5 Things to Turn Your Laptop into a Gaming Laptop

Image on flickr by HS You under license 



To transform a low-end laptop for gaming check its RAM, Graphics, hard disk space, and most importantly cooling. 

 

Laptops tend to become more heated compared to desktop PC, as discussed in the steam community

 

Since many people are on laptops and thinking of using it as a gaming gadget I can add on a few things to take care of before installing any new game.

 

In laptops keeping devices at low temperatures is an issue if you can overcome this including other things mentioned above, you are clear to enjoy the best games.

 

 

First, we will elaborate on these points then look for ways to find free games to play on laptops



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5 things to change in a laptop for gaming purposes: 

 

1) Have a good RAM:

 

Just like a desktop PC, you should have a good GigaBytes (GB) RAM on your laptop. It is responsible for the speed of device; higher the RAM, faster laptop be and is essential for gaming as well.

 

As mentioned on intel approximately 8GB RAM should be a good start for gaming, more than that might be required depending upon your gaming requirements and the type of games you would like to play.

 

Solutions:

 

Check Ram compatibility:

Your new Ram should be compatible with the motherboard of the laptop. To see RAM compatibility visit crucial.com tool.


The DDR of RAM should match the motherboard ports. Modern RAMs come with DDR4 and DDR5 compatibility so make sure your laptop motherboard can support that.

 

Find your Laptop information:

To get the complete information about your laptop (Processor, Ram, graphics, etc) download classic version CPU-Z from cpuid.com

 


List of some good laptop rams worth considering:

 




2) Have good graphics hardware:

 

Having a good graphics card is essential for gaming. All high-end games require some sort of graphic requirements. Laptops generally come with built-in cards, especially gaming laptops.

 

You have 2 options here either go for built-in laptops with a good graphics card, ready for gaming 


or if you are on a budget you can individually purchase a graphics card and install it to your current laptop using an external eGPU device.

 

Option 1:

 

Gaming laptops with built-in ready for gaming graphics card:

list of laptops you can purchase with already having good graphics hardware.

 

 

 

 

Option 2:


External graphic port:

The second option is to buy individual graphics cards which will be cheaper but you will need an eGPU (External graphic port) to connect with a laptop. 

 

These are some good eGPUs make sure your USB port is strong enough to support, check your system USB ports using CPU-Z software or other methods to get information. Your laptop USB ports should be 3.0.

 

 

Some eGPUS for your laptops:

Razer Core X Aluminum External GPU Enclosure (eGPU)

PowerColor Gaming Station Graphic Cards Thunderbolt EGPU Box

Graphics Beast Series External Laptop Docking Station (For low-end graphic cards)

 

 

List of graphic cards to go for:

ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3060

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 

Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030

 

I am a personal user of Nvidia Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 and I can say it’s a good and less expensive graphic card for games like assassin creeds, GTA 5, just cause, far cry, and many more.


My Nvidia GT 1030 Graphics card

NVIDIA GT 1030 Graphics card

3) Have enough disk space :

 

Having enough disk space is crucial for gaming. As you know gaming requires a lot of space. You can see at pcgamebenchmark the space requirement for GTA V is 72 GB, 


Assassin creed is 30 GB while most popular games require a high amount of space so you should be ready beforehand.

 

Solution:

Solutions are either to buy a laptop with a high internal memory installed or if your laptop doesn't have one you can individually purchase a hard disk to increase memory.

 

if you want to buy one you should go for a solid-state drive (Hard disk) also known as SSD.


 

Some SSDs I recommend:

Kingston NV1 1TB

Western Digital Blue SSD 2TB SSD


 

The method I use:

I have a 1TB Hard disk internal and 1 TB portable external hard drive. Now you might be thinking; doing gaming on an external portable hard disk, 


but it can cause you errors or issues plus it puts a load on the external drive.

 

I have never done gaming on the “external portable hard disk” and won't recommend you to do the same, best is to change or upgrade the internal hard drive.

 

4) Have device cooling solution:

 

Laptop cooling is a major issue when it comes to gaming. Laptops tend to become more heated than general desktops PCs.

 

Even low-end desktops PC like I am using Intel Core i5 3rd generation maximize to 49 to 55 degrees Celsius when gaming but on the other hand laptop usually goes to 100 degrees Celsius and went Thermal Throttling. 

 

Solutions:

The best is to acquire a quality device or work on some cooling solutions. Dust around the fan can block heat, make sure you have a well-maintained device. 

 

When you go towards an external GPU using an eGPU device as discussed previously, most heat created by Graphic card will dissipate but internal heat can be resolved using a cooling pad. 


I have used cooling pads in past and found a good temperature difference of at least 10 to 15 degrees more over these pads will maintain a low temperature giving less strain on internal fan.

 

You can also set a time for gaming because the longer you game longer laptop will heat up; lowering the life span of device itself.



Laptop cooling-pads:

Laptop Cooler Cooling Pad - Slim Portable USB Powered (3 Fans)

Laptop Cooling Pad 15.6 14 13 Inch (Big 2Fans Super Quiet

Laptop Cooling Pad 5 Fans Up

 

5) Check the game compatibility requirements:

 

This is obvious you need to make sure your gaming laptop is compatible to run a particular game based on its requirement. Best places to check gaming requirements.

 

Solution:

Game debate I would highly recommend making an account there. 


Other sites can give info but this particular site tells you more about the game and your laptop’s ability towards how much faster or slower game will be performed.

 

Using this information, laptop devices can easily be upgraded to only it needs to be without wasting too much money on other equipments.

 

Summarizing 5 things discussed:

  1. Have a good RAM
  2. Have a good graphics hardware 
  3. Have enough disk space 
  4. Have device cooling solution
  5. Check the game compatibility requirements

 


How to play games on a laptop for free?

 



Now we will look for some ways you can play games on laptop for free.

 

There are 2 methods to play free games one is to play browser games and 2nd one is to download games free from online reputable sites.

 

 

Method 1:

The first method is to find online browser games. I have personally never shown interest in-browser games mainly due to privacy issues. 


Make sure whenever you play browser games keep yourself and your account secure and go towards reputable sources.

 

You should find browser games from reputable sources here below:

·         PC gamer

·         hp.com

 

Method 2:

 

There are reputable sites to download free games. I would suggest avoiding torrent sites as they will have malware and viruses causing damage to your laptop and unknowingly stealing privacy risking a hack So, it's better to avoid.

 

Some free reputable sites to consider :

 

·         Gametop

 

These are a few sites which in my opinion are a good choice. 


 

Recommendations:


If you're looking for ways to find more games you can read my posts on 

 

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junaid waqar

Posted by junaid waqar

Myself " Junaid waqar" an MBA graduate having different hobbies which include blogging, traveling, Playing PC games, Sports, home gardening, and learning about renewable energy particularly Solar Panels. I love to learn and share my experiences, help people, and provide solutions to problems.