Gaming has changed a lot in recent years so are gaming machines. Today many people prefer a laptop for playing games instead of a desktop PC. And the main reason is certainly its portability and they can use it for non-gaming activities also.
Whatever the reason using laptops for gaming is more common than the PC master these days. But you have to take really good care of gaming laptops to enjoy the best gaming experience compared to desktops. Normally a gaming laptop needs a little more care if used for gaming.
The issues that people usually complain about are overheating; thermal paste issues and soldered-on CPUs are also problematic.
But don’t worry you can take care of these problems easily. Let’s discuss some important tips that can help you to get your laptop well-prepared for a gaming session.
Play within your Limits:
All gamers know that it’s really hard to update a gaming laptop as there is a lack of updating opportunities. On a desktop, it’s easy to replace most elements but on a laptop, you can’t just replace the components.
CPUs are also attached to the motherboard, and often the GPU is merged into the CPU. Combined graphics seriously confine what games you can play, and the graphics settings you can use.
If you’re interested in getting a laptop for gaming, then it’s better to go for dedicated graphics, even if it means picking one with a slightly less sturdy CPU.
An i7 processor will be of no use if you don’t have the GPU to back it up. If you’re already having the integrated graphics, it’s time for you to evaluate how much you want to play those new AAA games.
You can also go for less graphically demanding games or primitive games if it’s hard for you to get a new laptop.
One more thing you can do is play on low graphics settings. It will not look good, but it’s better than burning out your entire CPU and needing a new motherboard.
One more important tip for people who are concerned about their specs: look at the minimum and recommended requirements before you buy a game.
Maintain Its Coolness:
When the elements of your laptop get too hot, your CPU starts to use minimum power and energy to evade catastrophic overheating.
This usually leads to stuttering, and lag, and can bring down the performance. To dodge this, try to keep your laptop internals at around 80°C when you game, the lower the better.
It will get hot while gaming, but if it gets too hot then there is a problem. You can also use Intel XTU as it provides you a graph of the past hour of temperatures, as well as CPU usage and thermal throttling status.
Cooling Pads Definitely Helps:
When it comes to cooling, cooling pads definitely are useful as it helps ventilate your laptop with its fans. And clears hot air from the laptop’s fans faster, and provides additional cooling also.
They are like a blessing for gamers, particularly on hot summer days when the heat of a gaming laptop exceeds more at times.
You can get them easily and they don’t cost much also. When you get them make sure to dust them off regularly and it makes a modest but noticeable difference on laptop temps, especially in the summer.
We have mentioned above the uses of Intel XTU. It’s possible for you to undervolt your CPU With this software, i.e. send less power to it, thus keeping it a little bit cooler.
Sometimes Laptops send a bit too much power to their CPUs, more than they required, which leads to overheating – and therefore throttling – a little bit extra than they should.
You should know the model of your CPU before you go in. This will allow you to get a good benchmark to undervolt your own CPU depending on what other users have done. Of course, you can set your own benchmark and take help from videos.
An example of an Intel i5-8300H CPU -0.110v is the sweet spot. In the -0.90v to -0.110v range you will easily get noticeable cooling with no influence at all on CPU speed.
You can certainly try it but be careful, undervolting too much can lead to stuttering and crashing. When you see any significant reduction in CPU speed in XTU, just reduce the undervolt a bit more.
For Undervolting in XTU, Do The Following:
Hit on the Core tab under Advanced Tuning.
Search for the Core Voltage Offset bar, and set it at 0.00mV, to begin with.
Hit the left arrow next to the numbers to incrementally raise the under volt.
Search the level of undervolt where you get temp reductions without much drops in performance.
Try To Upgrade:
As we have discussed above that it’s not easy to upgrade a laptop as compared to desktop computers, but there are some parts that are quite easy to upgrade on most models. There will be some that will be lost cause on modern laptops.
However, some elements are still upgradeable. But you have to be very careful with all physical hardware upgrades, make sure that you know what you’re doing.
If possible watch videos and read articles about the methods first, and don’t do anything if you are not comfortable doing it.
RAM Upgrades:
Almost all the laptop RAM cards are quite simple when it comes to changing and replacing. There are more advantages also, particularly if you look at the cost.
If you get a laptop with an empty RAM slot alongside the slot used for the default RAM card. It’s easy for you to double your computer’s RAM from 8GB to 16GB.
And after this, you will see the difference your laptop will run even more smoothly and faster than before.
Examine thoroughly if your laptop comprises a spare RAM slot lying unused, if it’s there then you can have some big perks on your laptop for almost no money.
And more importantly, before you purchase, make sure which shape of RAM card your laptop uses. Most use SODIMM, but it’s better to check twice to evade disappointment.
And when it comes to the power rating make sure to get DDR4 RAM if possible as it is quicker than DDR3 or DDR2.
SSD Upgrades:
Many people are not serious about SSD storage. They hardly use hard drives anymore aside from an external HDD.
Sincerely, the difference is so irrational that you’ll never want to look back either. Installing an SSD is definitely a knotty thing as it needs that you know where it can go in your laptop and so which type you require to fit in that specific place.
You can discover your options by looking up the model of your laptop. If only you’re in the market for a new gaming laptop focus to get one with full or partial SSD storage.
But if you look at the prices, SSD is a fair bit more expensive than HDD. But if you look you will get a 300GB SSD from a well-known brand and you can change your split SSD/HDD laptop into a full-SSD speed device.
Conclusion:
Hope after reading all these tips you know now how to take good care of your gaming laptop. If you do these things your gaming experience will certainly improve.
The important four things to remember are maintaining your laptop’s coolness, playing within limits, if possible upgrading your internals, and undervolting.
A slower laptop will also become faster when you follow these steps and also your laptop stays healthy for a longer period of time.