Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Only think I could suggest is to call IBM about the issue, since your laptop is still under the 1yr standard warranty.

 

Let me be more specific this time. Turbo is not supported on battery when using the NVIDIA GPU. At least that was my interpretation from the BIOS updates that were provided and the explanation from a former Lenovo employee.

And fyi, your first link is broken.

 

Thanks where did you order yours from??

 

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Just bought this - I hope it works out of the box and I hope my laptop has 3 antennas! Anyone know if this will work w/o having to flash a custom bios?

 

An update on the i7-2820QM to i7-2960XM upgrade... the 55W heat sink came this morning and I installed it. The system is working a bit better. A couple of gotchas:

1. The heat sink takes a bit of clever maneuvering to get in and out. Be careful with the various wires and thin metal flaps that guide the wires.

2. The heat sink spring-loaded screws need to be torqued down gently but firmly to make good contact with the CPU and GPU. They're not tight until they stop turning.

3. It turns out that when both the nVidia 2000M GPU and i7-2960XM are being taxed , the combination produces far more heat than the thermal unit in the W520 can dissipate. The CPU will begin thermal throttling. The situation is a bit better when only the iGPU is selected in the BIOS. I wonder how Optimus fares.

Now for the million dollar question: Would I do a i7-2960XM upgrade again in the W520 or consider any extreme processor in future W5x0 chassis without a radical design change in the cooling system? No. The thermal throttling leads to only marginal gains in the benchmarks and is practically unnoticeable in the real world. The vote against the extreme processors was something I had said very early on in this thread some time last year and I continue to hold that view. In another system with better cooling this processor might make sense. For what it is worth, this was an expensive experiment (north of $1500) that should only be attempted for pure bragging rights. Beyond that is is a huge waste of resources.

Lenovo would be wise to try to tackle the thermal unit in this chassis prior to the Ivy Bridge refresh but something tells me a whole lot won't change.

 

Anyone notice strange behavior on the latest GPU (83de42ww) driver?

Optimus isn't triggering the way it used to, and sometimes the NVIDIA control panel will error out claiming I don't have a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU.

 

Why even use Otimus unless you're using more than one monitor? I use the discrete graphics and havea no issues...

Any ideas on my above post? Which wifi card do I need? Did I buy the right one?

 

Leave the order alone, buy what you want and then stick it in when you get it. Probably cost you $35-40

 

I just bought one last week. Let me see if I can remember where I bought it. It was $35 or so. One guy bought one on ebay for $39. Guess he didn't froogle first.

 

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Bought this one today hopefully it will work. I see 2 different part numbers...

 

I did a lot of research before I bought mine. I ended up buying a Samsung 830. Some people are having trouble with the latest Sandforce chip SSDs. Crucial, Intel and Samsung do not use that chip. Corsair, OCZ and most of the others use them, although one of them has put out a drive with a different chip, can't remember which.

Still, I have a MushkinEnhanced Chronos 120 gb in my desktop and an OCZ Vertex II 180 gb in my Hp 2540p and Ive had not trouble with either one. I put a Samsung 830 256 gb in my w520. Just by feel the OCZ seems the fastest on boots despite it being SATA2. By benchmarks the Samsung blows my other two away - about what you would expect since it is SATA3 and the w520 supports SATA3.

Go to newegg.com and amazon.com and read the reviews for the crucial you are looking at. Also just google crucial "model" and reviews. You will find plenty to read.

Everything I've read about the crucials is positive.

 

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=INT-633AN

 

Now it's working again! Don't know why it had stopped but everything is working perfectly now.

 

I can't find the part number I bought in this list (FRU: 60Y3193)

System service parts - ThinkPad T520, T520i and W520

But I do see the FRU 60Y3233 part number but I dont see it on the link you posted..... ugh what a pain in the !

 

Just said screw it and bought both of them....

FRU 60Y3193 & FRU 60Y3233.... and i bought 3 antenna wires in case my laptop only has 2.

 

nice info - cheers

I guess my inevitable question is going to be, where can I buy the 55W heatsink, what exactly does it come with (uprated fans included?) and is there any reason why I shouldn't install it on a 2670QM (2.2 quad) processor?

Personally I don't care about noise, my previous laptop was like a jet engine and I would much rather my W520 was a little cooler when running games and stuff.

Just thinking I could install the uprated cooling and make everything work that little bit better, noise is irrelevent to me

 

I dont think you need to mess with it - I run SWTOR on mine with the 2860QM 2.5Ghz which goes up to 3.5Ghz with Turboboost and have no heat issues. the bottom of the laptop stays nice and cool and yea the fan kicks up a little bit but its pretty quiet and the only warm spot is the exhaust on the left side of the laptop...

Where are you guys having heat issues? I've ran prime95 for 30 minutes w/o any issues with heat.

 

I'm a bit of a gamer I was playing WoW on max settings 1080p for about 5 hours on Sunday and while I kicked the fans up to max and can't deny it does stay "fairly cool" the only hot spot is on the wrist pad right under my hand... which just gets uncomfortable after a while.

