Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I am currently using a T420s with optimus graphics to drive three 22" HD monitors, I have it docked in a 170w series 3 mini-dock. Obviously this is a lot to handle for such a small fan, but my temps are running really high (around 90C sometimes), and the fan is running very loud. I have TPfancontrol, modified the power management settings, and cleaned the fan, but nothing seems to work. I was wondering what other methods I could use to reduce the heat/fan noise. Are there cooling pads available to use with a dock? Thanks for the help.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I was just talking with a gentleman about this very issue a few weeks ago, except his issue was with a T410s or T410 in a dock. I have the T420 in my sig below in a Mini Dock Plus Series 3 for Mobile Workstations dock with a 135 watt power supply. He mentioned he had the same dock, which is very similar to yours. He mentioned that the issue on his end was the fact that the tower for the dock in the left hand corner covered over about 3/4 of the left had side vent.

I'd recommend you take a peek at your dock and ensure that you have adequate ventilation around the left hand side and the back. Even then, you may have an issue if the dock tower is blocking air (note there is a slope there towards the vent and on my machine I can feel warm air coming up that slope). It might not be noticeable on my machine with integrated graphics, but with the discrete graphics working hard, might be a different issue.

Thank you for the response. I did notice that the dock does cover a portion of the vent. I slid the latch of the dock up to somewhat reduce the obstruction. There is adequate ventilation but temps are still running really high. Still looking for another solution.