X61t palmrest cooling using Sunon mighty mini

[martinw]

For those of us who don't have X61 motherboard supporting the original second fan, the hope for additional cooling of palmrest is >here<. The UB5U3 type blower with its dimensions 30x30x3 mm fits nicely into void spaces under palmrest, like the place where the original second fan should be. For its size it offers sufficient airflow, especially for the cramped space inside laptop.
Another fan can be added into area of unused mini-PCIE slot and yet another can be placed into PCMCIA slot.
The tricky part is locating source of power. I don't recommend using 5V. Even though these fans can provide nice air flow with 5V, it makes them too noisy. Good option is using 3,3 V, which is readily available on the motherboard.
See the pictures below for further inspiration:



I do not recommend using the modem card power supply. I tried to make the fan easy to disconnect by soldering it to daughter card, but the card disabled the power when it was inactive. Other option was soldering to the connector on motherboard, using most bottom pin on the left side and ground and removing the modem card. This works, but only until laptop is put to sleep. After resume, this connector is not powered.



Final thoughts. 3,3 V still makes these fans audible, perhaps 2,0 or 2,5 V would be silent enough and still provide enough airflow for efficient cooling. Let me know if you find out where to get such voltage from the motherboard.

[axur-delmeria]

Interesting mod, but does it reduce the temperatures on the right palmrest?

There was no mention of it in your post.

[banhammer420k]

Is this worth it compared to spending $15 on 42X3806 which is designed to fit in the X61 as a second fan? I am deciding whether or not I want to do this or source a 42X3806 to help with my X61s's palmrest.

[Tasurinchi]

My understanding is that not all X61/s boards can be fitted with the 42X3806 fan, only some late models. So if yours is one of them probably is better to spend the 15$ and save the soldering hassle

[RealBlackStuff]

Just replace the original wifi card with an Intel 6100/6200/6300 series half-size wifi card, and get the bracket to fill the gap.
Such as this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-6250-Adva ... 0744939723
(only linked for display!)