I can enable VSync to cut the effort the graphics card has to do, which makes it cooler, but playing with VSync on has historically given me a headache (no idea why...) so I generally turn it off.

So I'm just wondering if the uprated cooling would aid that little bit to take it from "uncomfortable" to "ok".

 

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Thats odd b/c I dont have that issue on mine...... is it b/c I have the 2860QM? The only noticeable warm spot is the bottom left side near the back where the fan is...... thats it. The palm rest is nice and cool. I played SWTOR for at least 4 hours with everything on max and had no issues.

 

hmmm... I wonder if you have the 55W cooling on that CPU model? Dam.. maybe I should have opted for the higher cpu just for the cooling :S

Still have 48 hours to decide to send it back, but tbh now I have it I would rather just install the thing myself (or have Lenovo do it if they will get touchy about the warranty)

 

The 55W unit can be bought by calling Lenovo's (IBM) parts line. It's just an uprated fan and not much else. Early on Lenovo was using 55W units on even 45W TDP CPUs so it is best to read the part number on the heat sink you already have. I don't think it is worth the trouble to upgrade the fan. It won't net much on this notebook IMHO.

I see it in any benchmark that taxes both the CPU and GPU simultaneously. When the CPU is being taxed on its own it can take a bit longer for it to begin to start throttling.

The 2860QM is a 45W TDP processor it runs a bit cooler. Your 2860QM might actually be able to beat the 2960XM due to the cooling issues that hold back the latter CPU.

It's worth checking to see which you have but like I said earlier its not worth upgrading. Just keep your system as is and enjoy it. Trust me, I have buyers remorse right now and would love to return the CPU, heat sink, etc. and pocket the cash. I have to say this was a pretty dumb experiment on my part.

 

Thanks - I'm hoping that the Intel Ultimate-N 6300 wireless adapters I bought are worth the trouble in replacing the POS realtek 1x1 that's in my system. No idea if my laptop has 3 antennas by default or if it has only 2?

 

I'm pretty sure there are 3 wires but you can check quite easily by pulling the keyboard out. The wireless card is right below the spacebar.

 

Do you know if we will be able to upgrade the W520 to a Ivy Bridge CPU when it comes out in April 2012?

"We also know that Ivy Bridge will be compatible with the LGA 1155 socket--great news for Sandy Bridge owners, who may not need to buy an entirely new motherboard to upgrade." Processors: What to Expect From CPUs in 2012 | PCWorld

 

As stated in a few other threads and with previous releases, while the hardware might physically fit, there are many other factors that might not let users upgrade. Most companies don't want you to upgrade and even if it's something like not enabling it in the BIOS, there are many ways that they can prevent you from upgrading. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I wouldn't hold your breath out for Ivy Bridge on your W520.

 

I've read the QM67 chipset won't be getting the requisite update to support Ivy Bridge. The processor will fit in the socket but it won't boot (if the rumors are correct).

 

Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Looking into getting this - anyone tried it?

 

I have had a couple of the C300's from Crucial. I have one in a X301 right now. You also might consider the Samsung at Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256N/AM 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Notebook Upgrade Kit. I'm running it in a T420 right now.

 

I've used 4 Crucial M4 64GB SSD's in 4 different machines since last summer. My experiences with them has been great. (One of them was used in a custom-build PC. I neglected to set AHCI in BIOS and Windows was performing so s-l-o-w-l-y. My bad.) I have not tried any Crucial M4 of larger sizes, though.

 

Ok update: I got the Intel Ultimate-N 6300 AGN adapter and I got no BIOS errors! Wooooot....... And now that I have the updated drivers it gets anywhere from 270Mbps to 300Mbps which is around 50-60Mbps when copying files from my NAS...

And for those that are curious my laptop has the 3 antennas even though one of them wasn't plugged in.. Installing it was pretty easy and only took about 10 minutes.

 

My W520 stopped to respond suddenly after i turned wlan off and even moving the trackpoint (so it means pressing keys too) made the sound it makes when you press "too many" keys at the same time. I didn't want to loose my session so i waited and it stopped after quite long time, was quite scary... Anyone ever experienced that? Also, on the left hinge i can "see the inside" of the unit while on the right one i don't. Is this normal or not? I'd appreciate a pic of yours before requesting a tech from lenovo!

 

I think it takes about 0.5 second to look at your left hinge...

 

@ddong,
I can't see into my W520's left hinge. I was able to with my T400 after numerous drops, and one repair store's incompetency at reassembly.

 

I don't remember it fell... So i would like to request assistance but how can i do it? I mean, what should i say so they accept to come and see..? If i just say "there's a hole there and not on the other side" i'm not sure that's enough..?

 

I have a quick question that I really need your advice with. I have placed an order about 3 weeks ago for the W520 with the 500 GB 7200RPM which is unavailable and takes a very long time to ship and the date keeps moving forward and it is now 3/17 which is really crazy. Today, I did something not sure if it was wise but I canceled that order and placed the same exact one but with 500GB 5400RPM which will ship 2/27.

