For about a year my "desktop" (and music PC) has been a 2008? 2009? Compaq F762NR running XP. For a year, I have worked to reduce the fan noise of my power amps (which is not relevant to SPCR, but similar technology...use quiet after market fans or even no fan ... works up to a point)... when I figured out the noisiest thing now is my darn laptop. I got back on here and see there is nearly nothing to be done to mod a laptop, especially with the few skills I have. In desperation I tried an old trick: got out the vacuum and really cleaned that sucker. For about 5-10 minutes' work, it is amazing how much quieter the laptop now runs. Perhaps I should do this more often than once or twice a year...for several reasons, (1) I have 4 cats and 2 guinea pigs. (2) I am a slob. -> I have tumbleweed sized hair balls billowing around my home. OK I exaggerate a bit, but point is not to have a mat of cat hair on the intake vents

Just be careful to not vacuum out any small components like jumpers.. Happened to me once with desktop PC.
I've used only very low power setting since then

When I blew compressed air out of my Dell 9400's vents, I saw a 25C difference in both idle and load temps.

I always thought that vacuuming computers was a serious no-no, since it supposedly creates electromagnetic fields that can short-circuit your components.

not sure if the vacuum fear is real or not, but i dont chance it. Are there any reusable alternatives to compressed air?

(- corse ive even heard that when using compressed air the comp should be grounded. )

Laptops can pick up quite a bit of dust and this can block the outlets and yes ramp the fan speeds to try to keep things cool. It's not an uncommon problem, some are easier to get at than others. I sometimes use a small artists brush here to remove dust.

Desktop wise the Intel CPU cooler is notorious for blocking up almost completely with dust, again ramps up the fan speed to silly levels trying to keep the processor cool. Fairly simple just take the fan off and brush out the dust/suck it up. I've "fixed" quite a few noisy pc's just by doing that.