Simple Laptop Cooling Stand with 200mm Noctua Fan

• Pyle PLPTS25 adjustable-height laptop stand; (Amazon link)
• Noctua NF-A20 5V PWM – comes with USB-to-4pin fan header adapter; (Amazon link)
  • The PWM version is the same price but future-proof if you want to add some kind of intelligent fan control!
• USB On/Off Switch
• Some elastic cord
  • The elasticity dampens the fan’s vibrations.

Continue to Build

I assembled the two sides of the stand inside-out to make room for the fan.

I hung the fan from the stand using 2 segments of string.

I angled the fan backwards to make the air flow across the bottom of the laptop.

The USB switch allows me to easily turn the fan off.

Continue to Results

My MateBook X Pro can sustain 2.1GHz on the desk for 5 minutes before shutting off due to VRM overheating (working on solving that right now), but this stand allows it to sustain 2.7GHz indefinitely. As a bonus, I removed the bottom lid altogether and just let the Noctua blow on the laptop’s heatsink directly. No thermal throttling at all anymore. 3.7GHz on all 4 cores. I might just use that when my laptop’s staying on the desk for a long time.

MateBook X Pro, CPU+GPU full load for 10 minutes, on desk.

MateBook X Pro, CPU+GPU full load for 10 minutes, on stand with fan on.

The biggest benefit of using the Noctua fan instead of lower-quality off-the-shelf laptop coolers is that the former is much quieter.