Thinkpads Forum

Well I'm pretty sure we all know by now the dreadful performance of the stock heatsink/fan combo when it comes to cooling the GPU. I've had my T60p for quite a while now, read all the threads, got rightmark CPU working the way I want it, did a few hardware mods listed in a few threads here, and while I was "satisfied" with the results I was just never was happy with the performance of the cooling compared to my T42p and T30p. So I finally got around the getting some stuff together and did something about it. Maybe it will help some others on this site, who knows, maybe someone from Lenovo will read it and do something.

Here's a look at some of my temperature numbers before my latest project. Already this is not a factory setup, I've removed the original thermal compound and replaced it with a silver based compound (not Arctic Silver, I couldn't find my tube, but something better than stock). In addition to that, I did the "penny" mod to apply additional pressure to the heatpipe over the GPU.

Here's the system running at forced full steam but idle. The CPU is running at 2.0 ghz (T7200) and the GPU (FireGL V5250) is running with powerplay completely disabled. TPFancontrol is forcing the fan to run at full speed, and I let the system sit for a few minutes until the temperatures stabilize. The idea is to get some repeatable benchmarks, however I regret that I don't have a thermometer to measure room temp, so I have to guess. All the "before" results I estimate the room temperature to be around 70*F, as I was sitting quite comfortably wearing heavy jeans, socks, and shirt. The "after" results I estimate the room temp has risen to about 85*F-90*F, as I'm sitting wearing nothing but shorts and sweating. It's quite hot.

Anyway, here's the first image.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/212 ... b06ea3.jpg
As you can see, the results are about on par with "good" T60 cooling, but not great.

Just out of curosity, I removed the keyboard, trackpoint assembly, and speaker cover assembly to see if airflow is restricted with those parts on. The results say yes.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/212 ... f69b41.jpg

Previously when I had my keyboard off I looked around at the configuration and it's pretty easy to see that it's less than ideal (as noted in other threads). However, one thing I spotted was never mentioned before that I read: there is no pressure on the heatpipes, connecting them to the heatsink. I noticed that while stress testing, if I pushed down with my hand on the heat pipes I would see an immediate and several degree decrease in temperatures for the GPU.

Here's the reason. In addition to the heatsink and heatpipe construction being a complete piece of crap, the GPU heatpipe is NOT attached in any way to the CPU portion of the heatsink. The shared GPU heatpipe has to travel quite some distance before it can offload its heat to the heatsink to be carried away. It's already small and overtaxed to begin with, and here's a major design flaw. It really boggles my mind, Intel and AMD are making major strides to create low voltage, low power consuming mobile processors and chipsets with all sorts of power saving features, yet the achillies heel of the whole thing is Lenovo cutting corners on their ridiculous excuse for a heatsink. Really, the thing is a piece of crap. I'm surprised it works at all; it's a prime example of Lenovo getting away with putting in the crappiest component to save $10 from every system. There is room for MAJOR improvement here, at minimal cost, for both the heatsink and the way it attaches to the motherboard. Considering how important fan noise and heat are to most users (and people that review laptops), I can't comprehend why this has been overlooked for so long.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2273/212 ... d84c_o.jpg

Let's get started fixing this abomoniation. Tools you'll need:

* thermal BONDING compound. I use Arctic Silver thermal adhesive. This is not the regular thermal compound you use between the CPU and heatsink. This is a two-part system you mix which forms a PERMANENT bond between materials. It's going to bond the heat pipe to the heat sink.

*thermal compound. The regular stuff. You need to replace the crap you remove before reinstalling the heatsink. I used Arctic Silver this time.

* hands free ratcheting clamps. I used two Irwin Quick-Grip clamps to apply maximum pressure while the thermal bonding compound cured. The pressure you can apply is critical to ultimate performance, so don't skimp out. You won't be able to do it by hand, so don't even try.

