XCom is killing my Laptop

[Barciad]

I've had my laptop for about a year and a half now. It is a Hewlett-Packard G72
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/364555/hp-g72
and if there is one weakness with it, it is the overheating issue. I've played all kinds of modern games on this machine, the most demanding (to the machine anyway) have been Shogun II Total War, and Deus Ex - Human Revolution. It handled Shogun pretty decently, but Deus Ex was pushing it a bit.
Now I've just got XCOM, and now twice, it has caused the laptop to go into hibernation to avoid overheating. The restart screen stated the temperature in there being 90 Degrees Centigrade. You could could almost boil a kettle in there. XCOM doesn't seem to be a particularly overwhelming game in terms of graphic and processor demands.
So the question is, what is causing my system to overheat and what can I do to stop it?
For the record, I have already de-fragmentated my hard drive.

 

[The Madman]

Not really sure I can provide any help since I've no experience whatsoever with laptop gaming, but figured I'd chime in nonetheless to say that oddly enough X-Com was also giving my computer unusual problems in the heating department. Had to manually turn the fan speed up well past what I'd normally use for gaming just to keep the experience stable.

But then again my computer is also getting pretty old by technology standards these days as its around five years old with some parts far older than that, being the Fraken-computer that it is. It's not unusual for computer to start having heating troubles as they get older, all you can do is keep a close eye on the temperatures and ensure everything is kept clean and dust-free.

On a completely unrelated note the capcha was 'which does a vegetarian eat' and one of the options; kitten. So sad it counted as an error when I tried that.

 

[DoPo]

Try to open the laptop and clean the fan. You could have dust build up there and make your cooling shit. Just last week I did that with my laptop (another HP) - it went from having 60-ish degrees Celsius minimum temperature, down to 40. It also doesn't get as hot as before.

Alternatively, get a laptop pad or even better - a laptop cooler. A friend of mine had to use one due to the constant overheating of his Toshiba laptop.

 

[Barciad]

Try to open the laptop and clean the fan. You could have dust build up there and make your cooling shit. Just last week I did that with my laptop (another HP) - it went from having 60-ish degrees Celsius minimum temperature, down to 40. It also doesn't get as hot as before.

Alternatively, get a laptop pad or even better - a laptop cooler. A friend of mine had to use one due to the constant overheating of his Toshiba laptop.

Thanks for the advice. I will have to get some screwdrivers tomorrow so I clean the fan. Just for the record, my technical knowledge/experience is close to zero. Also, I am looking at laptop coolers on ebay now. Any good brands that you recommend, or are they all much of a muchness?

 

[DoPo]

Try to open the laptop and clean the fan. You could have dust build up there and make your cooling shit. Just last week I did that with my laptop (another HP) - it went from having 60-ish degrees Celsius minimum temperature, down to 40. It also doesn't get as hot as before.

Alternatively, get a laptop pad or even better - a laptop cooler. A friend of mine had to use one due to the constant overheating of his Toshiba laptop.

Thanks for the advice. I will have to get some screwdrivers tomorrow so I clean the fan. Just for the record, my technical knowledge/experience is close to zero. Also, I am looking at laptop coolers on ebay now. Any good brands that you recommend, or are they all much of a muchness?

Hmm, I don't really know - I've never used any. Well, OK, I have a laptop pad from Poundland, but that's mainly to keep the laptop slightly risen, thus getting better ventilation under it. It could bring the temperature down by 5-10 degrees depending on circumstances, but mainly I use if because the keyboard is slightly at an angle now, rather than flat under my fingers.

With that said, I know my friend had a Cooler Master one but...that's about it, really - don't know how good it was. It did keep the laptop from turning off, though.

 

[Barciad]

Hmm, I don't really know - I've never used any. Well, OK, I have a laptop pad from Poundland, but that's mainly to keep the laptop slightly risen, thus getting better ventilation under it. It could bring the temperature down by 5-10 degrees depending on circumstances, but mainly I use if because the keyboard is slightly at an angle now, rather than flat under my fingers.

With that said, I know my friend had a Cooler Master one but...that's about it, really - don't know how good it was. It did keep the laptop from turning off, though.

I just found one on Ebay, thanks. Quite pricey but it gets good reviews.

 

[porous_shield]

Is the issue just with XCOM? Have you played those other games recently to see how hot the computer gets?

My laptop suddenly became immensely hotter when the thermal paste finally failed. Bought some Arctic Silver Thermal paste and applied it myself to the processor. It's a very simple process. This might not be your particular problem, but if your computer suddenly becomes much hotter and the fan is clean, it might be.

 

[Virmire]

A cooling pad would fix the problem up for the most part. The g- series seems kinda crap in terms of overheating, my G62 always had the issue, but a cheap cooling pad stopped it for the most part.

 

[Tdoodle]

My girlfriend had a similar problem with her laptop, cleaned out the fan and it was fine after that. Although after reading this thread I'm inclined to invest in a stand, mine is roasting when I play games and could do with something like that for longer sessions.