ThinkPad X201 Tablet running hot

[Viperous]

Hello

I got a used i7 X201 Tablet. It was a little dusty but otherwise in good shape but it runs really really hot.

I already carefully took the machine apart to clean out the dust, replaced the old dried out thermal paste with fresh arctic silver and replaced the thermal pad on the north bridge with a new 1,5 mm one.

Yet the idle temp is around 50 degrees Celsius and even on under only 50% load the temps go over 90 degrees Celsius.

I even took the machine apart again to check if the heat sink or fan are damaged but everything look fine. I'm honestly at a complete loss.

Are these temps normal for this machine?

Here is a screenshot of HWMonitor's read out of the sensors when just playing a 1080p video.

[axur-delmeria]

I've read of more than a few reports in this forum of X201 and X201s (esp. the i7 620LM and 640LM) units overheating, so an X201 Tablet having the same issue is not surprising.

In your case, it might be heatpipe failure in the heatsink. But do note that in other cases, replacing the heatsink did not resolve the issue.

[dr_st]

My X220 (with i7-2640M) can also hit those temperatures and go to over 90C under 100% load. That's a full-voltage CPU, though. Also, I have not tried repasting it yet.

[axur-delmeria]

My X220 (with i7-2640M) can also hit those temperatures and go to over 90C under 100% load. That's a full-voltage CPU, though. Also, I have not tried repasting it yet.

I'd blame the X220's heatsink design for that, as there's a sheet of metal (not copper) between the heatpipe and the cooling fins. The later X230 has an all-copper design.

For the X201 though, it seems that the 1st gen Core i series really ran hot, even the so-called low-voltage ones. There's even a thread here where one transplanted an X201s chassis onto a regular X201 to make use of its bigger heatsink and prevent thermal throttling. Unfortunately that cannot be done on the X201 Tablet.

[Viperous]

Thanks for the replies. At least i know its a known issue now and i'll just have to live with it.

I wonder why Lenovo did not put a beefier heat sink in these machines. I mean whats the point of sticking an i7 in there when it starts throttling even under medium load...

Did they solve the heat issues with X230 Tablet?

[dr_st]

I'd blame the X220's heatsink design for that, as there's a sheet of metal (not copper) between the heatpipe and the cooling fins. The later X230 has an all-copper design.

Are they compatible? If so, I'll make sure to replace mine with the new variant, if/when this one fails (most of my laptops have had the fan fail at least once during their lifetime).

[axur-delmeria]

I'd blame the X220's heatsink design for that, as there's a sheet of metal (not copper) between the heatpipe and the cooling fins. The later X230 has an all-copper design.

Are they compatible? If so, I'll make sure to replace mine with the new variant, if/when this one fails (most of my laptops have had the fan fail at least once during their lifetime).

Based on this post on Reddit, the X230 heatsink is compatible with the X220.

Did they solve the heat issues with X230 Tablet?

The 3rd generation Core i series generally run cooler than the 1st generation.

[Viperous]

Are they compatible? If so, I'll make sure to replace mine with the new variant, if/when this one fails (most of my laptops have had the fan fail at least once during their lifetime).

Based on this post on Reddit, the X230 heatsink is compatible with the X220.

Did they solve the heat issues with X230 Tablet?

The 3rd generation Core i series generally run cooler than the 1st generation.

Than i guess its time for me to go on the hunt for a i7 X230 Tablet. Because i love the twist screen ThinkPad tablets ever since i rescued an X60 Tablet from the scrapheap.

[Hacker117]

I have a ThinkPad x201t that runs MX Linux v19.2 64 bit all day long with no overheating.
That’s with 8 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD.
Don’t think the SSD generates near the amount of heat a HDD does.
Thought about pulling the unit apart and cleaning it and thermal pasting the CPU but if it ain’t broke I’m not going to fix it.