* surface cleaner. You need to clean residue off the components that touch the heatsink. Do a final cleaning just before you reinstall the heatsink to make sure it's as clean as possible.

* optional: 2-3mm thick copper plate, copper plate. As you may know, there are three things cooled by the heatsink assembly: the CPU, with its own dedicated heatpipe, and the GPU+Northbridge (I believe). However, they are not all at the same height, yet for some stupid reason the heatsink is constructed as a flat plane. Lenovo "solved" this problem by sticking a large thermal pad over the northbridge, which is a terrible idea. The best solution would be to have a thicker plate for the GPU and northbridge, which are both lower than the CPU. Properly sand and polish a piece of copper and use the thermal adhesive to attach it to the bottom of the heatsink. This issue is what the "penny mod" addresses. You can buy a small sheet of copper at a hardware store and get some sandpaper while you're there, you'll want a variety of grits, at a minimum 600, 1200, and 2000 to finish up the surface before bonding. I didn't have these materials and also wanted to do separate tests, so I haven't done this yet.

* cold ones. This isn't work ya know. Relax and have fun. I enjoyed some Carlton Dark and a Hahn's Light. Just don't do anything stupid. You wouldn't want to spill beer inside your laptop.

Time to get started. Step 1, remove this fuzzy thing. It hides a metal clasp, which seems to be in actuality useless. It looks like it's supposed to clamp the heatpipe to the heatsink, but doesn't. Just stick a fingernail under a corner, it'll peel right up.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/212 ... 7ce1_o.jpg

Next you need to very carefully pry the heatpipe away from the heatsink. Grasp the GPU copper pipe and pry it away gently, about this far:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2263/212 ... 466d_o.jpg

Then stick a knife under the part close to the CPU (where it's actually bonded/welded/glued to the heatsink) and pry the end up a small amount. Remember, you're trying to lift the heatpipe enough so you'll be able to stuff thermal adhesive under it, that's all. No one will think you're cool if you snap the heatpipe.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/212 ... f040_o.jpg

Now it's time to mix your adhesive. Read the directions. Mix a decent amount, you need to cover the whole length of the heatpipe that's separated, plus fill in the circular ridge around the CPU portion, as shown below. Apply a thin layer, you don't need to glop it on, just make sure it covers everything. The only think you need to fill is that circular ridge. Why is it there? No idea.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2227/212 ... ce09_o.jpg

You have about five minutes to apply the thermal adhesive and clamps after you mix it, so work quickly but don't rush. Once the thermal adhesive is applied, clamp that sucker down as hard as you can. Make sure the GPU portion goes where it's supposed to, it's possible to get it caught up on the rest of the heatsink. Open a cold one and leave it for at least an hour.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/212 ... 1d2d_o.jpg

While you're waiting for the compund to cure, if you're not applying a piece of copper to the heatsink, you can set up the "penny mod". Here's how it works. The CPU portion of the heatsink is clamped to the CPU by means of 4 screws. One is shared with the GPU. The main means of pressure for the GPU and northbridge is a chinsey piece of metal that relies on spring tension to force the entire heatpipe assembly a number of milimeters downward to make contact with the components. It's a terrible design. The keyboard cannot be used to apply pressure, there's really only one screw that holds the keyboard and that is on the wrong side to apply pressure to the GPU. The penny mod takes up some of the gap between the heatsink and components, increasing the amount of pressure, which means better thermal conductivity.

I've got a bunch of coins lying around, I found the best fit to be a US quarter for the GPU and an Australian 5C piece for the northbridge. A US dime will work if you don't have one of those, it's just a bit thinner and smaller. Here's how you should position the coins if you just want to skip the process:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2289/212 ... c037_o.jpg

If you don't trust my positioning, here's how to do it yourself. You want to place a coin so that it's directly above the component that needs pressure. Use the metal bracket as a template, and line it up with the two screw mounts, and move it back and forth to determine where the coins need to be placed for maximum effect.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2306/212 ... c1a7_o.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2251/212 ... 4409_o.jpg
Remember, the heatsink is between the components and this bracket. The coins are making contact with the heatsink. It doesn't really matter what you use to take up the gap, it's only to apply pressure, it really has nothing to do with heat transfer.

