X31 vs. X32 temperature

[paddi]

I have a X31 and a X32.
I liked the X31 because it only has about 45°C at working with office. Its maximum is 1.4GHz.
I bought a X32 because I wanted to have some more power (1.8GHz). But now the CPU has about 52°C at working with office.
I use rmclock to undervolt. The levels on the X32 are even a bit lower than on the X31.
Also I was hoping that the dothan cpu will be cooler than the banias.

Is there something wrong or can I do something further?

[tomh009]

What voltage levels are you using?

[paddi]

6x = 0.796
8x = 0.844
9x = 0.876
10x = 0.892
11x = 0.924
12x = 0.956
13x = 0.972
14x = 1.004

for the X32. The values for the X31 are sligthly above.
I'm currently only using the first 8 levels on my X32 to be cooler.
If I use all possible levels and the cpu has to do some calculating the temperature is going up to 60 - 65°C very fast.
The X31 also in this point is better because its not going hot so fast.

[tomh009]

I'm using 0.764V on my 1.6 GHz X31. I'll check on my wife's 1.4 GHz tonight, but I think it may be the same voltage.

Are you normally running at 6x multiplier? Or do you run a lot of CPU-heavy applications?

[Ken Fox]

I have a X31 and a X32.
I liked the X31 because it only has about 45°C at working with office. Its maximum is 1.4GHz.
I bought a X32 because I wanted to have some more power (1.8GHz). But now the CPU has about 52°C at working with office.
I use rmclock to undervolt. The levels on the X32 are even a bit lower than on the X31.
Also I was hoping that the dothan cpu will be cooler than the banias.

Is there something wrong or can I do something further?

Obviously I must be missing something. Could you please tell us what are the problems you are having with your laptops because of these CPU temperatures? To my knowledge they are well within, under, rated specs.

I have owned an X31 and now have an X32 1.8ghz (same as you) for more than a year and a half. I had no problems whatsoever with either except for a damaged screen on the old X31 when I spilled a glass of wine on it. I have never paid any attention to any of the temps on either. The fan on the X32 comes on occasionally and more often than it did on my old 1.3ghz X31.

To which I say, so what? I don't see any reason to be fooling around with cpu voltages and the like in this laptop. To me, this is all silly.

Sorry.

[sugo]

It might sound funny but, is the cpu fan running?

[Ken Fox]

It might sound funny but, is the cpu fan running?

The cpu fan is presumably going to be more or less inaudible, so in order to know if it is running, you would need to use a program showing that. If it isn't running then obviously it should be replaced, but if it is running, then most likely it is doing what it is designed to do, e.g. to cool the cpu. As such, it will cycle on and off.

Perhaps I am wrong but the fan that is audible in these laptops is not the cpu fan but rather another, larger, fan. In any event, the fan that is audible in my X32 cycles on and off, apparently as designed, in response to internal temperatures it is monitoring.

[gator]

To which I say, so what? I don't see any reason to be fooling around with cpu voltages and the like in this laptop. To me, this is all silly.

Ken, I know I have said this before, but I'll go ahead and say it again: I don't like to see a 12" laptop with a slower processor and HDD run hotter than a T60. I agree that the T60 has a better area for cooling etc, but it does more work and stays cooler than my X31.

The X31 I have was recieved as almost new and I had to undervolt the CPU (with tomh009's help for which I am very grateful) and replace the fan to get it working to temperatures I am comfortable with. Even now, with the ultrabase and a CD-ROM in the drive, the X31 does gets hot after a while, but its much more manageable than before.

I posted a thread in this forum regarding this and many people reported that the X31 does run a bit hot. The fan coming on or not should not be an issue here, because if the temperature hits > 50C when idling or just browsing, it not comfortable to work with the laptop. I have people here who have the same trouble with X32 too, so I don't think the issue is unique to few people alone.

I feel that having the intake vent on the bottom of the laptop in the X3x series is a major cause of these temperatures - putting it on a ultrabase or having it on your lap worsens it, though temperatures stay pretty normal if you have the laptop on flat surface.

To the OP:
Undervolting is a good way to reduce the temperatures a bit. If you suspect that the fan might not be doing its job properly, think about getting it replaced (provided you can afford it or if it is under warrantly). Replacing it is a very very simple matter and there is nothing to worry about.

Also, keep in mind that you won't see any modern laptop running under 40C. Anything around 40-45C is ok and is normal. When the temp hits >50C, it becomes uncomfortable and there is nothing silly in being concerned about it (no offense to Ken, this is my personal opinion).

[tomh009]

As gator says, Ultrabase and a lap increase temps as they tend to block the heat from dissipating. A table is good, a glass or granite tabletop is even better as it'll conduct the heat away.

That said, if I use an adaptive power profile ("dynamic switching" in NHC), the X31 runs typically at 50C or thereabouts, even on a table. But drop it to "max battery" -- which locks the CPU to the 6x multiplier, but is just fine most of the time -- and now the temps are down to the low 40C range.

