Upgrading cooling on X61s

[iamdmc]

Hi all,

I have an X61s I just rebuilt, and I forgot how hot it got! I noticed that there are several revisions of the X60/X61/X60s/X61s heatsink / fansink

Looking at the design I have: it's pretty terrible and it's obvious why my L7300 ULV CPU gets to 60-80C under load. Even re-pasting with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut didn't help much.

I have the cheapest, single-coppper heatpipe design, where the heatpipe is soldered or welded (can't tell which) to an iron (guessing?) plate that contacts the CPU and a copper cooling plate that is in contact with the memory controller

I noticed that there are several slightly better designs from models that had 'full voltage' CPUs like the T8100/8300, which makes sense as they would have a higher thermal load to deal with and dissipate
-2 copper heatpipes & 2 copper plates (CPU & memory controller)
e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBM-Lenovo-T ... rk:15:pf:0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-for-IBM-Le ... rk:11:pf:0
and
-1 larger copper heatpipe & 2 copper plates (CPU & memory controller)
e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Think ... :rk:8:pf:0
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-IBM-LENO ... :rk:9:pf:0

Do you think this would be a worthwhile upgrade? Would my temps go dramatically down?

Other thoughts:
I also tried to take out the fan core from my old X220 heatsink / fansink and replace the fan core of the X61s but it seems to be in there pretty well. Even a rotor swap hasn't helped much, and unfortunately it's not a perfect fit so there's some friction noise when the fan spins. I might dremel the X220 fan core out and glue it into place on the X61s, as that might give me a slightly better fan.

Does tpfc 0.62 or 0.63 not work for the X61s? I have noticed that it reads fan speed incorrectly sometimes, and will not accept manual changes to fan speed

[axur-delmeria]

None of the heatsinks you listed will fit in the X61s, because those are for the regular X61 which has a taller chassis.

Your heatsink's heatpipe might have failed, that's why the temps are bad. I've owned two X61 Tablets (which use the same heatsink as the X61s) and never had temperature issues.

[iamdmc]

Interesting good to know. From the looks of them they should all fit in X61 or X61s but I guess I'm wrong.

I've heard the X200s heatsink/fan will fit the X61s and provides better cooling - at least 1 user on reddit said so.

Otherwise, I found this photo https://abload.de/img/fanpicture4jlfl.jpg showing 4 different heatsink/fans - 2 left for X61s (I have the leftmost, and cheapest sadly) and the 2 right are for X61.

So it looks like my best bet is the second from the left (copper contact plate, 2 heatpipes) or the X200s heatsink.

[axur-delmeria]

One alternative is to get a dead X60/X61 (with working heatsink and fan) and transplant the X61s board there. My current toy is an X60sF Frankenpad, which is basically an X60s board stuffed inside the chassis of a regular X60. It uses the X60 heatsink without any issues.
There's the minor issue about the X61s fan connector having 4 pins (the X60/61 has 3 pins), but only 3 of those pins are used, and you can simply shove it in.

[iamdmc]

Thanks for the reply!

How are your temps with the x61 heatsink and do you also undervolt?

[wileE]

There is good information on the fans in this post: /viewtopic.php?t=115785#p744267

I recently bought the good 61s fan here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-and-100-wor ... 2749.l2649

If the seller ask for a picture of your fan (I dont know why he does that) tell him you want number 3 in this pic: https://thinkwiki.de/Datei:X61_X60_Luef ... nk_Fan.jpg

[iamdmc]

There is good information on the fans in this post: /viewtopic.php?t=115785#p744267

I recently bought the good 61s fan here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-and-100-wor ... 2749.l2649

If the seller ask for a picture of your fan (I dont know why he does that) tell him you want number 3 in this pic: https://thinkwiki.de/Datei:X61_X60_Luef ... nk_Fan.jpg

Nice one thanks!

I ended up buying an X200 heatsink as someone on reddit said they got it to work and it looks like the right shape & slightly better design.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBM-Lenovo-T ... 2749.l2649

Yes it's 3 pin, but although the X61s fan connector has 4 slots, only 3 are populated. I've been told that you can just shove the 3 pin cable in the 4 pin slot. If not, I'll just depin the 4pin connector of my current X61s, and repin it with the X200

[axur-delmeria]

Thanks for the reply!

How are your temps with the x61 heatsink and do you also undervolt?

My X60s' CPU is a Core Solo U1300, with a TDP of 5.5w and max of 8.8w. The attached heatsink is the 2W2522 IIRC (Core 2 Duo heatsink for X60). Apparently it's the worst heatsink for the X60/61 series, but due to the CPU's exceptionally low TDP, it's a struggle to get the CPU temp above 60c on a hot day.

On my X61 Tablets, I've seen them hit 80c only after stress-testing with 7-zip's benchmark mode.
In your case, undervolting could help a bit. A more aggressive fan control profile could also help.

I'll mention it again: it's quite likely that your heatsink's heatpipes have failed, hence the high temps.

It would be great if you can find a 42X3804 heatsink, as its fan is removable, and the CPU contact plate is copper instead of aluminum.

[iamdmc]

Thanks for the reply!

How are your temps with the x61 heatsink and do you also undervolt?

My X60s' CPU is a Core Solo U1300, with a TDP of 5.5w and max of 8.8w. The attached heatsink is the 2W2522 IIRC (Core 2 Duo heatsink for X60). Apparently it's the worst heatsink for the X60/61 series, but due to the CPU's exceptionally low TDP, it's a struggle to get the CPU temp above 60c on a hot day.

On my X61 Tablets, I've seen them hit 80c only after stress-testing with 7-zip's benchmark mode.
In your case, undervolting could help a bit. A more aggressive fan control profile could also help.

I'll mention it again: it's quite likely that your heatsink's heatpipes have failed, hence the high temps.

It would be great if you can find a 42X3804 heatsink, as its fan is removable, and the CPU contact plate is copper instead of aluminum.

I don't think the contact plate is aluminium - feels more like steel

but yes I'm sourcing a X200 heatsink that should fit (other X61s owners reported it does) which has a copper contact plate.

I don't think the heat pipe failed, because I tried 2 different identical X61s heatsinks and have the same problem with both

Tried undervolting yesterday and that actually really helped with throttling and temps (at first - until the CPU decided it liked all this extra turbo time, and then got hot again). Hoping the X200 heatsink will save the dream of a cool thinkpad. I think the RAM is also quite hot, and I've already replaced the full size mPCIe wifi card with a half size Intel Centrino 1030 I had laying around. I don't know what else I can do to improve temps...

[axur-delmeria]

I don't think the contact plate is aluminium - feels more like steel

but yes I'm sourcing a X200 heatsink that should fit (other X61s owners reported it does) which has a copper contact plate.

I don't think the heat pipe failed, because I tried 2 different identical X61s heatsinks and have the same problem with both

Tried undervolting yesterday and that actually really helped with throttling and temps (at first - until the CPU decided it liked all this extra turbo time, and then got hot again). Hoping the X200 heatsink will save the dream of a cool thinkpad. I think the RAM is also quite hot, and I've already replaced the full size mPCIe wifi card with a half size Intel Centrino 1030 I had laying around. I don't know what else I can do to improve temps...

1. I doubt any laptop manufacturer is stupid enough to use steel as a heatsink.

2. Disable the Turbo.

3. If the heatsink is not the issue, it could mean that you lost the silicon roulette and got a hot-running CPU.

4. Good luck with the X200 heatsink. Please report the results regardless of the outcome (whether the heatsink fits or not, and if it's effective in cooling the CPU or not).