Okay the thermal adhesive has cured, you've finished the penny pressure mod, you've had a few cold ones, and you're feeling pretty good about your mod. Time to remove the clamps and position the GPU portion of the heatsink. Do some test fitting before you apply thermal compound to figure out how much of a downward bend you need to the GPU portion (remember there is a height difference between the level of the CPU, the level of the GPU, and the level of the northbridge). You want positive pressure on the heatsink. I had to bend mine quite a bit. This is what the copper plate mod will fix, you won't need to bend the plates at all to get positive pressure. The geometry of the configuration should be better as well, but I'm trying to do things one step at a time so I can get measureable results (to some extent). It's a bit hard to tell, but I bent the heatpipe/GPU portion quite a bit so that there was pressure on the northbridge chip. It's maybe 10 degrees.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/212 ... 06aa_o.jpg

Okay time to apply the thermal compound and button things back up. Here are my results.

Here are the same spec as the first test, with the mod finished. You can see from the overall temperatures that that ambient temp as increased considerbly, yet the GPU temp had barely risen! Excellent.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/212 ... b55c_o.jpg

And a few stresstests.

Previous to this mod, my GPU temps would eventually peak over 80*C when running RenderMonkey, and after using a GPU intesive game, i.e. Dark Crusade in a hot room, it'd rise over 90*C (high I admit, yet within design specs). After the mod the temps were creeping to the upper 70s, and I haven't seen 80 yet.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2205/212 ... 0cea_o.jpg

Stressing the CPU and GPU together; running WPrime, a multithreaded PI calculation test, plus RenderMonkey.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2008/212 ... 558b_o.jpg

It's a bit difficult to do a direct back to back comparison since I don't have ambient temperature data, but it's pretty easy to see that while the CPU temp has risen a few degrees C at idle, the GPU has barely gone up, implying better cooling despite the increase in ambient temp. If anyone else decides to try this mod, if you could take some data it would be much appreciated.

At the moment, after I've finished writing this article at my regular RMClock and TPFanControl settings, the CPU temp is 50*C while the GPU is "only" 64*C at a constant fan speed of ~3000 RPM (setting 1 in TPFC).


MOD EDIT: Please get yourself familiar with rules of this forum, picture(s) cannot be posted without a warning in the subject line AND no picture(s) should be > 50kb (which all are). Thank you

Excellent presentation! Very professional photos! Good enough to inspire me to dig into my T43p I think. That's the noisy one for me...

I'd really be curious to hear how the T61 differs from the T60 in regards to the stock cooling system.

Great job and thanks for posting pictures, really helps guide through.

jeepcoma, great post. Thanks for taking the time to write up your analysis, modifications, photos, and results. As a mechanical engineer, I found it very interesting, but a little difficult to follow.

In order to understand your post, I had to dive into the details, view every photo, and then go back an re-read everything again just to understand the big picture, and I still don't understand what temperature readings are considered to be good and bad.

Suggestions to consider that could make this thread a little more informative for a layman would be to: (1) add some arrows, circles, or text to the photos, (2) include a summary paragraph at the beginning of the first post describing what the overall problem is and then summarizing what you are trying to address, and (3) add some explanatory text that discusses what temperature readings are considered to be both good and bad.

Once again, thanks or taking the time to write up your analysis, modifications, photos, and results. I found it very interesting!

First off, sorry for not reading the rules and posting pics.

Secondly, thanks for the compliments. Hopefully if anyone else follows or is inspired to make their own modifications they can post some before and after results.

Roadster, in my defense, my target audience wasn't exactly the layman I'd assume that anyone searching about heat problems with the T60 would find the quite large and informative threads about GPU temperatures, and would have some idea about temps, how to use RMclock to undervolt, and TPFancontrol. But, I'll try to write a bit more information and maybe work on inproving the pics at some point.

