Temperature Differences between Old Dell & ThinkPad

mrdean on 30/01/2024 - 14:09

I have 2 old laptops I currently use on a daily basis, both a little over 10 years old.

One is a t series thinkpad, the other a precision series dell.

The thinkpad is i5, the dell i7. The dell has a lot more ram than the thinkpad & is generally a lot more snappy to use.

I run the same linux distro on both laptops. Perplexingly, the dell has way higher temps when doing even basic web searching, especially watching videos on youtube. It fluctuates wildly, going up to 90+C, the fans become clearly audible (they fluctuate in volume too) but typically between 70-85C, only going down to about 50-60C when idle. Videos on other platforms like rumble, bitchute are not as bad, but still noticeably increase the temp. I did install a browser addon that supposedly helps with this problem on youtube, which did seem to work for a bit, but eventually it went back to how it was.

The thinkpad on the other hand when watching youtube videos never breaks 65C, at idle it is in the mid 40's.

Generally, I would assume the thermal paste needs replacing, but I've also read that this usually lowers the temps by single digit figure at best, ie around 5-10C. I have also read it may be a heatpipe/heatsink problem or also the accumulation of fine dust particles in various places. I generally try to keep the area as dust free as possible, & also try to raise the units off the surface a bit to help with air flow.

I'm a bit hesitant to dissemble the dell & replace the paste, but may have to at some stage.

Anyone here have any advice?

Computing Computer Dell Laptop Lenovo

Comments

  • scrimshaw on 30/01/2024 - 14:11
    +3

    It's usually due to poor physical contact between the cpu and the heatsink, ie. the heatsink is only partially touching the processor so there is little to no heat transfer.

    So when the CPU temp immediately jumps to 90 degrees when you do something (even something as light as opening web pages), you know there's something wrong with the heatsink. Maybe there's some warping or bending. Maybe a screw is done too tight or too loose on one side.
    You'll need to open up your notebook to see that, software won't solve the issue.

    • mrdean on 30/01/2024 - 14:26

      Thanks for the reply.

      It's interesting why this would start to happen. Is it possible for the screws to loosen over time? Can the heatsink be warped or bended by too much heat over time?

      The back of the dell on the left hand side near the power connection where there are vents gets pretty hot.

      • scrimshaw on 30/01/2024 - 18:20
        +1

        Given how old your laptop is I'd say most likely your thermal paste has just dried up and that's why there's poor heat transfer. It's time for some maintenance.

  • wasdw246 on 30/01/2024 - 14:30

    hows the fan noise on both of them?

    • mrdean on 30/01/2024 - 14:32

      Loud on the dell, quiet on the thinkpad.

  • rumblytangara on 30/01/2024 - 15:07

    Have you tried the first step of just blasting the vents out with compressed air?

    • mrdean on 30/01/2024 - 15:15

      No, don't have compressed air.

      • rumblytangara on 30/01/2024 - 15:30
        +1

        Unless you want to open up the case and poke around through the venting (which off memory is probably enclosed anyway) then it's the very first thing to try.

        • mrdean on 30/01/2024 - 18:41

          Well, I've spent the last hour or so tentatively doing some maintenance. I opened the back cover, removed the 2 fans & gave the vents a clean out as best I could. Dust had accumulated alright.

          Temps have lowered, the fans don't spin as high or loud, youtube increases the temp, but not too bad. The thinkpad is still better, so I may have to change the thermal paste, but I'm wary of doing that.

  • Mechz on 30/01/2024 - 19:44

    https://amzn.asia/d/72oZNvJ

    Problem solved.

  • mrdean on 30/01/2024 - 20:45

    Lol. Now both fans are permanently on around 2500rpm, regardless of temps. That's enough for today.

  • Mechz on 30/01/2024 - 21:13

    What Linux distro are you using? If possible dial the power mode back to "best battery" or whatever the equivalent is.

    I do this on my work Thinkpad and it throttles all the background bloat enough to make the fan inaudible.

    • mrdean on 31/01/2024 - 08:10

      ubuntu studio on both, but neither have batteries, both running off mains.

      • Mechz on 31/01/2024 - 09:05

        There should be a power saver mode in the menu under the clock or you might have to dig under battery settings.

        Also check under the BIOS as they often have options for the max levels you want the fans to spin at.

        • mrdean on 31/01/2024 - 14:12

          No such luck. There are options to create power management profiles or scripts, but that's currently beyond my capabilities. There also doesn't appear to be a thermal management option in the bios. Something must of happened though, as the laptop wasn't behaving this way before. I also tried loading a live usb of the latest mxlinus libretto release, & the same thing occurs, fans running at around 2600rpm constantly.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 30/01/2024 - 22:19
    -1

    Buy a newer used laptop?

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