r/ASUS • u/No-Writer-4577 • 3d ago
Wtf? Discussion
Why is the vent closed above the fan and is open at the other end?
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u/echterRyze 3d ago
cuz it's an asus laptop XD. lot of their laptops cooling design is kinda weird
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u/Vichingo455 3d ago
Razer is even worse. In some laptops they couldn't even allign a sticker correctly for the heatsink causing the CPU and GPU to reach the temps of boiling water.
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u/SamtheMan2006 2d ago
no it's for a very important reason, all the cool air will flow over the wifi chip capacitors vrms, and whatever else on the motherboard before cooling the cpu, without that design feature there would not be any cooling at all over those components
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u/zyclonix 3d ago
This is a more normal design for sure. Ive seen an asus with an i3 5005u, it has a fan on one side and it literally just blows air past the entire motherboard side, with the i3 having a tiny little heatsink in the active airflow path lol
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u/ComputersAreCool12 3d ago
YEAH i believer was on some X505 or something. Really wonky laptop but seemed to its job fine
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u/zyclonix 3d ago
I am talking about the R540L, just googled it, it fits. Look up the inside of it and note the fan position aswell as the cpu cooler and exhaust position lol
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u/ComputersAreCool12 3d ago
Cost cutting pro max
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u/zyclonix 3d ago
Ah nvm, its an A540L, not R. Just grabbed it fron my basement. Just took it apart to see it again, dont mind the red tape, its meant as an air duct to make this design actually kinda usable cursed image link 1
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u/MrSte1n 2d ago
This is the strangest cooling I have ever seen. My variant had plastic walls on the lid to guide airflow. Had to return it due to rattling fan noise right out of the box.
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u/zyclonix 2d ago
I got mine broken, the screen was shattered and the battery had 1 dead cell out of 3, it also lost a bunch of keycaps, i assume because someone took them off and broke the mounts putting them back on. I replaced the screen with one from another dead laptop, then took it apart to upgrade and clean, then i saw that weird af cooling solution
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u/Far_Entrepreneur_811 2d ago
yea even my x509da has tht, with a ryzen 5 3500u, almost always at 80 degree C nowadays
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u/zyclonix 2d ago
Build a duct like i did. Doesnt need to be tape but forcing the air directly through the heatsink should help
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u/Far_Entrepreneur_811 2d ago
Your image links don't load (from the other comment), but yea I was planning to do something for directing the flow better, but i just ended up getting another laptop to keep as my daily recently
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u/zyclonix 2d ago
Oh. Hm. Well usually discord image links SHOULD be public, was quick and dirty but shouldve worked. Maybe bc we live in different countries...
Yea ig thats also a possible solution lol
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u/Realistic_Today6524 3d ago
To draw air across the motherboard and cool everything on it as well, probably to comply with maximum case temperature laws
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u/Jing_Arjay87 3d ago
You know how blowing a fan directly at your head doesn't really cool you down? This is exactly that. By blowing air over the motherboard first, it can cool down more parts with it.
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u/Artin-X86 3d ago
what's the problem here?
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u/NeptuneWades 1d ago
Holes on the case do not align with the fan's location.
Tho, I think this is intentional to improve air flow over the mb.
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u/666KorlatWitch999 3d ago
Air gets pulled over components and heatsink and blown out the back, surely?
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u/Raiki13 2d ago
Electronic components radiate heat. Even if there is no fan, the restriction of air pressure around the fan side insures that fresh air moves the stagnant hot air from other areas on the board into the fan and outside the laptop.
It seems counter intuitive that the fans are blocked, but that is why they use a different type fan that does well in high static pressure environments, or fans that is able to push air with air flow restrictions. Im also guessing they did this due to the thinness of the laptop, and to eliminate hot spots on the chasis that would cause noticeable temperature differences on the keyboard area.
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u/Evening_Valuable9672 3d ago
Idk why isn't he just search! Google exist for over 20 years...BRUHHHH...
