W520 w/ tpfancontrol issue

[mike-g]

Hi,

Just purchased a W520 and, yes, the fan noise is an issue.

Which TPFC version is recommended for the W520, TPFanControl4W520.zip or tpfc_v062.zip?

Is this the only solution to the fan noise? I'm surprised that Lenovo hasn't addressed this issue? They should be concerned because I'm ready to ship it back.

Thanks, Mike

[davidhbrown]

I've been working with TPFanControl some recently on my W520. So far as I can tell, the zip that is specific to the W520 contains updated versions of TPFanControl.exe and TPFanControl.ini plus an installer for a .dll that the updated TPFanControl.exe requires.

So, remembering that messing with your system's thermal behavior is at your own risk, the most stable / functional setup process I've found has been to....

0) uninstall any old/existing tpfc

1) Run the TVicPortInstall41.exe to install the .dll, turning off all checkboxes for various IDE/compiler support because I don't need to write my own code.

2) Install the tpfc_v062 version of TPFanControl.

3) reboot and then shut down TPFanControl

4) copy the TPFanControl.exe and TPFanControl.ini from the w520 zip to C:\Program Files\TPFanControl, replacing the files located there.

5) Reboot again.

For some reason on that last reboot, Windows Explorer crashed. Looked like it might not have liked the TPFanControl icon? It was okay after another reboot. I'm running Windows 7 x64 Pro with UAC enabled and I do get the icon with control, and TPFanControl does seem to be doing what I ask in smart, manual, and BIOS modes.

Anyone with better information, PLEASE let me know if I'm doing this wrong! I'll be happy to edit this post to correct.

[FlyingOstrich]

@David
I just installed the TVicPortInstall41.exe, unchecked the boxes like you said, and ran the TPFanControl.exe, all from the TPFanControl4w520.zip. seems to work fine so far.

while using v0.62, I've noticed that the fan will randomly switch to smart mode even when at low temp from manual 7, so I got the w520 version today. I have a few questions if anyone could help me with answers:
- Does the w520 have no temp sensors on anything but CPU? my TPFC only shows a temperature for CUP and 0 for everything else. occasionally a random sensor report 11C, 80C or some random number for a sec, and more rarely 179C. the 179C hasn't occurred to the CPU yet (only seen 11C once), but i'm worried it might screw things up I've never encountered this issue with the TPFC v0.62
- So I've seen the glitch with hibernate while on battery. Does using BIOS mode help prevent this issue? or do i just have to turn TPFC off?
- When i use manual mode, I always set it at 7 fanspeed, occationally 64 during intense gaming (cup temp never went over 78). doesn't this defeat the purpose of exiting to smart/bios mode at 80C as stated in the .ini? or should i just leave it alone and use smart mode cool?

i'm beginning to think maybe i should switch back to v0.62....

[davidhbrown]

- Does the w520 have no temp sensors on anything but CPU?

On my W520, SpeedFan 4.45 (4.46 is now out) shows believable numbers for GPU, HD0 (main), Temp1 (what's reported by TPFC), Core 0, Core 1, Core 2, Core 3, HD1 (optical bay), and HD2 (mSATA). Oh... if I go to the Charts tab, I also see HD3 (dock's eSATA connector); I guess it just didn't have room for it on the main screen. The HDD numbers are via SMART, I believe, not motherboard sensors.

SpeedFan does not have the ability to control the W520's fan, unfortunately, nor does it report fan speeds or voltages. Designed more for enthusiast desktop boards.

[geoffrey]

Just got a W520 Core i7 4276-CTO, and I'm wondering why some people talk of fan noise. This is the quietest, coolest Thinkpad I've ever known (had a T43p with awful fan noise, and a T60p with acceptable fan noise before). On the W520 I can't even tell when the fan is on except by putting the top of my hand against the side vent. Also have SSD, so zero sound at all from this slumbering beast. OK, I don't game, and this may be the difference, but this is the first Thinkpad I can use without feeling the need to install tpfancontrol. Battery life is also amazing...

[davidhbrown]

Just got a W520 Core i7 4276-CTO, and I'm wondering why some people talk of fan noise...

In truth, even at maximum speed, the fan is not that loud in absolute terms. I just measured it set to the maximum ("64") with TPFanControl, and with an analog SPL meter (the old Radio Shack one) at 1m in front of the screen, it couldn't even make the needle twitch, meaning it's <<50dB (both A and C weightings). With my fingers on the keyboard and the meter next to where my ear was before I moved my head to look at the meter, it just barely made it to 50dB. Still, that's a lot for a notebook, especially compared to its near-silent operation at lower speeds.

Unfortunately, the fan and cooler don't seem quite up to the task of handling a maximum load for an extended period of time -- at least not when sitting in its dock in a 75F (25C) room. I've been doing H.264 and FLV video renders this month; if it weren't an occasional thing, I think I'd have to build up a desktop machine to handle it instead. I was able to reduce idle temperatures about 5C (down from 63C to 56C as reported by TPFanControl) by replacing the factory paste with Silver 5. But when it's rendering for a couple hours, the fan just isn't able to keep it from slowly climbing past what seems to be a sort of "red line" at 95C a bit after which the system will just shut itself down to protect the hardware (limit per Intel is 100C). So in addition to creating a very aggressive cooling profile in TPFanControl, I've also created a power profile that limits the CPU to 90% speed; resource monitor reports it actually sits at 80%. It renders a little slower, but not too much slower because when the CPU was "turbo boosting" to 120%, it spent more time waiting for disk I/O. And it's definitely lots faster than when it shuts down and I have to start over!