T430i Upgraded to i7-3820QM (But is really hot and maybe caused a BSOD :(?!)

I just finished upgrading my T430 i from an Core i3 2328M and I even used a pretty well regarded thermal paste (IC Diamond 7) when installing the new CPU. Alas, to no avail. When stressed (and I don't mean using artificial benchmarks like Prime95--though I did that as well to stress it for 5~10 minutes after I swapped out the CPU), it reaches within 8~7C of its rated TJ Max temperature (TJ Max is at 105C), and there was even one instance of it BSOD (though I don't know if it was entirely due to overheating, or some other issue--I was watching a Twitch.tv stream and performing Recovery Disk creation in the background and the entire laptop slowed down to a crawl).

I'm posting this for purely informational purposes only and because prior to upgrading I didn't see a thread like this for the T430 i. Hopefully this will give other would-be upgraders something to think about.

The 2328M's TDP was 35W while the 3820QM is rated at 45W, and I thought the extra 10W increase in TDP wouldn't be an issue (given the fact that there are T430 models with the NVS 5400M, which itself is a 45 TDP chip), but alas, it looks like the fan in the T430 i was meant to be used with a low TDP i3 chip. I'm told the i following the model number means that it uses cheaper lower-end internal components (I got that from here: forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - What is the T430i.).

I'll update this thread if I manage to either:
a) confirm that it's the overheating causing the BSOD
or
b) find a way to cool down the chip (maybe reapply the thermal paste? I feel like maybe I didn't use enough the first time around... but I'll have to open up the laptop again to double check).

Oh, the Idle temp is already hovering around 50~50C! This thing is not cool at all, for an Ivy Bridge chip.

If anyone has any ideas for modding the heat spreader or anything else to increase heat dissipation, I'd love to hear it .

I'll be getting a pair of 8GB 1.5v CL-9 RAM either tomorrow or the day after, I'll stick those babies in and see how this machine holds up and update y'all... I'm not looking forward to the heat implications, let's just say !

 

First of all, more paste is rarely a recipe for success Try something la Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad, or if that doesn't get enough contact, use Liquid Ultra. You never need a lot of paste. The thinnest possible film-coating that still gets proper contact between CPU die and heatsink is the best.
The only two ways you're likely to get success in using such a powerful CPU in that laptop is by either: Optimizing the contact between CPU and HS to the maximum and hoping it can dissipate faster than it can build up heat (and try to use other methods to cool it, like a cooling pad), or replace the cooling assembly with higher-rated parts, if available (such as in the T430).
These days I recommend HeatSpring thermal film, since at least for me it brought the absolutely best performance with no maintenance required, but it's expensive and hard to get a hold of. Could try a group buy

 

So I did some more digging, and seems like there's 2 different class of fans used in the T430/T430 i ( http://download.lenovo.com/parts/ThinkPad/t430_t430i_fru_bom_20130410.pdf).

It boils down to:
FRU 04W3267 (Toshiba) and 04W3268 (Delta) are used for Integrated systems (i.e. those using Intel HD3000/4000)
and
FRU 04W3269 (Toshiba) and 04W3270 (Delta) are used for Discrete systems (i.e. those with NVS 5200M/5400M)

Presumably the Discrete fans have higher RPM and thus better heat dissipation properties.

How much better is that HeatSprint thermal film compared to IC Diamond 7 (or any "top tier" thermal paste)? Money isn't much of an object if it keeps the machine cool and stable (I mean, I probably wouldn't be paying $50 for a thin film of thermal pads, but I'd go as high as $20-30). Plus, I got this machine for a steal, and after upgrading it to the current spec as seen in my sig, I've only spent ~$980 on it (no way I would've gotten this machine for anywhere near that cheap if I ordered directly from Lenovo).

Btw, I know in this thread, you mentioned that the CPU temps doesn't cross 75C while with the fujipoly they were in the low 90's (which is what my temps are currently, with IC D7). Is the increased heat dissipation *that* pronounced on the same chip in your experience? Are the fujipoly's comparable to IC D7?

