Laptop overheats playing Minecraft

[mookers]

My laptop runs Minecraft smoothly with no lag. However, after about 10 minutes it overheats and shuts down. Minecraft is the ONLY thing that has ever caused this. I took the laptop apart and cleaned all the dust out of the air path, vents, fan, etc. and it only stopped dying for a couple of days. I'm not keen to repeat the cleaning process every week, as it took forever. Laptop is a Dell Vostro, Core i5 M20, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics card.

Is there anything that can be done, or am I (or more commonly, my son's friends when they come over) destined to play Minecraft in 10-minute sessions?

 

[Nitephyre]

Have you fiddled with the Java memory settings? Running a texture pack or mods?

 

[pretzil]

Get some sort of stand for the laptop to sit on around 3 edges (or 4 corners), something that lets more air flow underneath.
On mine I used a single layer of k-nex (remember those?...) to prop it up when playing minecraft.

Minecraft is a great game and made really well, but its graphics are poorly optimised and use way more processing power than it needs to.

 

[Sleepyvr4]

I started playing minecraft yesterday and that game has gotten my watercooled cpy the hotest its ever been bar stability testing.

As Pretzil said for something with such bad graphics its very poorly optimized.

You could get a stand with some fans in it to help cool the laptop.

 

[mookers]

Well... I installed Forge and Optifine and tweaked the settings to make it a little less demanding... played for 45 minutes and no crashes
Temp seemed to hover around 70-80 when idling is about 40.

 

[NuffNuff]

minecraft is coded in java (like pre smart phone games)

80 is still kinda high, update to the latest java if you haven't already.

try this (it will allow java to use more memory, likely your cpu (or gpu) is doing all the swapping as well as processing because the java memory is too low) - http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1395030-tutorial-allocate-more-memory-for-minecraft/

 

[mookers]

Cheers

 

[Nitephyre]

Pretty much what they said, beat me to it

Also, you play private lan or on a server? I mainly hang out on the GamesOnNet server

 

[king_panther]

As Pretzil said for something with such bad graphics its very poorly optimized.

The graphics are purposely 'bad' in terms of appearance, but the geometry isn't. There is some serious math taking place in that game.

It needs a fair bit of GPU grunt to run.

 

[mookers]

Pretty much what they said, beat me to it

Also, you play private lan or on a server? I mainly hang out on the GamesOnNet server

Just our private LAN, when my son nags me enough to play with him.

 

[mookers]

So, I made this:

And it works! The fan sits right under the CPU intake and the cutout in the middle is for the RAM vents. Powered from a USB port.

Max temp now when playing Minecraft is around 50 degrees. The fan is kinda loud though. Idle is 10 degrees cooler too.

Unfortunately now Alex has discovered Cube World, which still kills my laptop even with the cooler running... lol

 

[mcs]

I think you need a new laptop lol

 

[pretzil]

Oh wow, that is impressive, I have an even older Vostro than you, they are certainly not Lap-Tops, you have to get a heap of air flowing underneath them, crotch scorchers if you put them on your lap.