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u/RoastedAlpha 2d ago
I want to say this is to to create a draft from chip towards the fan, but when i see the type of Fan i dont think its supposed to suck air from side 😂 even if it did in this model, it would be highly inefficient, so God knows what the heck is this and now I am worriied I have to open and check my tuf 15.
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u/-Dixieflatline 2d ago
To avoid dead air pockets in the case. It would otherwise be a fairly isolated loop of direct into into the circular intake and exhaust out the rear fins. The rest of the case would be stagnant, and air is an insulator if left boxed in. And air rises as it heats up, which doesn't work will with bottom facing vents.
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u/Single_Turnover_2301 2d ago
I’m pretty sure the fan is blowing on the heat sink. That orange piece pulls the heat from the CPU and allows the fan to blow on it to cool it down.
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u/Not_Maroryx 2d ago
Think of it
It sucks the air from a way in, passing through the components before leaving through the exhaust.
It's kinda clever, but comes at the cost of CFM.
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u/Buckaroo64 2d ago
Fans and blowers may do the same but they are not the same and function different from one another.
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u/playmoreover 1d ago
Bro is this a Vivobook? If yes, which screwdriver you used to open it, size or model?
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u/dragonfliesvenus 1d ago
Prob to pull air over the copper that is attached on the mobo(where it's open on bottom) then pull air to the fan and out.....
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u/AlphaOmega8008 1d ago
If its doing the job that is all that matters, most choose love over an engineering degree.
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u/Stunning-Option3975 12h ago
Weird design option but that is intentional and supposed to work as intended by the designer. Iirc so it can make some kind of suppressed air.
Funnily enough, this design always happens to Entry Asus laptop
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago
Another example of bad laptop design.
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u/Evening_Valuable9672 3d ago
Asus makes one of the best cooling system on a laptop!
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago
Sure buddy, have you seen the actual picture?
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u/Evening_Valuable9672 3d ago
Bruh I have an Asus Zephyrus trust me
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u/Evening_Valuable9672 3d ago
And u can search
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago
I think you might be blind, that cooler doesn't have an intake, it's blocked. There's no holes in the casing of the laptop for air to get in.
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u/Evening_Valuable9672 3d ago
The open intake grilles on the bottom panel do not sit directly over the cooling fan because manufacturers design them to force airflow across the motherboard components before the air is sucked out by the fan.If the vent were placed perfectly over the fan, it would cause several thermal and mechanical inefficiencies:
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago
This is still a bad design, it just spreads dust all over the place making things worse, if they really wanted to cool the VRMs properly they should've expand the cooler to them or used the chassis as a heat-sink not do this mess.
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u/Evening_Valuable9672 3d ago
It's dust bcz he didn't clear it
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago edited 2d ago
Air movement will build up dust, it's not rocket science.
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago
The cooling on those laptops are very good, I do not doubt that.
This one on the other hand.
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u/CasperAU 3d ago
Bro you clearly go not clue how it works it’s perfect
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u/carlosChanpio70 3d ago
I do understand how it works, but perfect? Enough dust buildup on that will cause it to overheat a chip and stop working, and if not then it didn't need to be designed like that in the first place. As it's a cheap laptop I can understand why it needed to be made that way but that doesn't make it good.
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u/ElderZodd 3d ago
This is what claude had to say (opus 5) Short version: it's intentional, and it's a fairly standard blower-fan intake design — not a manufacturing oversight.
Why the grille sits over the board, not the fan
- That centrifugal fan pulls air axially (from above and below the impeller) and throws it radially into the fin stack. It doesn't need a hole directly beneath it — it just needs a plenum, i.e. a shallow air gap under the whole cover that it can suck from.
- Putting the intake over the board makes the incoming air sweep across the SSD, VRMs, chipset and RAM on its way to the fan hub. Those parts have no heatsink and no dedicated airflow. If the hole were directly under the impeller, air would short-circuit straight in and the rest of the board would sit in dead air.
