noisy fan

I don't imagine your machine is too old, as that's a new model, isn't it? Otherwise, I'd suggest blowing out the cooling ducts and fans with some compressed air. The Inspiron 9100 I used to have got progressively more noisy till one day I took it apart and blew out the cooling system. After that, the fans never kicked into high, regardless of what I was doing. Before that, they would kick into high on a regular basis. A co-worker of mine has to blow his Inspiron on a regular basis, as they have a few pets at home. Smoking also seems to have a tendancy to plug up computer cooling equipment.

As far as large files interfering with the cooling system, the major generators of heat are the CPU, the graphics processor, and the hard drive. You can monitor the CPU utilization pretty easily by starting the Task Manager, and then run your game for a bit. The switch back to the Task Manager, and see if you've got the CPU utilitization pegged at a high level (like 100%). If that's the case, you're probably SOL with regards to quieting the fan. Typically, the laptops have a light that indicates HD usage; do you see that flashing on a regular basis?

Also keep in mind that you can improve cooling efficiency by making sure you're not blocking any of the cooling vents. During the winter, I often sit in my easy chair, with a blanket on my lap (cool basement, dontcha know). If I'm not careful to keep the cooling vents freed up, the fan on my Labreastude D810 will kick in pretty quickly. A hard flat surface is best.

Clint