Thinkpads Forum

Would it be possible to order a fan assembly from a T61 and use just the fan in a T60p? The new owl-wing blade fan is supposedly much quieter and if it's the same size it might be an easy swap. Any ideas?

Of course it's possible, nearly anything is possible, but I bet it wouldn't be easy. Just like you can upgrade the GPU of your laptop's motherboard, it's possible, but far from easy. Good luck!

It can be possible only if both fan assembly have the same form factor. Not sure ! This CRU is cheat (about 30 €). So you can order it and try to exchange only the fan...

I plan to try it...

Snap wrote:Of course it's possible, nearly anything is possible, but I bet it wouldn't be easy. Just like you can upgrade the GPU of your laptop's motherboard, it's possible, but far from easy. Good luck!

mmm, GPU upgrade nearly impossible. Fan upgrade... piece of cake if they are the same size. I'd try it if I were you!

GPU upgrade is not possible. It's soldered on the mainboard.

The way Lenovo's blog reads the T61's cooling/vents/fan were heavily redesigned, which leads me to believe that it will be radically different from the T60's design. If they turn out to be the exact same form factor then fantastic. Let us know how it goes please.

The heat sink/fan assemblies are different form factors, and they are not swappable:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g10/P ... _Fans1.jpg

Unless those drawings are the exact same scale. I don't see that as proof that the screw holes wouldn't line up.

Besides you would have to have every hole line up. It would stay put with two or three screws. There just needs to be room to fit it in place.

Of course they are going to be slightly different form factor. If they were completely identical why bother replacing it?

EOMtp wrote:The heat sink/fan assemblies are different form factors, and they are not swappable:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g10/P ... _Fans1.jpg

Nice ! I just read a review now and there are some picts :


T61


T60 :


MOD EDIT: Picture warning added.

EOMtp wrote:The heat sink/fan assemblies are different form factors, and they are not swappable:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g10/P ... _Fans1.jpg

I didn't say anything about swapping the fan assemblies. I just want to swap the fan. From those pictures it looks like it may be possible.

I don't think it's possible. Fan assembly is sealed some parts are pressed and looks impossible to disassemble. Or if it's possible to disassemble them, it will not be possible to reassemble them after.

It may be possible to remove only the fan like in previous other heatsinks (T30, T4x series)

I got a T41p fan assembly in front of me, there is any screw. If you have information about disassembling it.

Did anyone ever get to swap a T60 fan with a T61 fan?

Also, isn't there a difference between 4:3 14" T61, 14.1" WS, 15.4" WS fans on the T61?

Could someone maybe take a macro shot of theit T61 near the fan area (of course with the keyboard off ) and do some measurements of the distances between the screws?
Please...

My T60 fan i driving me nuts... not only does it always spin - but the lowest setting is a ridicoulous 3000 rpm, and it has a little whiney sound to it also now.

T61 14" wide fan will NOT fit into T60 14". Seen my T61 open with T60p 14" fan assembly on the left side. Screw are located at the same place 45 mm x ~32 mm but copper plate is far different.



The T60p fan assembly is the first I try to mod. I bent the heatpipe too much and it works very bad. It's possible to see where the pipe is *too* flat.

The best way to make a T60p silent is to buy a fan and mod it. You have to remove the thermal pad and bend the heatpipe so the GPU/MCH plate is lowered by about 1 mm (same high as the thermal pad). Thus, you will have direct contact between GPU and copper plate. It will lower the GPU temp by about 10°C.

Thank you very much Pascal_TTH, very much appreciated!
Hmm, yes i can see it is very different, and in order to fit with the T60 it would also have to have it's corner cut in the southeast reagion of the heatsink.

Hmmm... i actually just saw this close-up picture of a 15.4" fan: ebay link
Compared to your T60 fan and this image:
http://bunniestudios.com/blog/images/t60_mb.jpg

It looks like it will fit much better.

How do you like the sound of the fan in your T61? Is it really that quiet?

I'd really like to mod the T60 fan, but the it sounds like the fan has become slightly unbalanced due to the sound it makes. While a new assembly will solve it, i'm afraid it will do the same once again after a year or so...

The 15.4 T61p fan only costs 20 EUR directly from IBM including VAT, so i'm thinking just about buying it...

To tell the true, the T61 14" wide fan is as loud as the T60p one. Only the T61p have is far more silent. The fan runs at only 2500 rpm from timt to time during light use.

If you read the topic about Thinkpadfan control, you will found that the bios control the fan rpm directly. Su if you use a T61p on your T60p and bios wants 3000 rpm, it will run the fan at 3000 rpm.

T61p is quieter because the fan run slower. At same speed the noise is about the same (with a small adavantage for T61p).

I see... what an annoyance that the 3000 rpm is só high.

So much for the "owl" fan design then i suppose?

At higher fan speeds, is there much difference in sound, or is it just about the same?

The T61p 15,4 stay far more silent than the T60p (4/3). I never see the fan running higher than 3200 rpm. At this speed, it's still a quiet laptop. I really love my T61p. Last laptop that brings me so much pleasure and performances in silence was my A21p.

Sounds like they did get the cooling solution just right for the T61p.
Eventhough it might run at 3000 rpm (or 2800 or thereabouts) on the T60p, i'll order the T61p anyway.
I have arctic silver 5 already, and just ordered some arctic silver thermal adhesive... Now i need to find a thin-ish copper plate locally and a T61p fan
The goo still looks pretty thick on the T61p fan, so i'm thinking of replacing some of the goo by the copper plate... if it isn't needed, at least the epoxy was very cheap...

Thanks for all your help.