The question now is should I just live with the 5400RPM because I have not tried it before and do not know if the speed will be significantly different from the 7200RPM. My configuration is for the 2.5Ghz Quad Core i7 and with 8GB of RAM. Do you think I should keep it or should I replace it myself with a 7200RPM or may be a Crucial SSD.

Thoughts please.

 

The difference between HDD speeds isn't very noticeable imo, but obviously a SSD would greatly improve read/write performance that you'd notice without the aid of benchmarks.

 

Also consider the option of adding an mSATA drive the the pcie so that you can have the best of both worlds. High capacity of the HDD and rapid boot and application launches associated with the SSD.

 

The 5400rmp-7200rpm difference is noticeable at boot time and during program invocation. If you're someone who starts the system and opens a bunch of applications, then uses the system for, say, the whole morning, the difference is hardly noticeable during the session.

I would suggest you eventually purchase an SSD (I've been using a number of Crucial M4 64GB SSDs since last summer) for OS/apps and keep the 500GB HDD for storage. The HDD caddy (in the Ultrabay) may be purchased as a Lenovo part or a third-party part. Using an mSATA SSD is another option.

Read this for practical ideas.

Enjoy your W520!

 

That is a very nice guide. Thanks a lot for your advice!

 

I know this is an excellent option but to be honest, I am still more comfortable with the primary bay or secondary bay option (though I want to have my DVD drive. I would still love to hear from someone who tried both the 5400 an 7200RPM and can tell the difference because I am either keeping it or replacing it with SSD (I wanna get the 512GB but it is very expensive on Amazon like $650) and the 256GB many not be enough in the future.

Does anyone know a good cheaper source to get the crucial 512GB from?

 

I also wonder if you can provide me with a link to a guide for anything that I have to store from the original HDD that comes with the machine that I will need once I replace the HDD if I decided to do that?

 

Just make the recovery disks, they'll contain all you need.

 

If money is no object, you can get a "big enough" SSD as your primary drive.



But most of us who must watch our dollars and cents every month tend to go with a "small enough" SSD (typically 64GB, $100) for OS/apps, together with a mechanical HDD (typically 500GB) for document, media and data files.

Personally, I do not experience noticeable differences between a 5400rmp and a 7200rmp HDD. Enjoy your new W520 for a while and have a feel for it.

 

Thanks for the advice. I also have an issue with the dollars

I also wanted to ask if you would recommend the RAID option instead (especially that it is available to ship at the same time with 500 GB 7200 RPM) and if so which one to go for RAID 0 or RAID 1 since I am not technically knowledgeable with RAID at all.

 

You can read the RAID wiki for details. Briefly, for 2 drives:

• RAID 0: max speed, double size, no backup; if one drive fails, all your data is lost.
• RAID 1: single drive size, double read speed; if one drive fails, you can replace it and still have your data.

I don't want to sound rude, but if you have to ask, most likely you don't really need it. In any event, with the W520, if you do want RAID option, you have to make sure it is part of your original CTO so that Lenovo manufacturing will enable RAID in the BIOS. Once you have the laptop, you can always disable RAID and select AHCI. With the W520, it is impossible to enable RAID without ordering it initially.

Certain customers order the RAID option so that their W520 configurations come with an UltraBay 2.5" HDD/SSD caddy instead of the usual optical drive. Some of them would do either:

• Put in an mSATA SSD and use the two HDDs (one in primary bay, one in the UltraBay caddy) in RAID.
• Disable RAID. Put in a new SSD in the primary bay and move the supplied HDD to the UltraBay caddy.

Personally, I ordered a 64GB SSD and a third-party UltraBay caddy, put the SSD in, moved the HDD to the caddy, reinstalled Windows 7 onto the SSD, and reformatted the HDD. (If I eventually decide to sell the laptop, I will remove the SSD, back up my data on the HDD, put the HDD back in the primary bay, replace the caddy with the original optical drive, insert my recovery discs and restore Windows 7 factory-image onto the HDD. Some people don't bother: they sell their laptops without drives.)

 

I think I will stick to the non-RAID option then. What I am thinking about is leaving the 5400 RPM drive as my backup internal drive and buy a Crucial 256GB as my primary and then back up to the 5400 RPM instead of having an external backup HDD. The thing is I do not want to loose my DVD drive--will have to see what to sacrifice?

If I would like my SSD to be the primary drive for everything, can I still place it in the DVD bay?

 

I think that the point of backing up stuff from a laptop is so that in the event that the laptop is stolen and/or dropped and shattered, you'll still have a copy of the data. So, in my opinion, backing up to a drive that is still in the laptop is pretty pointless.

Yes, you can put the SSD in the Ultrabay.

 

I totally agree with you. I will never do that--crazy idea! It seems like my mind has been thinking the wrong way recently

 

You can put the 5400rpm HDD in the Ultrabay caddy for backup. In addition, at any time, you can remove the caddy and put the optical drive back in: you still keep the optical drive -- no losing, no sacrificing.

Yes, but read my idea above.

 

It is a great idea but I am now rethinking about not having my backup drive at all in my laptop in case of theft/damage.