Thinkpads Forum

I have a X301 with the U9600 cpu, which I have happily used for a couple years now. When I sit with it in my lap it gets pretty hot. In the warmer months it's really not comfortable, though in the winter I find I don't need to turn the heat on until I'm done with my computer.

I don't know if it's always been hot like this or I just never used to sit with it in my lap, so I didn't notice. It's not to hot to touch with my bare hand, but it definitely feels hot and not just warm (at first it feels like I'm going to burn my hand, but then I realize I can leave it on there and it's not that hot).

It's hottest underneath the removable memory panel on the bottom, which I assume is close to where the cpu is.

It looks like at idle the cpu core temperatures are 50 C and 46 C. Is that normal? Any way to improve the situation and make it more usable in the lap?

Thanks for any thoughts.

The CPU is not beneath the removable panel, that's where the RAM and wireless card is. The CPU is next to it, on the outer side. The CPU itself does not cause the perceivable heat, it's the RAM and the chips located under the access panel that get hot. Nevertheless, you should renew you thermal paste for the CPU. The CPU temp during idle should be around 39°C or less.

I have the same x301 as you and mine has recently begun to get very hot. when I monitored the temps it was always around 55 degrees.

Is there any guide for renewing the thermal paste?

u751920 wrote:Is there any guide for renewing the thermal paste?

Simply follow the steps depicted in the HMM.

And see thermal paste instructions here: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth ... d_v1.1.pdf

I had already bought the paste but was hoping that there would be one of those video guides which I find very helpful. Anyway I shall look at the links provided.
Many Thanks

Thanks for the replies and suggestions to everyone.

Will getting the CPU idle temperature down with new thermal paste also lower the temperature of the RAM? Or am I just stuck with the RAM being hot like that and making the laptop not very comfortable in my lap?

Thanks again.

u751920 wrote:I had already bought the paste but was hoping that there would be one of those video guides which I find very helpful. Anyway I shall look at the links provided.
Many Thanks

I haven't watched it yet (it's long), but this looks like it might be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEZBUYnQwC8

cb474 wrote:Thanks for the replies and suggestions to everyone.

Will getting the CPU idle temperature down with new thermal paste also lower the temperature of the RAM? Or am I just stuck with the RAM being hot like that and making the laptop not very comfortable in my lap?

Thanks again.

I've looked into this problem in the past because all of the X301 I've owned have been ice cold, apart from the access panel which would get about hand-warm. The problem is only partly the RAM. The WiFi card as well as hot running chips/resistors on the mainboard around that area add to the heat problem. So far I have found following procedure to help (a bit):

-replace WiFi card with Intel 6300/7260 (half-size)
-Use only one RAM stick WITH heat sink (Kingston HyperX)
-cut out black plastic foil on mainboard above the access panel (underneath keyboard), add thermal pad which connects to keyboard and thus transfers heat away from the bottom

Just saw that video. That is a lot of work. Is it all necessary for removing the fan and applying the thermal paste? I guess I will have to put aside half a day to do this.

Aurora wrote:

cb474 wrote:Thanks for the replies and suggestions to everyone.

Will getting the CPU idle temperature down with new thermal paste also lower the temperature of the RAM? Or am I just stuck with the RAM being hot like that and making the laptop not very comfortable in my lap?

Thanks again.

I've looked into this problem in the past because all of the X301 I've owned have been ice cold, apart from the access panel which would get about hand-warm. The problem is only partly the RAM. The WiFi card as well as hot running chips/resistors on the mainboard around that area add to the heat problem. So far I have found following procedure to help (a bit):

-replace WiFi card with Intel 6300/7260 (half-size)
-Use only one RAM stick WITH heat sink (Kingston HyperX)
-cut out black plastic foil on mainboard above the access panel (underneath keyboard), add thermal pad which connects to keyboard and thus transfers heat away from the bottom

Thanks for the ideas. My access panel is definitely more than hand warm. It's not too hot to touch, but as I said in my OP, when I first put my hand on it, it feels like it's going to be too hot to keep it there.

I do have two 4 GB RAM sticks, which I did not used to. I did wonder if two sticks basically equals twice as much heat. I'm surprised the RAM gets so warm, even when only a little of it is being used. It looks like I have the Intel 5100 AGN card. I guess the 6300/7260 is a newer card?

Anyway, I'll have to look into this. I hate to replace functioning parts, but the heat is getting to me.

*

u751920 wrote:Just saw that video. That is a lot of work. Is it all necessary for removing the fan and applying the thermal paste? I guess I will have to put aside half a day to do this.

Yeah, it looks like a lot of work for someone who has not done it before (which includes myself). But perhaps a good thing to learn.

With these sort of things it's this thread that sums up my fears http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=115095.

cb474 wrote:I do have two 4 GB RAM sticks, which I did not used to. I did wonder if two sticks basically equals twice as much heat. I'm surprised the RAM gets so warm, even when only a little of it is being used. It looks like I have the Intel 5100 AGN card. I guess the 6300/7260 is a newer card?