About "good" and "bad" temperatures:

I believe both the CPU and GPU have design specifications of 100*C as their design limit. So technically, and apparently as far as Lenovo is concered, anything less than 100*C is "acceptable". Thus, from their perspective, as long as the cooling system can keep the temps below 100*C, there's no reason to spend more money to improve it. If the fan is on, so what (at least that seems to be their attitude. A few users have reported GPU temperatures rising past 100*C during heavy use (like games), and resultant slowdowns and crashes. These are the extreme cases, and of all the thinkpads shipped they form an insignificant minority.

But we all know heat is bad. Mechanically, electronic components don't last as long when they're hot. Functionally, the user experience is better when the laptop is cool to the touch and quiet. So the goal is to get temperatures down to a more appropriate level, ideally with passive cooling to keep things quiet, but with fans as load demands. Here's where the design falls short, both with the poor design of the heatsink and the poor implementation of the fan controller in the BIOS. Fortunately, some people smarter than I have created software that lets us tinker with all this stuff.

Most users seem to report idle temps of the GPU anywhere from the mid 70s to high 80s, 90s, or in rarer cases 100*C. CPU temps are typically cooler than the GPU, mainly because that portion of the heatsink is slightly better designed. The goal is to get both the working temperatures down to a safe level with the fan on full, and the idle temperatures down to a safe level with no fan, or the fan operating only for short times.

How to do this? There are really only two things, hardware mods and software control. Software mods are the easiest and safest, as they don't require opening your laptop and messing with things physically. But, when you do open your laptop, you'll notice some shortcomings with the cooling solution. I'll try to describe those shortcomings and possible solutions to the problems.

Looking at the design of the heatsink assembly, it seems to be divided into three sections: 1) the fan section, 2) the CPU section, and 3) the GPU/northbridge section. The fan section actually seems to be quite well designed, as far as I can tell. It appears to suck air in through the top (which enters through the space next to the speaker) and has two exhaust ports, and a large number of fins to increase surface area. Since it does suck air in through the top, it's important to keep this clean and dust free. Dust clogging airflow is never good. Short of cutting a hole in the keyboard to provide better airflow into the fan, I can't think of an easy way to improve on this part.

Now the CPU and GPU portions, in comparison, are a complete joke. First off, the total amount of copper in weight is pathetic (this would be the "sink" portion of "heatsink"); the more copper, the better, as far as it comes to sucking heat off components and moving it to the atmosphere. Look at the construction, it's incredibly flimsy. A paper thin heatsink, puny heatpipes that look like they are glued to the heatsink, and overstressed components: the GPU portion has a tiny heatpipe, which happens to be the longest, and yet it's asked to cool both the power hungry GPU AND the northbridge. Furthermore, that heatpipe isn't even attached to the heatsink for about half its length of travel. When it comes to heat transfer, more pressure between two surfaces equates to better heat transfer, and more surface area between two surfaces also equates to better heat transfer. That's the main idea I'm looking at here with my mod: aid the GPU portion by firmly attaching the floating section of the heatpipe to the heatsink.

What would the ideal heatsink look like? It would be one piece milled from a solid copper block, of as much size and mass as possible to fit under the keyboard. Certainly there's plenty of room to fit more copper under there, it could even be finned to aid passive cooling slightly. Instead of relying on spring pressure to force contact between the heatsink and components (like the GPU section), it should firmly mount to the motherboard with screws (like the CPU portion). Furthermore, if you were to look at a side profile of the motherboard, the CPU, GPU, and northbridge chips are all at different heights above baseline. The CPU is highest (closest to the keyboard), the GPU is maybe 2mm below the CPU, and the northbridge is another considerable 2-3mm below the GPU. I'm eyeballing the difference here, but anyone familiar with basic geometry will see the problem. The heatsink, as designed, is milled to be perfectly flat on one level plane. That would work if all three components were of the same height, but they're not. Lenovo's solution was a thick thermal pad to fill up the gap. My slightly better solution was to bend the heatsink enough to remove the gap and add a spacer under the spring clamp to force more pressure. The better idea is to attach a thin copper plate to the underside of the heatsink to take up the gap. Best, of course, would be to have the design take the height differences into account and machine a better heatsink.

