W540: Slow performance with heating system failing or not related?

I know the Lenovo w540 and similar are known for the heat exchange piping and fan becoming non-functional. The symptoms are a hot laptop shutting down from overheating.

This aside, has anyone experienced this fault being the cause of slow computer performance? I want to know if for any reason the system scales down performance under these conditions or no.

It's really poor, ie: choppy 720p videos on youtube. This machine used to play 1080P just fine.

 

There are numerous reports of W540 throttling under not-so-heavy load, just check Lenovo Forums.

With that said, if the machine was previously fine with 1080p videos and is now struggling with 720p, I'd suspect a software issue and not necessarily a hardware problem.

Good luck.

 

Well, I would think the same except the problems started around the time the heating issues arrived.

 

Take the keyboard off and blow the dust from the heatsink with compressed air, but make sure to hold the fins with a small screwdriver or a toothpick to prevent the fan from spinning.

If all the problems started at the same time, the machine is likely throttling.

Good luck.

 

@OP. If YT videos are overheating your W540 I strongly suggest calling Lenovo and getting this documented. There is simply no excuse for a workstation class W-series to be overcome by YT videos!

 

I'm sure it's a failure of the cooling system but a laptop which is 5 years of age old, Lenovo doesn't care anymore.

 

Huh? How can a W540 be five years old?

 

I'm a confused idiot. While I have both machines, the one with the problem is the W500. My bad.

 

Well, that makes a lot more sense...

Anyways, re-pasting the CPU might make a world of difference on a system from this era, and it shouldn't take you long to do it. Well worth the time spent IMO.

Good luck.