Torque Overheats Computer

#1 I'm using both TGE and TGEA on a laptop much older than yours.

With that said, have you tried running any other games on said computer? P4 laptops overheating is not very uncommon :(

#2 Best thing you can do is get something like this: news.thgweb.de/2007/02/26/antec_notebook_cooler_s/
I've a similar one to keep my notebook cooler (it does not overheat that much but the harddisk gets quite warm because the GPU is next to it ...)

#3 @Stefan - I've run MorrowindIII-Elder Scrolls with no problems.

@Marc, thanks. I'll check into it.

Tony

#4 Isn't elder scrolls quite a bit older and less stressful for an engine?
I would guess the laptop has heat dissipation problems. I have a Celeron M based machine and it runs extremely cool. It has GeForce 6600 Go video in it. It runs Torque 1.5 very well and all demo levels very well.

#5 He's correct, elder-scrolls 3 is not considered a next gen game, and TGE probably has more power than that engine by far. But its not the software overheating your computer, If your computer cant handle running any types of software, regardless of what it is, it is a hardware problem my friend, not software:)

#6 @Bobby, The notebook works fine with "non-graphics intensive" software, like Paint Shop, MS Word, etc. I can let it run for days with no problems. It's only Torque that overheats it.

Looks like it's time for a new notebook. My satellite is only two years old, but it was bought at a discount store (Costco) before I ever considered Torque.

NEW QUESTION: What is an acceptible (or better) notebook (or notebook graphics card) for running Torque 1.5 without overheating?

I read somewhere that the Radeon 9500 is the minimum.

Thanks!

Tony

#7 I'm sorry Infinitum, but your comparasions are way off and you are comparing apples to oranges.

"Non graphics intensive" software like PSP and MSW are CPU accelerated and comparing them with partly GPU accelerated software like games or their engines - is humour. As for leaving them idle, neither MS Word nor PSP consumes resources (apart from RAM) while being idle so you can leave them on for 3 years without overheating for all I care :)

You also failed to name any other game or engine that overheats your laptop, perhaps you have not tried anything else? I use my laptop which sucks compared to yours statistically (except for a better GPU) and TGE as well as TGEA runs fine.

Quote:
Bad analogy:
I am going to head over to my neighbour and tell him his car is broken because it uses petrol/gas while my bike does not.

#8 Is there any chance on replacing the video? Is it a PCI Express? My laptop has PCI express video, BUT I am not sure anybody but Asus makes cards in the form factor my laptop needs. Is there a standard for laptop video card form factors?

#9 Try taking a can of air and blowing out the vents thoroughly. You may even want to unscrew the casing a bit to make sure you get to everything. This can make a *huge* difference with an overheating laptop.

#10 No notebook cards, with exception of DELL and ALIENWARE, normally can not be replaced.
they are onboard or connected in a fixed way to your system.
As well, the potential cards that could be put in are very restricted for a few reasons:

1. The form factor is very dependent on the system
2. Your systems power output was designed for that. Newer cards won't work anymore most likely due to power shortage on their connections.

#11 @Stephan - Morrowind III is the only game I've tried. Played it for over a year. Never had a problem. I understand that the other programs I listed do not use GPU accelleration. That's why I listed them. To show that it must be the video card causing the overheat.

Torque is the only thing that causes the overheating, not StudioMax, not QuArK, not anything else. Maybe I'll buy a newer 3D game and try it. Any suggestions? I don't even know what's available nowadays.

I'll be getting a new notebook in August. Any suggestions on the best one for Torque?

@Max - It's clean. I've actually open the case and forced air in, then used a vacuum brush on the fans and vents.

I can actually feel the card start to heat up through the case. Just one small area that gets incredibly hot. I've tried using a heat dissipating pad on it, but it's just too hot inside.

Thanks again everyone!

Any other ideas?

Tony

#12 I have an Asus Z71V with a purposely lower power Celeron M in it. I don't suggest getting one as old as mine (1.5 years old). I first looked for barebones laptops and came across a company that would sell me the parts for $1200. Then I found a company that would assemble, test, and sell me the same thing for $1200. I would suggest looking around at different barebones kits and companies. Many do not want to sell you a $90 processor in a machine that has a Go6600 card in it. Most want to gouge you with a 200 to 300 dollar processor. Most of the speed for the game is in the GPU for games anyway. You always have the option to going to a faster processor as well. My criteria for my laptop was this:
1. Decent graphics - a must. (Now that Nvidia and others are using 90nm processes to build chips heat dissipation is a lot better. I just bought a XFX Geforce 7600 card that is fanless for my desktop! My 6600 needed a fan and was slower.)
2. Processor speed should be decent, but I would easily trade speed and heat in for cost anytime. (The only time I would deviate is if I am crunching numbers such as rendering stuff, but you can get a much better desktop for the same price for that.)
3. Barebones. My Asus Z71V has a socket for the graphics (Asus based, but replacable), Wifi, ram, hard disk, cdrom, processor, etc. Not the same as barebones Desktop PC, but not locked in if your CDROM goes south.
4. Your priorities are probably different though.

I did have one major problem with my Asus. It was one of the models that had a bad batch of batteries. Mine died a few months into owning the laptop, however Asus replaced it with pretty much no questions asked as it was a known problem. The new battery does not exhibit any of the original batteries problems.

Personally I think you should be able to get a decent laptop for $1200 bucks that will run Torque beautifully. My laptop does well under both Windows and Linux thanks to Nvidia being very good about supporting both platforms extremely well. That was the number one reason I went Nvidia. I have NEVER had an issue getting good OpenGL drivers for any platform with them. At the time every forum said ATI did not support Linux well. Maybe that has changed.