Unfortunately I'm pressed for time or I would continue rambling about the terrible design. I will try to clarify things a bit more and improve the pictures to show exactly what I'm talking about. The thing that bugs me is that this is such a stupid, unnecessary problem. If a bunch of people on the internet can figure out ways to write programs to improve the fan usage, voltage and clock settings, and take the risk of ripping their computers apart, surely Lenovo engineers can do better. Someone familiar with CAD could whip up a design for a single solid piece to replace the heatsink, and a 3D printer could print the design which could then be made into an actual piece of copper. I would love to make one of those. I'm sure there is enough talent floating around out there to do it.

jeepcoma wrote:my target audience wasn't exactly the layman I'd assume that anyone searching about heat problems with the T60 would find the quite large and informative threads about GPU temperatures, and would have some idea about temps, how to use RMclock to undervolt, and TPFancontrol.

I understand. However, I stepped into this thread (like others presumably) because it simply showed up under recent posts on the "ThinkPad T6x Series" forum, which is how I have been learning about my new notebook.

I wasn't specifically searching for information on heat problems, and I have never read the other threads that you referred to, so I was completely confused at first. But your follow-up explanations in the last post helped clarify things a lot.

Thanks for the additional information about the "good" and "bad" temperatures. Now I'm finally up to speed.

Awesome post!

My t60p constantly locks up anytime I try to play a 3D game. I can watch the GPU temp rise up above 90c and eventually I lock up. Sometimes I get a BSOD indicating hardware problem related to the ati system drivers.

I may have to try these mods during my xmas vacation time.

Indeed a great job! Someone versatile with copper and fabrication machines should work out a new cooling solution in order to exchange the original one.

What if someone makes a "cooling kit" for these machines with redesigned heatsinks and heatpipes?

How much someone will pay for a kit containing the new assembly (fan+heatsink) and thermal grease?

There is another issue here, the current assembly is flexible due to the flimsy design and thermal pads, the new one will be rigid, wouldn't this add stress to the motherboard and produce failure in time due to dilatation and termal fatigue of materials?

Regards,
v.

Here are some useful links for those new to the cooling issue.

T60 Temperature Thread

Fan Noise Problem
(go to the last pages for troubadix's latest versions)

RMClock
CPU controller. Undervolting your CPU will provide drastic cooling benefits. Mine runs rock solid stable at 0.975 volts under full load. Just as a test, I ran wprime benchmark with the factory voltage of ~1.2 compared to undervolted at 0.975. I'll try to post some results so you can visually see the importance, but I'll cut to the chase and say I can run 100% load, with NO FAN, indefinitely, without reaching critical CPU temps when undervolted.

Vali, that's basically what I was thinking, that someone with the necessary equipment and skills could fabricate some heatsink replacements out of a solid piece of copper. From my brief look at the fan design, it seems already like it's pretty good, so it would be much easier just to improve the heatsink itself. As far as stressing the motherboard is concerned, the way it's mounted I'd think it would be extremely unlikely. It would be worth checking in to if someone wants to build an upgrade though.

Great post, I was just thinking about terrible thermal pads on GPU and northbridge today while upgrading the CPU. My GPU is always running 68-72 degrees, which is really annoying. "Penny Mod" is the first thing that I thought of

But...

jeepcoma wrote: Anyway, here's the first image.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/212 ... b06ea3.jpg
As you can see, the results are about on par with "good" T60 cooling, but not great.

...skip....

