Thinkpads Forum

I'm looking for some more info before posting a WTB in the marketplace...

I read on this forum that people is reporting quieter fan operations when using a T500 fan and T61 heatsink on their T60/T61.

but I couldn't clearly understand the following:

- does this apply to widescreen T61? in particular 14'' model?
- is T400 fan the same as T500?
- when we say "putting the T500 fan in the T61 heatsink" are we swapping only the black plastic rotor or also the metal base that contains the motor itself?

thanks a lot : -)

bump : - )

xirtyllo wrote:bump : - )

First bump after almost 10 months: I envy your patience!

The difference is apparently in the fan itself, due to an enhanced rotor design which lowers the noise. Said that, the standard T61/T61p NVIDIA cooler for the 4:3/16:10 machines variety is known to be as noise efficient as the T500 ATI cooler. Personally, i haven't found any real audible difference between both, and therefore don't care much for the T500 fan as long as i can get hold of a good T61/T61p NVIDIA cooler unit.

This applies not to the 14.1"/16:10 widescreen T61, for which the heatsink has a different size and design than its larger brethren. Also, for T60 machines the heatsink has a different design, and i don't know if either the T61 or T500 heatsink could be safely used here without major modifications. Just swapping the actual fan should probably be the safest approach.

Caution: Swapping the complete cooler unit of a T500 into a T60/T61 usually involves slightly bending the heatsink, and is not as easy to be done if you lack proper tools and prior experience. It is rather recommended to either just swap the fan unit of the existing heat sink with the T500 fan, or simply use a complete T61/T61p NVIDIA cooler unit, instead. The latter also works just fine (if not even better) in T61's with Intel GPU, while the reverse definitely does not.

The T500 fan unit is offered by various vendors with varying reputation on (fe)eBay searching for the respective FRU. You can find the relevant FRU for the T500 ATI cooler unit in the T500 hardware maintenance manual (download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/43y6630_04.pdf)

You can check out my guide regarding the topic: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=114717

... another thread on this topic is New methods to reduce the fan noise in a T60 or in a T60p.

Johan