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Laptop & PC Overheating Repair in London

Thermal Paste Replacement, Fan Repair and Throttling Fixes for Laptops, Desktops and Gaming Rigs

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4.8-star Google rating Putney workshop SW15 90-day warranty on repairs Free collection & return

Last updated: August 2026

Overview

Loud, hot and suddenly slow? That is throttling, and it is fixable

An overheating machine does not usually break — it quietly gets worse at its job. It boots fine, feels normal for five minutes, then the fans spin up and everything crawls. That is thermal throttling: the processor deliberately dropping its own clock speed to protect itself, sometimes to less than half of what you paid for. Dried-out thermal compound, a fan choked with dust and hair, collapsed thermal pads and blocked vents are the usual causes, and all four are serviceable. This is one of the few repairs where the difference is immediate and obvious — quieter fans, a cooler chassis, and performance that holds instead of collapsing. We service laptops, desktops and gaming rigs at our Putney workshop, with free collection and return across South West London.

Fans loud or constantly spinning, even on light work
Fast for five minutes, then everything slows to a crawl
Shuts down or restarts under load — games, exports, long calls
Chassis too hot to touch, or barely any air from the vents
Temperatures measured, not guessed Before and after readings shown Load-tested before you get it back
What thermal throttling is actually costing you Why machines start overheating Laptops, desktops and gaming rigs are different jobs
What you get

What every overheating & fan repair job includes

90-day warranty

The work we carry out is covered by a 90-day warranty. If the same fault comes back inside that window, we put it right.

Free collection and return

We collect and return across South West London at no charge, so you do not have to make the trip to get your machine looked at.

Same-day turnaround is available on many jobs — ask when you book and we will confirm availability and any additional cost before we start.

Features

What a Thermal Service Includes

Throttling Diagnosis, Measured

Before anything is opened we log core temperatures, clock speeds and fan behaviour under sustained load. That tells us whether you have a genuine thermal fault, a failing fan, or a software process quietly pinning the CPU at 100 per cent.

Thermal Paste Replacement

The compound between the chip and the heatsink dries out and stops transferring heat, typically after a few years. We remove the old paste properly, clean both surfaces, and apply quality compound with the correct mount pressure — the single biggest win on most machines.

Thermal Pad Replacement

On gaming laptops and thin machines the pads over VRMs, memory and GPU components matter as much as the paste. Collapsed or wrong-thickness pads cause shutdowns that a repaste alone will never fix, so we replace them to the correct spec.

Fan Repair and Replacement

Grinding, whining, rattling or a fan that has stopped turning altogether. We clean and re-lubricate where the bearing is still good, and fit a replacement where it is not — including desktop case, CPU and GPU fans as well as laptop blowers.

Deep Dust and Blockage Removal

Years of dust, hair and fluff compact into a felt-like mat across the heatsink fins where a can of compressed air cannot reach. We strip the cooling assembly out and clear it properly rather than blowing the blockage further in.

Load Testing and Before/After Proof

We re-run the same sustained load afterwards and check the numbers actually moved — temperatures down, clocks holding, fans calmer. You get told what it was and what it is now, so the improvement is a measurement rather than a promise.

Process

How a Thermal Service Runs

Simple steps to get your problem solved quickly and professionally.

1

Baseline

We put the machine under sustained load and record what it actually does — peak temperatures, sustained clock speeds, fan noise and when the slowdown starts. Nothing is opened until we know the numbers.

2

Quote

You get the cause and a fixed price. A dust-clogged desktop, a full ultrabook strip-down and a gaming laptop needing new pads are very different jobs, so the quote reflects yours rather than an average.

3

Service

Cooling assembly out, old compound removed, surfaces cleaned, fins cleared, fan serviced or replaced, quality paste and correctly-specified pads fitted, everything reassembled to torque.

4

Prove it

The same load test is re-run and the before and after figures compared. If the numbers have not improved enough, the machine does not come back to you — we keep looking.

In Depth

What to Expect

Prefer the quick version? The sections above cover most needs. Expand any topic below for more detail.

What thermal throttling is actually costing you

Overheating rarely announces itself as a fault. It shows up as a machine that is simply worse than it used to be:

Performance that will not hold

Benchmarks and short tasks look fine because the heat has not built up yet. It is the sustained work — the long export, the second hour of a game, the big spreadsheet recalculation — where a throttling machine falls behind and stays behind.

Noise you have stopped noticing

Fans running hard on light work is not the machine trying harder, it is the cooling system failing to keep up. Most people adapt to it gradually and only realise how loud it had become once it is serviced.

Shutdowns and crashes under load

A hard power-off mid-task is the thermal cut-out doing its last-resort job. It is not a Windows problem and reinstalling will not touch it — something is hitting its limit and needs to be cooled properly.

Shortened component life

Sustained high temperatures are hard on batteries, drives and the board itself. Running hot for years is one of the quieter reasons machines fail earlier than they should.

The reason we baseline before opening anything is simple: if we cannot show you the numbers moved, we have not actually fixed it.

