Thinkpads Forum

Hello. I recently bought a used W520. I cleaned the fan and replaced the thermal paste. On the other hand I wonder one thing. On battery fan is not operating, the processor is running at 800 Mhz, and the temperature is maintained at about 55C. Thats pretty cool.

When I use a computer connected to the power supply during normal operations (autocad 2017 lt subscription in 2D) and open a web browser with multiple tabs computer has a temperature between 70-80C and fan is ruining about 2000 rpm. While strong load (frumark) the temperature gets up to 90C, and the fan comes at 4500 rpm.

My question is whether at idle and light work, the temperature should not be at the level of 60C? at 70 you feel the warm next to ESC button.

I ordered a new fan, although I feel that it will not change anything.

My spec is 2720qm, quadro 2000m, 12 gb of ram and ssd.

Mine runs at about 42C at idle, but I turned the nvidia graphics off.
Your temps sound a bit high, especially at idle.

Yeah i know, but how to fix it? I will see if fan change something if not i will buy heatsink if not... I dont know.
It could be damaged motherboard? As i said it not BSOD even under heavy use, it not throthlee too at turbo boost mode.

How i can check which GPU is using in exact momement maybe i have quadro on all the time?

What brand did you use, and how much paste did you apply? You have to apply a very thin layer of thermal compound and check that the heatsink is making properly contact with the CPU and GPU.

Too much paste is not good for cooling...

I puted a rice size dot then spread it with old credit card smooth and even (wiped out the rest). paste was artic silver 5.
Everything inside looks ok. But i read about this wicked problems with tighten screws may make overheating problems. Maybe i should purchase whole heatsink not only fan? right now with autocad, web browser and some other CAD software opened i have about 70C.
Sorry for my potato english.

Also for some reason autocad 2d is using 70% of quadro GPU while 3d software like blender only 20%. GPU is relative cool. During very heavy task it have not more than 70C. I think the heatsink connector on CPU is a problem or something. Or fan.

Old radiator could be a problem or cooper do not ffade like fans? [censored] it i want it cool and its perfect machine for me even in 2016 .
Also for some reason i can't use ctrl+shift+s dont working in any freaking application - can u help me with this as well?

Heatpipes loose some thermal conductivity with time, so replacing the whole thing would be my preferred option, make sure to get a proper FRU model and not some copycat...

PotatoPad wrote:But i read about this wicked problems with tighten screws may make overheating problems

I'm not sure I read about this issue. The screws must be tight enough though, if they're too loose cooling will not be optimal! Of course avoid using brute force!

Do You know where i can purchase original heatsink for my ThinkPad, i read that 04W1574 model is the best cus it is using in XM 55W CPUs.
Aliexpress is reliable? I mean for example this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-Ori ... 491d408e00

Also as You can see this seler is selling both 04W1574 and 04W1576. The only difference is FAN inside? (74 has for 55W and 76 for 45W?).

Unfortunately I have no experience with AliExpress, you could also check Amazon and eBay.

I also went for a 55W heatsink for my (still being assembled) W520, you can never cool a CPU enough

What kind of heatsink do You have? Exact model. Do You purchased whole unit with fan (from where and for what price please tell me ).

I normally buy whole units. But in this particular case I got a 04W1574 with motherboard and lower case from a local seller. I'm still gathering parts though so is not complete yet.

For eBay you can check the auctions below (I have no affiliation with those sellers)

Auction 1

Auction 2

The second one looks like thos on aliexpress. [censored] i already purchased only fan for 16 usd. But i highly doupt its going to help :/.

Heres the video about screw fix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiPL1CNpb4w

PotatoPad wrote: Heres the video about screw fix.

That's for the a W510, and it's about a base screw. What I meant is that the 6 heatsink screws must be tight.

You might want to check the HMM to ensure that both cooling units are compatible with your
motherboard. Since you have a quadro 2000m, you might need a specific heat sink.
BTW, my machine has the original (45W) cooler with a 1000m, and it runs just fine with
a 45W CPU.

CTRL-Shift-S sounds like a software configuration problem if CTRL and Shift work
otherwise.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it's a good idea to thoroughly clean off any old thermal
compound from the CPU and GPU before applying new compound or a heat sink
with pre-applied thermal compound. There is a special compound that you can get
for this called ArtiClean, and it seems to do a pretty good job. Newegg has a video
on how to use it on their site, although a lot of stores on the web sell it.

Coffee filters seem to work very well when applying this stuff.

The stock thermal compound that comes with Lenovo heat sinks is probably
not very good. Otherwise, we would never have to replace it. I use MX-2
which is easy to apply and non-conductive, but which paste to use is
a subject of heated debate.

