Thinkpads Forum

I recently bought a T420 (i5-2520M, Intel HD graphics) to replace my old Z61t. Same form factor, more power.

However, what I don't like about this particular laptop is that it heats up like a furnace. I mean 94C at under 50% load isn't normal, is it?!? All I've got open is Chrome w/ 4 tabs, playing a YT video and HWMonitor running in the background. Hottest it got was 98C.

It's definitely too hot to hold the computer in your lap, especially the corner near the left hinge. It's also uncomfortably warm beneath my left palm when I type.

What's up with that? Anything I can od? I cleaned the fan/heatsink as soon as I got it.

Cheers

Did you also replace the thermal paste with something like AS5?

Err no, not yet. How much of that stuff should I use? I have always used a very thin layer but suddenly I find myself not very confident about this despite years of doing it this way and never having problems

P.S. One thing I noticed is that the HDD is also very warm - between 49 and 51C. There will be one less problem when I replace it with an SSD.

I have a T420, Intel HD graphics. No problems with high temps with the i5. I upgraded the i5 to an i7-2640M and used "ARCTIC MX-4 (4g) Carbon-Based Thermal Compound, Non-Electricity Conductive."

I cleaned the CPU with 91% alcohol and applied one dot of the MX-4 in the center of the CPU. Note that "Arctic" is a completely different company than "Arctic Silver." Arctic MX-4 is item N82E16835186038 at Newegg.com. I looked at several reviews of thermal paste and this item seemed to be the best option for ease of application and heat transfer, and it is non-conductive.

Doing a quick test - playing a Blu-ray with Cyberlink PowerDVD 15 and launching a browser - one core got into the mid 70s (C) , the other stayed in the mid 30s.

Definitely replace your thermal paste. The heatsink/fan combo are reasonable on Ebay so replacement of that part that is an option too.

There's also a high probability that the heat sink needs to be cleaned as well.

Once you get in there, clean it out real well and use a good thermal paste of your choosing (apply an amount no greater than the size of an uncooked grain of rice at the center). Should fix it right up. You can also load up TPFanControl and set the .ini file to run at fan 7 over 65C-ish and fan 64 over temps of 75-80C or so.

How to apply thermal paste: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth ... d_v1.1.pdf

I just cleaned the heatsink with compressed air and now the max. temperature is 77C. Tomorrow I'll apply some MX-4 and report back.