New T60p: Heat and noise observations

[freddy418]

I've had my T60p for less than 2 weeks and I owned a T42p for more than 2 years before this machine and a couple of things stand out immediately about the T60p's cooling system.

I chose to talk about the T60p cooling system because other than that, it is a perfect machine. The system came with an ALPS keyboard and my T42p has a NMB keyboard, the main difference between them is that the ALPS seems to be the louder and feels more plasticky (coin that and add it to websters). However, it is still a very high quality keyboard, Acer and Dell keyboards offer no competition. I also have the samsung screen, 2gb of ram, and the Athero ABG wireless chip. All in all, nearly flawless machine, portable and powerful.

The problem I have with the system is that its fan is about four times louder than my T42p when I'm doing everyday tasks like programming and surfing the web. At the 6X multiplier and with NHC active, the processor reads 56 degrees celsius and the fan is noticeable and iritating. With my T42p, at the lowest multiplier I can at lower the voltage to .732 and it runs ~40 C and the fan is pretty much off. I also downloaded TP Fan Control and the GPU idles at 65-67 degrees celsius, if you know anything about MOS, you know that bad things happen at high temperatures.

So I opened up the machine (took off the palmrest, keyboard, and bezel), and took a look at the cooling system. One immediately noticeable problem with the system is that the thin heatsink barely extends over the ATI graphics chip and a thick thermal pad is used to transfer heat from the heatsink and the gpu to the heatsink. There is almost no contact for half of the ram chips of the v5200 gpu. I'm not a thermal and fluids guy but I know that metal is a better conductor than a rubber/plastic/hybrid pad of some sort. So I'm thinking that the high temperatures could be caused by the poor contact between the GPU and the heatsink and the insulation effect of the thermal pad. One immediate solution I'll probably look into is adding a thin piece of 1"x1" copper plate between the gpu/ramchips and heatsink and adding some AS5 so that more of the heat can at least be transported to the heatsink where it can be dissipated. In the long run though, the hot temperatures and shoddy cooling system cannot be good for the longevity and reliability of the machine.

Dan

[o1001010]

i do not think that will be a good idea. because ac5 is strictly a themal paste. it does not have any bonding or holding propertyies. if you put a piece of copper shim in between them, it will eventually slide out during movement

[agarza]

You could try to bend the heatsink area that is suppose to be in contact with the GPU (as I did with my T42p heatsink after applying Arctic Silver 5.

Some machines (T60p) have an average temp of 44C, whilst yours is 56C, who knows, some machines do generate less heat than others.

If you replace the original compound, clean it first using ArctiClean Kit 1&2.

[JohnDrake]

JUST...LEAVE...IT...ALONE!

The systems are thermally tested. Don't worry about it.

But...make sure you are running the current firmware...updated Sept 13

[Kyocera]

John Drake

JUST...LEAVE...IT...ALONE!

Some good advice.

[agarza]

John Drake

JUST...LEAVE...IT...ALONE!

Some good advice.

I did modify my T42p heatsink to make 100% contact with the GPU, resulting in a succesfully operation

Of course, for power users there's no risk involved in modifying your system, however, if you're a newbie you might reconsidering your thoughts.

I downloaded the T60p HMM and it seems to me that the heatsink area that contacts the GPU is so small, it barely occupies 50% of the total GPU chip area. No wonder why the temps rise stratospherically

[Kyocera]

Well when it gets toasted your up the creek trying to modify a new machine like that will void the warranty, if there is a problem with heat issues it should be left to the tech support channels for resolution.