I reckon we’ve all been there—you’re mid-game and notice your laptop or smartphone is starting to feel like a barbie in the middle of a January heatwave. Sometimes it’s just a bit warm, but other times you feel like you could literally fry an egg on it.
Don’t stress; it doesn’t usually mean your device is broken. Most of the time, it’s actually pretty normal. In this post, I’ll explain in plain English why our gear heats up when we’re gaming.
Why Phones and Laptops Overheat During Gaming
As most of us know, running a game is a massive job. Your device has to display a constant stream of moving graphics, and the more frames it pushes out, the smoother your game feels. Because of that, your hardware is trying its absolute heart out to produce as many images as possible, as fast as it can.
The catch? Producing those graphics requires a huge effort from the main components—the CPU and GPU. They need heaps of electrical power to keep up with the demand.
Think of it like being forced to run a marathon at full tilt—your body is going to get hot. It’s the same with your phone or laptop. When they’re working overtime on a game like PUBG (PC or mobile), that heat buildup happens fast.
Safe Within Reasonable Limits
On a laptop, you’ll often hear the fans spinning up like a jet engine when you’re playing something intensive. This is totally normal! The fan’s whole job is to get rid of the heat generated by the hardworking CPU and GPU. Even a high-end gaming laptop with fancy cooling will still feel warm to the touch.
The same goes for your phone. If it feels like it’s got a bit of a mild fever, it’s generally fine. But if the surface starts getting scorching—exceeding 50°C—then it’s time to be a bit careful.
Other Factors at Play
If you find your gear is overheating way too fast, there might be a few other things going on. Some Android smartphones are notorious for running hot simply because of the chipset they use. If you’ve got one of those, it’s not really a “fault”, it’s just how the chip was built.
Similarly, with laptops, this issue can be found a lot with older laptops, particularly those using older-gen chips. Thankfully, with newer stuff like the Ryzen 4000 series and above, this isn’t nearly as much of an issue. If you missed it, check out my previous post on how to tell your Intel and AMD generations apart!
Now, let’s talk about room temperature. Believe it or not, the temperature of the room you’re in makes a massive difference. If you’re gaming in a room with no aircon in the middle of summer, your device is going to struggle. So, don’t underestimate its impact!
Finally, there are a few “no-nos” specifically for laptops that you should avoid if you want to keep them from melting. I’ll be covering those in my next post!