Are either of these as good as the HeatSpring thermal film? Or almost as good?

Yep, I know. Which is why I mentioned re-applying, as I fear I might have Lapacian Growth and/or air bubbles due to my shoddy first application (IC D7 is pretty hard to use, being very sticky).

 

A few more observations and updates:

It looks like the temps have stabilized with some curing time and with Lenovo's "Turbo mode" turned on (i.e. the fan is constantly at the highest RPM), the temps doesn't usually cross 87C when running Prime95 (there was one core that spiked up to 91C for a brief moment). This is much better than 97C from before. Also there hasn't been any more BSOD's even when running Prime95.

Also, I re-opened up my laptop and figured out why IC Diamond 7 isn't working very well: The pressure between the heatsink and the CPU die is NOT very much at all! In fact, you can use your finger to push down the heatsink even when all the screws are fully tightened.

This means that any thermal compound or thermal pad that requires high PSI (pressure) will NOT be very performant.

Hopefully this helps anyone else contemplating CPU upgrades for their T430 series .

 

Hello @Triple_Dude ,

Sorry to revive an old post, hope this is fine. Any chance you could share more about your experience?

I just popped a i7-3820qm into a brand new T430 and cores are running at 85-90C with the laptop "idle" with all base soft fired up (CPU usage in the 10-15%). Pretty sure I applied the thermal paste well: very thin layer spread with my finger covering the "exposed" area of the CPU (ie, the chip .... the chip is exposed, while the edges are covered with thermal adhesive that came applied to the original CPU, which I re-applied the new CPU).

This is the NVS 5200M version (discrete video card built in).

Wonder if there is anything I can do to decrease the temps aside of using a cooling pad or using soft to max out the fans on a permanent basis.

I used a Startech.com thermal paste ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006B8DX) ... had excellent reviews and was only $3usd. Would temp drops if I use more expensive thermal paste or Liquid Metal Pad?

Thanks very much

 

Why in the first place to put 3820QM in a small thin notebook??! If you need quad so much then why not to put 3630QM or at least 3720QM?

I would suggest to use ThrottleStop to change max TurboBoost on 200-400 Mhz.

 

Yes, really need quad core, and yes, made a mistake, should have gone for a smaller one. Nonetheless discovered a problem with the heatsink, which does not touch the GPU ... disabling the GPU reduced the temps significantly. Still using a cheap thermal paste. Thanks for the ThrottleStop rec!

 

Glad you solved your problem, gracos! I had a suspicion that it was due to the discrete GPU causing excessive heat. I had no idea there was a faulty heatsink, however!

I switched between IC Diamond 7 and "cheap" thermal grease and honestly, the difference in temps are not noticeable at all, if any. Like I mentioned in my previous post, high performance thermal paste requires a lot of contact pressure, which is something that the physical heatsink assembly on the T430 does not have. And realistically the laptop was not built for a 45W TDP chip anyways.

I'm happy to report that my laptop is still going strong after 20 months (as of this writing) of 24/7 torturous temps (my machine is on 24/7 as I do a lot of 3D printing work, so I need to leave the machine on to drive the 3D printer over night). I've been stressing it with games, 3D modelling/rendering, and all sorts of crazy stuff, and happy to say that I have yet to see a single BSOD. Fantastic !

I can't speak for gracos, but for me, I wanted a quad core CPU in the smallest form factor since my Vaio Z3 was stolen (that was a slick piece of kit--a 13" laptop sporting a RAID 0 SSD setup with a quad core processor that weighed less than 2.5LB thanks to its carbon fiber body!). Mind you, if you look at the spec sheets on Intel Ark, both the 3720MQ and the 3630MQ are 45W TDP chips.

Since I couldn't find any 13" laptops at the time that had a removable socket, I settled for the next best thing, which is a 14" laptop. That's my story of "Why" .

 

if you still want to lower the temps, you could try to install the heatsink for the discrete models of the t430 in your t430 with integrated gfx, it might require some moding to the heatsink or the heat pipe, or the parts the contacts the gpu, but it should be possible,