Thinkpads Forum

I'm still working on my FrankenPad with the 44C3926 planar (nVidia FX-570-M), T-9500 CPU, 8 GB RAM, and Middleton BIOS to kick this up to SATA-2.

I'm having the expected heat problems, and am pursuing the 45N5492 T-500 fan / 42W2028 T-61p mod, under-volting with RM Clock (and TPFanControl if needed) per the excellent thread "My Frankenpad Conversion and Heat Sink Mods [+PICS]" (http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... enpad+heat)

One thing I've noticed is the relatively small amount of air intake through the provided vent slots in the T-60 15" base. This was brought home after two spontaneous shutdowns while trying to image the Samsung 850 PRO SSD with Acronis True Image (so I was unable to run HWMonitor to keep track of temps). I presume this is protective high-temp shutdown and is mainly due to the CPU activity, not the GPU as this is a simple screen without appreciable motion in the imager software display.

By removing the Ultrabay DVD burner after starting the imaging, the area of the base under the heatsink was appreciably cooler, and the image completed without shut down.

So my question is, has anyone opened up any additional air flow by removing every other "bar" between the vent slots, or some other method of increasing airflow while all "openings" (HDD/SDD bay and Ultrabay) are closed up?

Your machine shouldn't be shutting down like that, period. I've had systems with FX570 and X9000 and none of them was ever overheating.

The cooler might not sit flat/evenly on top of the CPU, or the paste has dried up...

I've 'opened up' air flow on an X60, drilled 50 holes into the base, because the stock design was known to be flawed. The result was marginal lowering of temperature and substantial weakening of the base (there is more flex now).

A simple method of increasing airflow is to make sure the machine is on a flat, hard, surface and that the feet are full height. You can add a segment of bicycle inner-tube atop each foot to raise the machine a few millimeters.

The stock T60 frame is not the problem or the solution.