Yes i have always clean cpu before apply a new paste.
I curently run Frumark and have 86C on CPU and 83 on GPU, 3855 RPM and my 27w01m working aout 3,2GHz.

So its a perfectly fine for a sythetic test, but 70C during web browsing and autocad at 2000 rpm fan is anoying and i dont kknow it is ok or something is wrong with my computer.

What temperatures are you getting with basically nothing running, and what OS are you using?
If you're running Windows, you could have some bloatware or a virus on your machine.

About 54C during - nothing with turbo boost enabled.
I wish my temps during idle and slighty work was 10C less thats all . Im using TPFC.62.

No way theres a malware or virus, fresh system and good software instaled.

No way theres a malware or virus, fresh system and good software instaled.

You could try turning off the Nvidia GPU in the BIOS to see if that's where the problem is.

Yeah, but it wont help me cus i need quadro for my CAD work. I could try.

Yeah, but it wont help me cus i need quadro for my CAD work. I could try.

Obviously, you would want that to work, but to isolate the problem you need to know
where it is. If you don't have bloatware or a virus, then you might have a problem
with the way the heatsink is installed on either the CPU or the GPU.

Are you currently running with Optimus enabled, or just with the discrete (Nvidia)
graphics running all the time?

I was Nvidia all the time, i switched to Optimus and now i live in the 90s with 800x600px resolution lol. temperatures on Intel are the same (high) in idle. Im trying to instal optimus feature through lenovo update but it stuck at... 103% .

Someone who is running Windows on this machine is going to have to help you because I'm not a Windows
guy and configuring the graphics can be complicated. Just to establish a baseline I'd try running with just
the Intel graphics and see if that brings your idle temps down.

With Nvidia disabled completely in the BIOS you should see idle CPU temps around 42-44C, and less when
completely cold.

So problem is the heatsink? (not fan) only some problem with copper unit? Or CPU? I have no friend with sandy bridge to swap processors with the same model (2720qm).

Hmmm.

You might not have a problem with the hardware. You might have to install
a different version of the Nvidia driver or configure it differently to get
it to work right.

Did you try running with just Intel graphics enabled in the BIOS? That'll
tell you whether you have a problem with the GPU, either in hardware or software.

You're not going to be able to diagnose a problem like this without employing
the scientific method, described here:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... thod.shtml

It's called the "Scientific Method," but we engineers use it as well.

Yes now Optimus is working good, i mean GPU-Z showing intel GPU, but during furmark i can see GPU1 and GPU2 while GPU1 is quadro and it is taking a part during a test. I can try to run only Intel, but its not to change anything im sure.

So problem is in CPU or heatsink?

I'd suggest running with integrated only graphics and see what it idles at before
messing around with the hardware.

Ok: intel hd300 only:

Idle (desktop) - 48C, fan speed 1900 (silent)
Idle (desktop) - 55C, fan speed zero


Optimus on:

Idle (desktop) - 60C, fan speed 1900 (silent).

But its funny, cus in desktop Nvidia gpu should be turned off. it looks like windows starting it to every task i do.
Do You use TPFC.62, do You have chance to run optisum and read Your temperatures.

Maybe theres no problem, only retarted old heavy GPU system?
Or maybe new fan will be silent at 2500 rpm like old one on 1900 and in the same moment temperatures will be lower?

I need somone with quadro 2000m.

I'm running Linux, so I can't really directly compare results.

Idle temps look a little high with just the Intel graphics, but it might be something that
the OS is doing.

Someone who is using the same OS (assuming Windows, but you didn't say what version)
and drivers is going to have to help you.

Im using win 7 pro 64 bit with some gui tweaking.
So CPU is not a problem. SO last chance is heatsink?

i already purchased fan for 55wat series, but id doesnt metter cus TPFC.62 keep 62C without any fan on optimus, after 65 its start working i believe.
So i need to try new heatsink and after all theres nothing i can change...

I'm at a coffeeshop running Chrome on Ubuntu Mate 16.04, and
the cpu cores are all running at under 40C, just as a point of reference.

The highest temperature on the motherboard is 42C and the fan speed
is 1985. This is with the integrated graphics. If you're getting a lot
higher temps than that then your OS could be spawning a lot of processes.

PotatoPad wrote:I'm using TPFC.62.

I am surprised that no one has suggested turning off TPFC, or at least asked for your TPFC temperature settings.

TPFC can be used for two things :
- lowering temperatures by running the fan more often than the standard BIOS does (which then results in more fan noise)
- lowering the noise level by running the fan less often than the standard BIOS does (which then results in higher average temperatures)

If the standard TPFC temperatures are too high for you, then turn off TPFC, or adjust the TPFC settings so that the fan speeds escalate sooner when TPFC is turned on.