So I think this goes back to paddi, the original poster: what power profile are you using?

And, Ken, it's diff'rent strokes for diff'rent people. For some of us the low heat and silent computing are very important. Others prefer high performance, or factory-spec operation, or other things. The great thing about all this is that it's possible for each of us to configure our ThinkPads the way we want ...

[sugo]

The great thing about all this is that it's possible for each of us to configure our ThinkPads the way we want ...

No kidding ... thanks to tpfancontrol!

[Ken Fox]

The great thing about all this is that it's possible for each of us to configure our ThinkPads the way we want ...

No kidding ... thanks to tpfancontrol!

to each his own. If you think the X31/32 is hot, get yourself an X60 and the X3x will seem COLD by comparison.

There is of course nothing wrong with you guys and whomever else deciding that they want to concentrate on internal laptop temperatures. I just want to point out to anyone reading this who may not have the technical understanding, that it is not necessary and in fact may not be desirable, to be loading this sort of software onto your laptop.

IBM and Lenovo supposedly have engineers who design these things, and barring some sort of disastrous design flaw on their part (which would have manifested itself long before as the X3x series is an old one now) they would have been forced to fix this "flaw" in these laptops if it was common. Many X3x laptops remain under warranty and lenovo is on the hook to maintain them so their motivation in keeping these things relatively troublefree continues. They would be writing their own software like this if they thought it would be needed and you would be getting it through Software Installer or System Update. They aren't. And the X3x series would have acquired a reputation as being unreliable, if the interior components were being compromised by heat, and to my knowledge that has not happened, either.

[tomh009]

There is of course nothing wrong with you guys and whomever else deciding that they want to concentrate on internal laptop temperatures. I just want to point out to anyone reading this who may not have the technical understanding, that it is not necessary and in fact may not be desirable, to be loading this sort of software onto your laptop.

I absolutely agree that it is not necessary, and the standard temperatures pose no risk to the laptop. Now, determining desirability is left as an exercise for the reader!

[paddi]

What I wanted to say:
The X31 cpu should need 3W more than that of the X32, so I'm surprised that the cpu of the X32 is about 5°C higher in browsing or idle. It stays at about 52°C and goes to about 65°C within 5 seconds if it needs 1.8GHz.
The X31 gets to 65°C if I play a 3D-game for about 15 minutes!

[boon]

the X series seem to have problems on running hot, but all of the problems are just because the laptop is small.

some other laptops I own like the fujitsu 15.4 screen with pentium sonoma runs at 51 degrees celsius using minimum setting. This is because the laptop is made plastic like on bottom of laptop and ibm x series is metal like that can absorb the heat. So having around 40-50 degrees is normal.

[paddi]

But if I turn of rmclock the cpu gets up to 75°C when surfing the internet.
It's interesting that the cpu frequency is always at top level (1.8GHz). So it seems that windows xp can't manage speedstep?

[tomh009]

It all depends on the power profile -- which one are you using?

[paddi]

There is no difference if I choose "Laptop" or "Desktop".
When I rightclick on "My Computer" and on "Properties" it always is on 1.8GHz. - Even if rmclock is turned on.

[tomh009]

I'm not running RMClock at the moment (I'm using NHC) but on RMClock's Management and Profiles page, what are your AC Power Profile and Battery Profile set to? What are the other available options?

Also, on the Performance on Demand page, what is your Performance/Power Saving Preference set to?

[paddi]

I only use rmclock for setting the voltages.
power profiles are managed by windows.

[tomh009]

If you only use Windows power schemes, and neither RMClock nor the Battery MaxiMiser wizard, it really doesn't give you very much control at all over the CPU speeds.

That said, it should only be running at the full 1.8 GHz if your CPU utilization is high. Is it? You may be only using IE, but Flash animations, for example, can such up enormous amounts of CPU power.

Overall, if you want to have control over your speeds and temperatures, you should really let either RMClock or NHC control the Speedstep behaviour.

[boon]

are you using power manager or battery maximizer? those can control
cpu clock.

RMclock can do the job as well, and monitoring your cpu speed.

[bujie]

My X31 without NHC runs hot, 50+ celsius. And at 68 I think the cooler boosts on, and believe me, it's annoying because it hits freaquently that temperature. And there is only one fan for the CPU and the GPU. Windows XP does the jobb with the multipliers, and dynamic switching. U can see that if U run CPU-Z. But with NHC is way better. I set the voltages with 0.2V lower for every multiplier... gues what? I get max 45C with the laptop on a blanket if U want My fan doesn't come on at all... well only if I play Underground 2
At what settings I have, only thing that I hear is the 7K100

I didn't install battery maximiser, because NHC is doing the same job and beiond. But there is ThinkPad Power Management Driver that does somthing.. I don't know what though, but when I install it, dessapears a yellow "?" sign in device manager.

Cheers!