Why machines start overheating

Overheating is nearly always one of a short list of causes, and they are usually stacked rather than singular:

  • Thermal compound dried and cracked, so heat no longer crosses from the chip to the heatsink
  • Heatsink fins packed with compacted dust, hair and fluff that compressed air cannot shift
  • Fan bearing worn, so it spins slower and noisier while moving far less air than it should
  • Thermal pads collapsed or the wrong thickness after a previous repair, leaving memory and power stages uncooled
  • Vents blocked by soft furnishings, or a desktop pushed hard against a wall or into a sealed cabinet
  • A background process pinning the processor at full load, which produces the same symptoms with none of the hardware causes

That last one matters. It is why diagnosis comes before dismantling — some overheating machines have nothing wrong with their cooling at all.

Laptops, desktops and gaming rigs are different jobs

The physics is the same but the work is not, which is why we quote per machine rather than by a flat rate:

  • Laptops — tight thermal headroom by design, so a small amount of dust or dried paste produces a large performance loss; some models need near-total disassembly to reach the heatsink
  • Ultrabooks and thin machines — sealed construction, delicate ribbon cables and passive or single-fan cooling make this careful, slower work
  • Desktops — usually the easiest win, since dust removal, a repaste and correcting airflow direction often transform temperatures in one visit
  • Gaming laptops and rigs — two heat sources rather than one, with GPU paste, pads and radiator or AIO condition all in scope alongside the CPU

Whichever it is, the same rule applies: measure, service, then measure again.

Not sure what you need? We're happy to help.

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Pricing

Overheating & Thermal Service Pricing

Thermal work is quoted per machine rather than sold as a flat rate, because the jobs genuinely differ: clearing a dust-blocked desktop is an afternoon, while a sealed ultrabook or a gaming laptop needing a full pad replacement is a strip-down. We diagnose first — in-store diagnostics typically run £40–£80 — then give you one fixed price covering parts, labour and turnaround before anything is dismantled. If the cause turns out to be a failing fan or a software process rather than the paste, you pay for that instead, not for a service you did not need.

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Fixed Quote Before Work · 90-Day Warranty on Repairs · Before & After Temperatures Recorded

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

My laptop gets hot and then everything slows down. Is that thermal throttling?
Almost certainly. Modern processors monitor their own temperature and cut their clock speed once they hit a limit, which is why the machine feels quick for the first few minutes and then falls off a cliff. It is protection working as designed — the problem is the heat, not the throttling. The usual causes are thermal compound that has dried out, a heatsink packed with dust, or a fan that is no longer moving the air it should. Our full guide to cleaning, thermal paste replacement and fixing throttling on an overheating laptop explains how to confirm it with temperature monitoring before you spend anything.
How often does thermal paste actually need replacing?
There is no universal interval, but most laptops that get daily use benefit somewhere around the three-to-five year mark, and sooner if the machine runs hot for a living — gaming, video editing, CAD or long compile jobs. Heat, dust and running warm all day accelerate it. The honest test is not the calendar but the behaviour: if a machine that used to hold its performance now slows after a few minutes and the fans are working noticeably harder than they used to, the compound is a strong suspect. We measure before recommending it rather than repasting on age alone.
My gaming PC or GPU overheats and shuts down under load. Do you handle that?
Yes, and a hard shutdown mid-game is a distinct fault worth taking seriously — it usually means a component is hitting its thermal cut-out or the power supply can no longer deliver peak draw. On gaming machines we look at the GPU as well as the CPU, including its own paste and pads, plus case airflow, AIO pump behaviour and dust in the radiator. If the fault turns out to be the graphics card, power supply or an unstable overclock rather than pure thermals, our gaming PC repair service covers the GPU, stability and power side of it in the same workshop.
Can you fix a noisy fan, or does the whole thing need replacing?
Both happen, and it depends on the noise. A whooshing fan that has simply got louder over time is usually a dust and airflow problem, and cleaning fixes it. Grinding, rattling or a rhythmic clicking normally means the bearing has gone, and that fan is on borrowed time regardless of how clean it is — we replace it. A fan that does not spin at all can be the fan, the header or a control fault on the board, so we test before condemning the part. Fan work sits alongside our wider laptop repair and PC repair services if other faults turn up during the strip-down.
Is a thermal service worth it, or should I just buy a new machine?
For most machines under about six years old it is comfortably worth it, because you are restoring performance the hardware already has rather than buying new hardware. A throttling laptop that recovers its full clock speed feels like a substantially faster computer for a fraction of a replacement. We will tell you when it is not the right call — a machine with a failing board, a dying drive and a swollen battery is not saved by a repaste. If you want the wider picture before deciding, our PC and Mac health check reports on thermals alongside storage, battery and overall condition.
What can I do to stop it happening again?
Keep the vents clear — soft furnishings and beds block laptop intakes almost completely — give desktops a few inches of breathing room, and clear dust from filters and grilles every few months. Hot weather makes an existing thermal weakness visible rather than causing it, which is why enquiries spike every summer; our guide on stopping a laptop overheating in summer covers the practical habits. A machine kept clean and serviced will usually go years between thermal services rather than months.

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Coverage

Service Areas

We provide Laptop & PC Overheating Repair in London across South West London

Serving Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Putney, Clapham, Balham, Tooting, and surrounding areas.

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Fans Screaming and Performance Gone?

Bring it into the Putney workshop or book a free collection across South West London. We measure the temperatures first, quote a fixed price, and show you the before and after.

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