ThinkPad and Temperature.

[Melvyn]

Reading from the manual:

Avoid subjecting your computer to extreme temperatures (below 5 degrees Celsius/41 degrees Fahrenheit or above 35 degrees Celsius/95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Well, I live at Dominican Republic. You know: beachs, sun, palms, cononuts, bikinis and 37 degrees right now!!!

Recommendations for me?

[FTC]

Well, don't worry too much. Depending on your model / processor you won't have a problem. Just use NHC or mobmeter to check your processor's AND hard disk temperature for a few days. As a rule of thumb, your processor should never be over 80ºC at load, and it is advisable that your hard drive does not go over 50ºC...

If you think your CPU is running too hot (which will only reasonably happen if you have a centrino 'banias' based machine, and not a Dothan based one) you can do several things, such as undervolting, improve the thermal interface between heatsink/fan and CPU, and/or increase the fan speed (look for the Fan control utility in this forum). As a 'soft' measure, configure a dynamic switching CPU mode to facilitate it cool down when not in use.

If you have a problem with the hard disk and heat, your options are more limited, but in any case you should play with the power options of the drive and specify a 'low noise' mode... this also usually tends to decrease temps, plus a power mode which allows for disk stopping when unactive. Additionally, try to get some more memory as to avoid disk trashing/swapping, and /or look for a good and cold base place your TP on while working.

Hope this helps...

[Melvyn]

Well, I'm NHC user from old times, since my last Dell Inspiron.

Rigt now, I'm outside at ambient temperature (no air conditioneer) and 36 degrees (one less) and NHC tell me:
CPU: 44C
HD: 35C
Fan is off!

I don't understand!!! HD can't be less than room temperature.

Maybe yes, because 2 aditional things:

I don't use virtual memory, so disk access aren't so frequent.
I've created a "Virtual Ram Disk" of 32mb with TweakXP and stored explorer caché there. So, this access here is minimun.

Usually my CPU temperature round 42-60 and only for some seconds reach 65 and 70, usually while compiling with Borland Developer Studio and/or Code Charge Studio. (I've undervoltaged the CPU at NHC)
HD Temperature is around 33-40 and some times reaches 45.

So, everything looks ok here?

[agarza]

I've the same processor as yours (745), it don't get that hot, with the exception that my Thinkpad has a much hotter GPU (FireGL T2).
Your best choice is to undervolt your CPU. I've changed the thermal interface material on both CPU and GPU, and the CPU never exceeds 63C at load!

[Melvyn]

Such hight temperatures are reached only during intense cpu operations like compiling large projects.

For example: a 40 tables/100+ forms C#/ASP.Net application with CodeCharge Studio take about 2 minute to compile and publish at local server, since I press F9 to publish the CPU goes to 1.79ghz and 300+ MB of Ram (usually before publishing it's around 150mb ram and 600mhz).

I use custom dynamic switching. Usually under 50 degrees when operating at custom or minimun, and 50-60 wen operating at maximun performance.

Anyways, this is only caution (or curiosity) because te machine works wonderfull.

[FTC]

Melvyn, you'r fine considering your external temps... no problem for the TP.

[holr]

hmm, im wondering if i should call in for a warranty call, i have a t43p running a 213gig cpu. Its running under "max performance" mode at the moment and staying a steady 91 degrees C, the gpu is 67 degrees C. Is this bad? I just cleaned out the fans earlier this week. I have not done any crazy mods to this laptop...

[agarza]

hmm, im wondering if i should call in for a warranty call, i have a t43p running a 213gig cpu. Its running under "max performance" mode at the moment and staying a steady 91 degrees C, the gpu is 67 degrees C. Is this bad? I just cleaned out the fans earlier this week. I have not done any crazy mods to this laptop...

Reseat the fan properly, make sure the heatsink contacts the CPU core. But to get rid of the problem clean throughly the heatsink and CPU where each other make contact with Isopropyl Alcohol and apply a thin layer of Arctic Silver 5.

[skygodtj]

My T40, 2GHz(upgraded from 1.5), 768MB, 80GB, DVD/RW runs right at 80C during Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. I switched from the OEM goop to AS5 because the first time I ran the games I saw the temp spike to 85C. I also use FanControl to run the RPM up to 6000 to keep things chillin' while playing. It still gets to 80C, hasnt gone above tho, at least, I see 80C when I exit the game and it cools quickly, back down to low 40's idling.. so I can see at least a 5C drop in temps with the AS5 over the OEM goop..

TJ