Playing Minecraft on a Low End Laptop…
Don’t let it get too hot
Playing games is no different than running any other piece of software that requires a graphics card or chip. They just tend to make the system run a little harder, requiring hefty CPU and GPU resources in order to display all the beautiful pixels on screen, whilst calculating the actions of you, your friends, and any NPCs in the scene.
That means they work harder, ultimately requiring more power, and outputting more heat. Most modern CPUs and graphics chips include safeguards to prevent themselves from getting too hot. That usually involves deliberate downclocking, or making themselves run slower so as not to get too hot. Whether you experience that slowdown or not, though, if you have inadequate cooling and play games on your system for a long time, that heat build-up can slowly degrade your hardware. It will take a long time, unless you’re running at extreme temperatures, but keeping your system cool is a great way to increase the longevity of its components.
All the systems we build here at Chillblast include powerful, but quiet cooling to ensure that your processor, graphics card, and everything in between, all stay at safe working temperatures no matter how long you game for. If you’re building your own PC, make sure you have plenty of cold air coming in and hot air going out, to keep everything running at comfortable temperatures.
Overclocking
One thing that does have the potential to damage your system is overclocking. If not done right or with due care, you run the risk of putting too much power through your CPU, GPU, or memory. Even if you do put together a safe overclock though, you’ll have to keep a close eye on your temperatures. Running games normally can be intensive for even powerful PCs and laptops, but doing so with an overclocked system can be even more so.
Fortunately, even in that case most modern processors and graphics cards will thermally throttle – deliberately slow themselves down – in order to reduce their heat output to find a stable frequency to run at that won’t result in overheating. In extreme circumstances – typically only when a cooling fan or pump stops working – the system will shut down to protect its components.
That makes it almost impossible to truly damage your hardware when gaming, even if you have a big overclock running. But it’s not advisable to perform hasty overclocking with wildly high voltages or clock speeds. Especially if your cooling isn’t up to the task.
Chillblast offers an overclocking facility so if you like the idea of getting more performance out of your system, we can typically overclock it by 10 to 20 percent if you so choose. It’s completely covered by our warranty too, so you needn’t worry about any damage arising from it. Even if there was, we’d cover it.
Can you play Minecraft on a bad PC?
However, while Minecrafts graphics are not very demanding, the sheer size of the game and the fact that it renders an entire world for you, makes it a moderately resource-heavy game. With just a few tweaks to the in-game settings, you can run Minecraft pretty smoothly on even a low-end PC.
FAQ
Does playing Minecraft affect your computer?
Can gaming damage my laptop?
Can a gaming laptop handle Minecraft?
Does gaming reduce laptop life?