Anyway, I'll have to look into this. I hate to replace functioning parts, but the heat is getting to me.

The RAM actually runs quite hot in Core 2 Duo machines, but I do not know why. The X301 is problematic because of its thin base. The RAM is basically almost pressing against the access door and has limited ventilation, so some heat issues are to be expected. The Intel 5100 actually stays very cool, but newer half size cards like the 6205/6300/7260 are another step up. And because they use less space, they also allow for more ventilation.

Although the RAM probably does run hot my view is the problem is related more to dust and thermal paste. I have had this machine since new for nearly 4 years. And only recently has it began to get very hot. In fact it will now shut down after 30 mins of watching a HD youtube video. I'm just wondering if it's worth replacing the fan when applying the thermal paste?? As with that much effort seems silly not to.

My daughter has an X301 with 1x4GB RAM (Elpida, regular, no fins), a 1/2 size Intel N 5300 wifi card and a 128GB SSD.
I refreshed the thermal paste with AS5 about 5 months ago.
It's running as smooth and cool as can be!

Aurora wrote:The RAM actually runs quite hot in Core 2 Duo machines, but I do not know why. The X301 is problematic because of its thin base. The RAM is basically almost pressing against the access door and has limited ventilation, so some heat issues are to be expected. The Intel 5100 actually stays very cool, but newer half size cards like the 6205/6300/7260 are another step up. And because they use less space, they also allow for more ventilation.

u751920 wrote:Although the RAM probably does run hot my view is the problem is related more to dust and thermal paste. I have had this machine since new for nearly 4 years. And only recently has it began to get very hot. In fact it will now shut down after 30 mins of watching a HD youtube video. I'm just wondering if it's worth replacing the fan when applying the thermal paste?? As with that much effort seems silly not to.

RealBlackStuff wrote:My daughter has an X301 with 1x4GB RAM (Elpida, regular, no fins), a 1/2 size Intel N 5300 wifi card and a 128GB SSD.
I refreshed the thermal paste with AS5 about 5 months ago.
It's running as smooth and cool as can be!

Thanks everyone for the further thoughts and observations. I guess I'm going to have to learn to do the thermal paste and see how much it helps. I suppose I could also try removing one of the RAM modules and see if that makes a difference.

Any reason to think a single 8GB RAM module would be cooler than two 4GB ones?

RealBlackStuff wrote:My daughter has an X301 with 1x4GB RAM (Elpida, regular, no fins), a 1/2 size Intel N 5300 wifi card and a 128GB SSD.
I refreshed the thermal paste with AS5 about 5 months ago.
It's running as smooth and cool as can be!

I have a similar setup (1x4GB Crucial RAM, half-size 6300, 64GB SSD, Arctic MX) and can concur with this. My X301 runs very cool (37°C idle) and it's even overlocked to 2.13GHz.

cb474 wrote:Any reason to think a single 8GB RAM module would be cooler than two 4GB ones?

The X301 doesn't support a single 8GB stick.

RealBlackStuff wrote: I refreshed the thermal paste with AS5 about 5 months ago.
It's running as smooth and cool as can be!

Did you find much dust in the fan? Or dust in general?

Aurora wrote:I have a similar setup (1x4GB Crucial RAM, half-size 6300, 64GB SSD, Arctic MX) and can concur with this. My X301 runs very cool (37°C idle) and it's even overlocked to 2.13GHz.

Thanks for the info. I guess I just need to clean the fan first and change the thermal paste, see how much difference that makes, and then go from there.

I don't know if this matters, but my RAM came out of a new iMac (about a year ago). I was setting it up for my parents and upgrading the RAM. It came with the two 4 GB RAM modules and I wanted to get 8 GB modules into the iMac. Then I realized the modules were the same type as in my X301, so I pulled out the two 2 GB modules I had and replaced them with the ones from the iMac. I was assuming Apple uses hight quality RAM and it would be fine. I haven't had any problems, unless the heat counts as one.

Aurora wrote:

cb474 wrote:Any reason to think a single 8GB RAM module would be cooler than two 4GB ones?

The X301 doesn't support a single 8GB stick.

Are you sure about that? I thought often what they specify would work in a particular laptop is constrained by what happens to be available at the time the laptop comes out. But often it turns out the larger later released modules do work. This was the case with my T61.

cb474 wrote:Are you sure about that? I thought often what they specify would work in a particular laptop is constrained by what happens to be available at the time the laptop comes out. But often it turns out the larger later released modules do work. This was the case with my T61.

I'm sure, I've tried it before.

Old thread but I just re-applied the thermal paste and cleaned the machine - there was a lot of dust. It now runs very cool. I can again watch 1080p full movies with no shut down.