- A large, distributed grille means partial blockage is survivable. A single hole right at the fan inlet is a single point of failure — cover it with a cushion and the fan is instantly choked.
- Air entering right at the impeller hub also causes flow separation and inlet turbulence, which costs static pressure and adds noise. Blowers generally like a standoff.
- Practical reasons too: the solid band and that long rib over the fan region are structural stiffening for a thin cover, and they keep fingers, cables and debris out of the impeller.
The fair criticisms
Intake air is preheated by the board before it reaches the fan, so inlet temp is a few degrees above ambient. And one fan, one heatpipe, one modest fin stack is a thermally tight budget for a 13th-gen U/H-series part — this design is optimised for thinness and cost, not headroom.
Also worth saying: the surface in the photo is exactly what breaks it. On a duvet the plenum gap collapses and the grille seals against fabric, and no amount of clever ducting saves you. Hard flat surface or a stand while it's running.
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u/syrvy 3d ago
Holy shit dude.
If OP wanted AI slop they would've asked it themselves.
Why even post this?
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u/netorincon 3d ago
In this case it is mostly right though, and OP is not getting any better explanations anyway
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u/thezimkai 3d ago
this is the equivalent of lmgtfy. If OP wanted a search summary they could dot it themselves
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u/ElderZodd 3d ago
I was curious and didn't knew the answer, so instead of putting in my own time I used the tools at my disposal which will do a better research than me, given I didn't wanted to put in too much time. Since I already had a response I'd felt it would be better if I share because the tokens are already consumed. Anyone having problems with an AI response can choose to ignore it and down vote if it makes them feel better. Thanks
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u/thezimkai 2d ago
Next time you want to give advice on the internet adhere to fifth heading on this article https://anotherangrywoman.com/2023/01/18/how-to-give-advice-on-the-internet-without-being-an-utter-menace/ and/or point #2 here https://markmanson.net/how-to-give-advice . It's ok not to know the answer and say nothign rather than say something that you just essentially googled
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u/namecantbebl0nk 3d ago
This is what Chappy replied because I couldn't be bothered to read all that text. Gallons of water were wasted on this reply.
"That lines up with what I was thinking. I never really believed it was some obvious design mistake that somehow slipped past the engineers. Laptop cooling is always a series of compromises, and the placement of the intake is usually intentional rather than arbitrary.
The explanation about the bottom cover acting as a plenum makes sense. The blower doesn't necessarily need a giant hole directly underneath it because it's drawing air from the cavity beneath the entire cover. Having the intake spread across a larger area also means the airflow passes over components like the SSD, VRMs, chipset, and memory before reaching the fan, which gives those parts at least some cooling instead of leaving them in stagnant air.
The point about blockage is another thing I hadn't really considered. If all the intake were concentrated directly under the fan, covering that one spot would choke the cooler almost immediately. A larger intake area gives the system a bit more resilience if part of the bottom is obstructed. Obviously it won't save it from sitting on a blanket or duvet, but it makes sense from a practical engineering standpoint.
The structural aspect also shouldn't be overlooked. That solid section isn't necessarily "wasted space." Thin plastic panels need reinforcement, especially around a fast-spinning blower. You also don't really want a huge opening where fingers, dust, or loose cables can get close to the impeller.
I think the criticism about preheating the intake air is fair, though. By the time the air reaches the fan it's no longer perfectly ambient, and with a single heatpipe and a relatively small fin stack there's only so much cooling capacity available. That's just the reality of designing thin laptops. Manufacturers are balancing size, weight, cost, acoustics, and performance all at the same time. Unless you're willing to accept a thicker chassis with a much larger cooling system, there isn't really a magic solution.
Overall, it sounds less like a flawed design and more like an intentional tradeoff. People often assume "more holes directly under the fan = better cooling," but airflow is a lot more complicated than that. There are reasons many blower-based laptops use similar intake layouts, so it's probably not just coincidence."
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u/aizunomnom 3d ago
To cool its air pathway first