Loud Fan, Cooling pad? Sony Vaio F series i7

Hi im not sure if this is the right place to ask the question but hopefully someone can give me good advice.

I bought the sony vaio f series and i absolutly love it except i find the fan is annoying.. it could be louder but i find is loud enough to be annoying and its on all the time! I read about it and people say its normal because of the i7 processor but i was wondering if buying a cooling pad thing would help? Or is that just to keep the laptop cool? thanks alot

 

Check to see if there is a new BIOS for your machine - the issue could be fixed already.

Check for any utilities from Sony for your machine that controls the fan speeds.

Does the computer seem hot when idling? Is it on a desktop or on a bedspread? Are you using the 'balanced' power options?

If all of the above don't bring any relief, then a proper notebook cooler like a Zalman can cool a notebook effectively and should reduce the internal fan speeds to make the notebook quieter too.

See:
::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::


Good luck.

 

Sony VAIOs often have a Silent mode. This can be enabled in VAIO power settings.

 

Yes, this would be your only solution. Go to Control Panel --> VAIO Control Center icon. Choose Power Management --> Power Options and then you have three options: Balanced Mode - Performance Mode and Silent Mode. Choose Silent Mode. A cooling pad helps for a few seconds there but under heavy load the CPU fan should be able to handle the heat by itself and it's noisy I agree.

 

Thanks alot everyone for the replies!

I dont have a silent mode.. I only have balanced and Performance mode.
It was on Performance mode so I changed it for balanced and it seems like the fan makes a little less noise! So thanks alot!

Its still loud though

The last update for the bios is done and most of the time the laptop is on a desk. The laptop is not very hot its just hot air comming out of the fan which is on the side of the laptop... anyways thanks again! And if anyone has another suggestion please let me know

 

i have the same laptop and the same problem and only have balanced or performance mode also, its annoying!

 

Thanks for your effort! It's very valuable, I understand this part.

 

Why "only"? I've got good luck undervolting the CPU with RMclock .. helps save the battery too.

 

Link to the undervolting guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

 

lol i7 cannot be undervolted... seriously read first before writing.. and OP buying cooling pad won't help.. you'll get more noise instead... i suggest you find out how to redo the thermal paste on your CPU or ask Sony to redo it.. it will make your computer run cooler and your fan won't be so loud... i suggest you go to sony support website and find out the VAIO power software or something.. Asus also has 3 additional profiles but your need the power4gear performance software installed.. it seem's that your sony is missing it's software so that why your not getting your profile.


Panther214

 

It's an i7. RMClock doesn't work on mobile i7s.

 

Did not know that. Is there another utility that *does* work on i7? CPUGenie?

 

no nothing does.. i7's or any i series processors in laptops cannot be undervolted.

Panther214

 

There are no currently known software utilities that work to undervolt mobile i7 chips.

 

I used to own a Sony VAIO F12 and I used to follow the F series thread very closely in the Owner's Lounge.

The variable fan profile is a long time problem with the F series since the F11. You can't change or edit fan profiles with things like Speedfan or in the BIOS (which is locked out pretty tight. About the only thing you can change is system date and time). As mentioned above there is currently no known way to undervolt mobile Core i7s.

I used to run my F12 with a Notepal U3 which had barely any effect. If left completely idle it could keep the fan speed lower than normal but as soon as you do *anything* with your computer, cpu temps go up along with fanspeed. All the Notepal did was blow room temperature air on the baseplate around the hottest point. It does not help to circulate air inside the chasis nor does it extract hot air quicker. I found the Notepal was better thought of as an attractive desktop stand where you can stow away your cables underneath. It is not and never will be a solution to a notebook thermal design problem.

The upside is that the F series notebooks are very cool under load but yes, the fan is very restless. At this point there is no known fix for it and after 3 revisions of the F series throughout 2010, the issue remains unresolved. If it bothers you I suggest selling up and moving elsewhere. If you can tune it out then you'll find theres alot to like in the F series but I personally think theres not much beating the old i5 Dell XPS 16 in the multimedia notebook class. Shame its not available anymore.

 

The CPU fan speed is set in BIOS. In Performance mode fan is set on speed 3 on a range from 1 to 5 and it will not lower RPM depending on CPU temp. CPU (P9600) would be around 36 at idle. In Balanced mode is mostly on speed 2 and it cycles down to speed 1 which is almost like OFF very quiet, you can't tell it's on but not for a very long time. In Silent Mode the fan tries its best between speed 1 and 2, allowing the CPU to get up to like 45 before it kicks in the second speed. Undervolting shaves about 5 degrees off but under load it needs the noisy fan to run at full RPM. I chose to supply the CPU with its full voltage while undervolting on its highest multipliers 10x and 10.5x (IDA).

 

You can also go under Control Panel > Power Options > your current power management plan > Advanced Power Options > Processor power management > MAximum processor state, then set your maximum to a number less than 100%. At 50%, the fan powers down significantly, although still somewhat noisy by the standards of laptops.