I have done something unholy.

But my laptop is now cooler than it's ever been in its life

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These images have the same temperature scale.
... the hotspot from before is downright frigid

  • before
    Zettelkasten/2025-12/a/Pasted image 20251213151450.png

  • after
    Zettelkasten/2025-12/a/Pasted image 20251213151526.png

I checked again after letting it flush the existing heat out of the panel.

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40C to 80C after letting it vibe

  • the lower section, where the hotspot before was
    Zettelkasten/2025-12/a/Pasted image 20251213152330.png
  • the upper section, where the CPU is
    Zettelkasten/2025-12/a/Pasted image 20251213152401.png

Behold, my child

I had to add a zip-tie over the cooler after this, because it kept popping off.
Zettelkasten/2025-12/a/Pasted image 20251213152522.png

What did all this nonsense accomplish?

The CPU went from constantly being being throttled by temperature, to now being merely limited by the power design specs for the laptop.

Stat Before After
Baseline Temperature ~70°C ~35°C
Gaming Temperature ~85°C ~70°C
Peak temperature ~96°C ~70°C