Here are the same spec as the first test, with the mod finished. You can see from the overall temperatures that that ambient temp as increased considerbly, yet the GPU temp had barely risen! Excellent.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/212 ... b55c_o.jpg

Is it just me, or there's no improvement at all? As I can see all the temperatures rised 1-3 degrees. I can think about improvement under load, but there's nothing to compare new results to.

Is it just me, or there's no improvement at all? As I can see all the temperatures rised 1-3 degrees

Correct, however keep in mind that the ambient temperature had changed considerably. When it started it was about 70*F (21*C), and the final results it was around 85*F (30*C). You can see that the CPU temperature rose accordingly with ambient temp (up 4*C) yet the GPU temperature rose only 1*C, which would indicate it's being cooled more efficiently.
[/i]

jeepcoma wrote:
Correct, however keep in mind that the ambient temperature had changed considerably. When it started it was about 70*F (21*C), and the final results it was around 85*F (30*C). You can see that the CPU temperature rose accordingly with ambient temp (up 4*C) yet the GPU temperature rose only 1*C, which would indicate it's being cooled more efficiently.

Interesting. I'm thinking now, maybe GPU heatpipe is not connected to CPU part of the heatsink intentionally? Is it possible that engineers didn't want to stress CPU too much cause it's more sensitive?

That's the only reasonable idea I came up with as well, since it does essential link the two together even tighter. But from the perspective that the GPU heatsink is underdesigned, it means the CPU heatsink is overdesiged, and in fact in normal use I've never ever gotten the CPU temps above that of the GPU. Given that if the CPU fries it can be replaced with another chip vs destroying the GPU means a new motherboard, I'll risk raising the CPU temps by a degree or two in order to reduce the GPU temps by a significant amount. But yes, since all three chipsets are in thermal contact (through the heatsink), if one is being used and generating heat they will all get hotter as a result. The only alternative is to have isolated heatsink systems. IMO though there's plenty of room in there for a GOOD cooling system, with only a minor increase in cost and weight. It seems lenovo is content with just scraping by with the least amount of effert though, but since CPUs and GPUs continually get more power hungry and hotter, eventually they will be forced to make improvements. It seems to be that if they addressed it now though, they could fix two of the most common complaints about laptops: heat and noise.

I've decided to make a more advanced version of "Penny Mod" later. Will find myself a couple of small copper sheets and use them instead of thermal pads. I believe this willl make all the difference in the world. Currently my GPU is idling at 70 degrees and tha fan is always on, hopefully I'll be able to change that for the better.

Silencer, that's the best way to do it, and I plan on doing the same thing eventually and will take pics along the way. If you could post some before and after results, it would be great.

jeepcoma wrote:Silencer, that's the best way to do it, and I plan on doing the same thing eventually and will take pics along the way. If you could post some before and after results, it would be great.

Sure. Have to find a suitable piece of copper first

Jeepcoma; Do you happen to know which version of the fan assembly you have?

Thanks.

Wow, I'll probably never do this and still found it interesting reading. Good job!

I'd pay up to about 10% of the cost of my laptop for an aftermarket fan/heatsink that let me:

1. Use the full capabilities of my GPU/CPU without shutting down because of overheat.

2. Let me run my laptop during normal day to day tasks without my fan constantly running at 3.4k RPM.

I've been trying to find copper sheets of the right height and/or better thermal pads. Has anyone had any luck that could point me in the right direction?

I was mucking about with my heatsink about a month ago and I ended up replacing the stock thermal paste and I've experienced about a 7-10C drop during normal use.

It's a little disheartening to pay this kind of money for a thinkpad and not being able to use the full capabilities b/c of the overheating issue. Had I known this was going to be a problem I could have purchased a cheaper less capable thinkpad and saved money or just gone with another manufacturer.

I now have the gray thermal pad removed and applied a thicky layer of grease. My GPU is idling at 65 degrees Celsius and goes up to 110 degrees when gaming/running applications.

