Laptop fan replacement question

I need to replace my laptop's fan. Replacement I was able to locate are rated for higher amperage, 0.28A & 0.32A respectively vs 0.23 original fan. Is it safe to use a fan with higher power draw? Is there a point paying about 50% extra for 0.32A fan vs 0.28A, in hope it will produce higher flow - or will the motherboard deliver the same current disregarding which fan is used?

 

From my understanding, the motherboard will deliver up to a set amount of current through the fan connector. Therefore if you install a higher watt fan, it will still only get the amount of power the motherboard was designed to deliver through that connector. This is similar in the way a USB 2.0 port can only deliver up to 500ma through a single port and some higher power devices require two USB ports to operate. Assuming the fans are 5V, a .28A fan will be 1.4W while the .32A fan will be 1.6W. That's not a huge difference. What's the CFM rating on those two fans?

Check t456's post here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m15x-internal-fan-mods.799571/page-2

 

@kosti only one of them has stated 5.8 CFM; for others, it is impossible to find any information regarding airflow. I found a noticeably cheaper 0.28A fan with same looks yet different markings; it seems exactly the same fan type is used across many laptops of few japanese brands.

 

Usually these fans are made for a specific models and are not interchangeable with other brands/models without modification. I am actually looking at replacing my fans with another Alienware model but I'll have to do some mods to get it to fit.

What laptop are they for?

 

@kosti I am searching a fan for Fujitsu T734, but a number of fans for other Fujitsu and Panasonic laptops seem to be completely identical.

 

According to notebookcheck, that laptop runs pretty cool with the stock setup, probably because it uses such a low tdp cpu (15W). I did a search for fans for the T734 and found mostly some .28A Sepa models on aliexpress. Not sure you'll notice much difference between the .23A and .28A fan. If anything, the .28A fan may be a bit louder because theoretically it should spin faster. It should move a bit more air but I can't find any specs on those fans online to look up air flow ratings. I'd say just get what's cheaper in price.

 

Many (most/all) notebooks can read the fan speed somehow - HWiNFO can tell me the fan speed on my Dell notebooks. If it is reading the fan speed through the third contact in the fan connector then I presume there is technology to adjust the voltage to achieve the speed defined by the fan rules in the BIOS. In that case a higher power rating might not be an issue if it is linked to a speed higher than whatever is coded in the BIOS. Alternatively, the higher power rating might mean that the fan moves more air at a given speed (no bad thing) and therefore has to work slightly harder. It would be useful to get some feedback if the fan does get changed.

John

 

@kosti it actually has 35W TDP CPUs, and throttles like hell without a fan. I will indeed get the cheapest.

@John Ratsey BIOS is definitely at play here, there are even two fan profiles there.