Long Fans for T4x: 41W5204 vs. 26R9074

[yossarian]

I'm wondering if people know whether the 41W5204 or the 26R9074 is a better deal in terms of getting a fan for T43 26xx model. My old factory fan (26R7957) died due to bad bearings so it's time to order in a replacement.

Scouring the forum, the evidence seems to be this:

41W5204:
-Recommended by a lot of people. Mostly for T41/42.
-Likely to fit the T43 26xx models.
-Quiet.

26R9074:
-Mentioned only a few times.
-The recommended replacement part for my T43 by Lenovo.
-Doesn't suffer the same bearing problems as old fan. (26R7957)
-New electronics on fan that might mitigate(but probably not fix entirely) the pulsing fan problem.
-Quieter than old T43 fan (26R7957)

Both are priced similarly. The 41W5204 seems to be a tad more expensive on some websites (negligible). Which is better value for money in terms of durability and noise?

[bobones]

I was in the same boat and replaced my noisy fan (grinding bearings) with a 26R9074 from IBM UK parts for £22.83 + VAT + shipping just a couple of weeks ago. I can't say anything about its longevity, but it's much quieter than the old broken fan although you can still hear it when it is pushing. If you undervolt the CPU and clock down the GPU with NHC and use NHC ACPI script or TPfancontrol to regulate the fan speed, you can operate your T43 with the fan off or at speed 1 in most situations. I think Arctic Silver 5 also helped reduce temps. I haven't noticed mine doing any annoying pulsing: it was always the grinding, rattling noise that got on my nerves. BTW, I have just checked my old fan and it's also a 26R9074. Blowing and oiling it reduced but didn't eliminate the bearing noise. Got to say that I'm back in love with my T43 with this new fan and Windows 7.

[jeskey]

Post moved to more appropriate place.

[yossarian]

Post moved to more appropriate place.

I thought the T4x forum was the appropriate place...

I was in the same boat and replaced my noisy fan (grinding bearings) with a 26R9074 from IBM UK parts for £22.83 + VAT + shipping just a couple of weeks ago. I can't say anything about its longevity, but it's much quieter than the old broken fan although you can still hear it when it is pushing. If you undervolt the CPU and clock down the GPU with NHC and use NHC ACPI script or TPfancontrol to regulate the fan speed, you can operate your T43 with the fan off or at speed 1 in most situations. I think Arctic Silver 5 also helped reduce temps. I haven't noticed mine doing any annoying pulsing: it was always the grinding, rattling noise that got on my nerves. BTW, I have just checked my old fan and it's also a 26R9074. Blowing and oiling it reduced but didn't eliminate the bearing noise. Got to say that I'm back in love with my T43 with this new fan and Windows 7.

Thanks for your input bobones, that was the kind of comment I was looking for. It was also the bearing noise that got on my nerves. I've ordered a 26R9074 for now. Will definitely get some thermal grease to apply to the cpu.

What kind of oil did you use and where do you apply it?

[bobones]

Just some old school 3-in-1. It's quite hard to apply accurately because of all the metal around, but the new fan was so much better I didn't really bother too much trying to fix the old one.

[yossarian]

I installed a refurbished 26R9074. It is not sounding like a lawn mower anymore, and for the first time in a long time I could actually hear my hdd. Temperatures are definitely very nice with thermal grease, with various sensors reporting from 26'C to 51'C.

Maybe I'm getting picky, but the fan is still too loud for my liking. Not sure if this is because the fan is refurb rather than new... possibly the new ones have some design fixes.

I tried the EC third party firmware fix too, which makes pulsing less prevalent, but does not seem to be a 100% fix.

Interestingly, there is stilll a grindy bearing noise in this one, but not the lawnmower of the old fan. We shall see how it holds up. But perhaps I should order in a 41W5204 anyway as a backup.

[ezchomak]

I have bee having the same rattling problem with my cpu fan and am looking to replace it with a new 26R9074. Looking around on ebay and the internet I notice that some places seem to sell just the fan and others sell the fan with heatsink included.

Don't I just need the fan? Buying a package with a fan AND heatsink would just be a waste of money, right?

[Bruce Guttman]

The T43 fan is riveted to the heat sink and once you get them apart it might be difficult to get the new fan fitted in properly. There is one vendor on Ebay who sells just the fan intending you to mount it back on the heat sink (probably using something like Super Glue, I guess).

The T42 long fan is even more difficult to separate from the heat sink.