I want to try the "penny method" but afraid if that will apply an unbalanced force on the gpu (and northbridge). So, I am thinking about trying this out ("http://www.chomerics.com/products/thermagap_g974.htm")

Can anybody look at the specs in the above link and tell me is this any good. (if any one know the dimension that should be use please tell me too. I'm too tired to open my laptop again)

Hi, I just wanted to add my experience from this weekend.

The last 4 weeks, it was really bad with the heat of my T60p, I had several freezes a day due to high temp. (> 100 Degree Celsius). To reduce the freezes, I set the performance setting to "Max Batterie", this helped a bit.
Yesterday, I disassembled the machine, took out the heat sink and cleaned it properly. It did not appear too dusty. But I really cleaned every corner of the fan with these small brushes you use between your teeth. I was also blowing into the slots so the fan rotated with 100.000 rpm.
Assembled the whole thing and now:
Under full load (stress cpu test), I do not get higher temp than 78 for CPU and GPU. It is idling at about 59, that down 30 Degrees.

Almost unbelievable what difference that little dust makes.

Regards,

Wolfgang

hoplite wrote: 1. Use the full capabilities of my GPU/CPU without shutting down because of overheat.

2. Let me run my laptop during normal day to day tasks without my fan constantly running at 3.4k RPM.

Go buy a new T61, like the one in my sig. ! - First ever ibm/lenovo machine i do not use tpfancontrol on, `cause its simply not needed.

P.S.: Apart from that: EXCELLENT HANDCRAFT on this fan modification !!!!

thormdac wrote: ...new T61 - First ever ibm/lenovo machine i do not use tpfancontrol on, `cause its simply not needed.

Can you please post your CPU/GPU temps and fan speed - for idle, and also under full load.
Many thanks!

T61p (web surfing only)
CPU 31 C
Cores 48 C
GPU 51 C

Of course it varies a bit from that but those are the numbers I got after the machine had been operating for a couple of hours of just web surfing.

The only cooling problem I had with my T60 was after a warranty repair. When I got the new motherboard I noticed that the CPU temperature would get up to 190F without me doing anything intensive. Once I pulled it apart I found out that the on-campus IBM repair center cleaned off my cpu and didn't put any paste on it.

Looking at what you did with the knife and the GPU gives me Ideas for my dell. I'm guessing the heat tubing is held to the GPU the same way. I'm constantly overclocking that and I get the temperature pretty up there - usually around 190f

My fan has been making [grinding] noise for a while...
also the air intake & exhaust have been clogged up for a while...
this week it ground down to a halt & shut down the system...
it wouldn't reboot and posted the message "fan error"...
so I opened the laptop up and cleaned the fan assy, intake over the speaker, exhausts, heat sinks, etc... [btw the speaker was packed with dirt, so it plays a lot better now]
I blasted the whole thing w/ hi-pressure dust remover...
I did notice the weird heat pads over the GPU & Northbridge & replaced one [GPU] w/ electrical tape [must redo that w/ thermal grease]
the system [ubuntu linux] rebooted & the fan runs quietly but my GPU temp is over 100'C [web browsing only] and even shut the system down when it reached above 110'C... [may be caused by electrical tape]
One way to cool it down is to reduce the voltage/Mhz by more than half [powerstate=1 instead of default 3] but that is not supported in Linux yet... I will check to see if this is doable in the BIOS or by a jumper on the GPU...
Then I removed the ATI FGLRX driver which left the video in VESA mode [OK for me] and the GPU temp dropped by 10'C so now it's in the low 90s...
Next I will implement your penny-wise project... hopefully that will drop the temp another 10'C

thank you, J.

I noticed that you are using scotch tape to hold the coins to the bracket... I'm planning to use a silicone adhesive [DAP] which is very sticky, retains its flexibility and is impervious to heat... a little dab will do it... I've used it in many applications around the house & car and it is very good...

do any of you guys know how to lubricate the fan itself???