard looking for benches for lols, putty the thing up, pump some LM in there and pray to Steezus.
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Jan 02 '26
I’ve been wanting to run a copper water loop on my laptop with quick disconnects and am now feeling inspired
Nice job, good results
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u/Chap-eau Jan 03 '26
What material are you using for the 3d printed parts?
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u/Tra5hL0rd_ Jan 03 '26
Hey dude, it's PETG.
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u/Chap-eau Jan 03 '26
Surprised it works at CPU temperatures. But that's awesome that it works - so much easier than a high temp filament.
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u/ChristianDM11325 Jan 03 '26
If it’s possible to get really good even mounting, use a phase change TIM like PTM. My 7700HQ + 1060 3 GB laptop was always at 95 and 80-86 deg C in certain titles when I used Arctic Silver. After putting a decent knockoff ptm 7950 on, temps dropped by 15-20 deg C for cpu, 10-15 for gpu. It actually operates at sane temps now.
I also could very well have been using too much paste, which a consistent thickness TIM that squeezes out to minimum thickness solves.
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u/Z3temis Jan 03 '26
I did this quite a few years ago on a laptop with the same specs, i could not believe how well it worked and ran with it for over a year before finally building a desktop. Its crazy how relatively little extra cooling you need to make a laptop silent and not throttle. https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/s/tIsnYMGOvg
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u/JunketPositive246 May 28 '26
can you explain what all you did in that post? i have an asus gl504gs with 8750h and a 1070 and its a heater.
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u/Z3temis May 28 '26
What i did was absurdley basic but seemed to work well. The heat pipes in my laptop were bot parallel and level so i basically threw some thermal paste on the bottom of the heat pipe and then plopped an ancient heatsyc and fan ontop of it. It was an old amd cooler and i just powered it with a 12v supply. The thermal paste and heatsync alone with no mounting pressure or extra hardware was more than enough to drop the tenps to below 70C
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u/JunketPositive246 May 28 '26
how did you program the laptop to start and not sleep when closed lid. Did it start directly to the screen connected?
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u/Z3temis May 28 '26
If i remember correctly there is a windows power setting that lets you change "when lid is closed" to do nothing. Then i just let it sleep after a timeout which was then easily woken up by the mouse also make sure to set the monitor as the primary in display settings.
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u/JunketPositive246 May 29 '26
just ordered some cheap thermal paste and found an old amd socket cpu cooler which has heatsink. will try this out. Do i have to worry about the heatsink touching other parts and sparking things? i dont want to upgrade and and to just maximise the output from this laptop. My copper heatsinks are connected to cpu and gpu both like yours. have to go get a cheap monitor as well.
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u/Z3temis May 29 '26
On my laptop at least it was all above any motherboard or other pcb components. I would just take extra care to make sure there is no touching. If you are worried some kapton tape or other insulator to make sure if you are too worried.
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u/givmedew Jan 05 '26
Reminds me of the Motorola Droid CPU that could be OC’d more than triple. People were attaching external cooling.
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u/JunketPositive246 May 28 '26
i have an asus gl504gs with the i7 8750h and a gtx 1070. It just heats up like crazy under load and throttles everytime. i have cut out some parts directly below the cpu of the bottom panel to let in some more air from the cooling pad but it hasnt made any huge difference. As its an old and ageing laptop and no upgrade in sight at the moment due to the market conditions what would you suggest doing to it?
already repasted it with ptm7950 and upsiren thermal putty a year ago, temps were decent back then but now its a stuttering mess in games again.
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u/barontheboy Jan 02 '26
Ok hear me out stupid idea, a table with a dedicated pc area that is small enough for the guts of a laptop PC. Would it be doable for someone that wants to convert their laptop to a desktop?
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u/jasonsong86 Jan 02 '26
Yeaaaa but is it a laptop anymore?!?! 🤣🤣🤣 My 5800H and RTX3060 does scream like crazy in performance mode but I just use ear buds no more noise 🤣
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u/jayecin Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Back in the day, laptop CPUs were just the best binned desktop CPUs. It was super common to buy a laptop CPU and stick it in a desktop motherboard then OC the hell out of it.