Why are some x220 fans not high pitched?

I originally had an x220 with an i5 2520M which turned out to be defective and I sent it back and got a new x220 with an i7 during the doorbuster deal.

The i5 systems fan was perfectly quiet and didn't have the annoying high pitched sound whereas my current i7 system has a very annoying fan even when just surfing the web. TPFancontrol has allowed me to keep the system reasonably quiet but at the cost of higher temps.

Is lenovo using more than 1 type of fan on the x220 or is the QC simply so bad that some are whiny while others are not?

 

Not sure if its because of different types of fans, but from my talks with a rep it's not supposed to make the pitch sound.

 

If you look at service manual for X220, there are two different heatsink assemblies. I suspect the one for i7 is causing the problem.

There's another thread dedicated to this problem, and someone just sent it back for a fan replacement. I'm waiting to see if it fixes the problem.

 

Thanks for the information. I guess if lenovo can replace it with a properly working fan, I will have to do that as well. At the moment, anything over 2800rpm or so is fairly annoying. At 3800+ rpm it sounds like a 747 getting ready to take off...

 

I hope the result of that is stickied...

 

Hmm. I will be getting my i7 tomorrow, and will post impressions here.

 

Please do.


Has anyone even heard of a i7 x220 without the high pitched fan and throttling problem?

 

I do no not have this issuse. mines a i7. it moves alot of air when pushed but doesn't whine.

ym

 

anything above 3200 or so rpms and the high pitch whine starts. I have the i7

I really hope there is a fix for this - cripples my otherwise perfect x220.

 

I can hear my fan when its fairly quiet in the room, but its not annoying or anything. In fact its much quieter than my old Dell XPS. I'm not sure about the throttling problem, but I played 15 minutes of Portal 2 and played a lot of 1080p videos without any problems. I'm not an avid PC gamer so it probably doesn't affect me too much.

 

I have an i5 with a whiny fan, so it's not just the i7s with this "feature." Mine is pretty low intensity.

 

Frankly I think some people just can't hear those frequencies... others may just not have a whine at all.

My 2520 has the whine.

Edit: Andy beat me to it.

 

i'd recommend looking at the HMM more closely. the two fans offered are for the 35W TDP CPUs (i3/i5/i7) and the 17W TDP ULV CPU (i5-2537M). the i3-2310M, i5-2xxxM and i7-2620M all use the exact same fan.

Lenovo Support - System service parts - ThinkPad X220, X220i

Fan assembly, SV/LV : All Models : 04W0435

Fan assembly, ULV : All Models : 04W0436

SV = standard voltage
LV = low voltage
ULV = ultra-low voltage

all 35W TDP processors are standard-voltage and come with the 04W0435 fan assembly.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. I mistakenly understood that i3/i5 might have lower TDP.

Kinda wonder what would happen if I put ULV assembly on my X220.

 

well, the obvious thing is that your 35W TDP CPU would exceed the upper thermal design threshold of the 17W TDP heatsink assembly.   to put it bluntly, there's absolutely zero logical reason to install a ULV fan on an NV processor.

 

So with that said, the high pitched noise from the fan shouldn't even go away if we opt for a fan replacement? Since all they do is replace it with the same fan, which incidentally, is the culprit of the whole problem.

 

I've used two x220s. One with a i7 and the other with an i5 2520M. They should both have the same fan yet the i5 had no whine at all but the i7 sure does. The fans are the same but sure don't sound the same.

 

As I said elsewhere, dude. Two i5-2410 systems, both with audible whine.

 

Perhaps the power profiles and rpm of the fans differ?

 

I'm not saying the i5 doesn't have the whine. What has become fairly clear now is that the i5s and i7s actually use the same fan/heatsink. Therefore we now know that even though we all have the same fans, there is a unusually large variance in the way they sound (some quiet and some have the whine). How could that be? Hasn't lenovo noticed this?

 

It's just the way it's all put together- the fan, the heatsink, etc, etc. Some people get the whine, some more of it and some not at all. It's a variation in the building process. They probably could (and should) test each machine and make tiny adjustments to eliminate it but they haven't got time for that. Clearly.

 

That seems strange to me. I have the X220 with the i5-2410m and, although the fan certainly spins up under load, it doesn't whine at either idle or load.

 

My i5 doesn't seem to have a whine, but the i7 had a very faint whine... and I think it might have actually been the 7200rpm hard drive. My i5 has a 5400rpm HD.

 

Why is it strange? Go back one post. There is variation from machine to machine, and it's not processor-related. Many people have reported it. You haven't. Good for you.

 

Mine has bit of whine to it in low power mode. It's not terrible, but it's not silent like my X200 or X200t, which I wish it was.

 

I was skimming the thread and missed that

 

Sorry, didn't mean to bite your head off

 

There is an update from lenovo on this. Apparently they have released a new bios that should fix the fan issue. I have included the links to the bios readme as well as the bios update itself. Please note that this is bios ver. 1.16.

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8duj06us.txt

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8duj06us.exe

I have installed the update myself, there is significant improvement on the "fan being on all the time" issue. However, the whining noise of the fan that we're all experiencing did not go away, as that is a problem with the quality of the fan. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with this update and lenovo's prompt attention to this matter.

 

BIOS 1.16 / ECP 1.07 hasn't been cleared for public release yet.   please keep this in mind.   it's not considered official until direct links are posted to the X220 BIOS download page.

fwiw, i've had 1.16 in my X220 for a few days and haven't found any issues with it.   however, with the fan running less you can expect an increase in temperatures.   there are no free lunches here.

 

I been running it too. My fan noise is definitely less, but the heat's up a bit too.

 

Thanks for the notes. I'm content with 1.15 as it keeps my both my fan and temperatures low.

If I were to install BIOS 1.16, would I be able to downgrade to 1.15 at a later date?

 

Thanks for posting this. Looks like I'll wait until it's officially released.


http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8duj06us.txt

I do appreciate Lenovo complete honesty on their change log.

 

Also, I'm pretty certain the new bios will boost your battery life. It has appeared to, for me.

 

Historically this has been the case. On the current BIOS download page near the bottom are links to previous BIOS versions available for download.

 

Has anyone attempted to replace the fan (i.e. the fan within the heatsink assembly) manually with a higher quality/quieter part instead of replacing with a Lenovo part?

 

Notebook parts are highly specialized. I don't know where you'd find one.

 

Seems like the actual fan would be of a standard size, although I understand you would likely have to remove it from the shroud/hintsink.

 

I think that's the case. I was able to get fan model # from tear down pics from other thread. But I'm not sure if it can be easily replaced in the heatsink assembly.

 

^You would also need a fan that has the same power connector and probably similar power requirements as the factory fan.

The only reason I would do something like that would be to increase the cooling capabilty of the X220

 

I'm hoping to replace it to eliminate the fan whine, not improve cooling.

 

Yes, that could be pretty tricky. Google search on model # yielded several fans with different power rating. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read other figures on X220 fan other than fan model #.

I'm planning to replace thermal paste soon, and hope to get all fan details during that process.

 

Why not try the new BIOS before you rip the machine apart?

 

I don't really see it as the solution, but I've updated (kept 1.15 on external). More to just keep the sound minimal until another solution arrives. Still have the whine, but now I just don't hear it until my comp gets warmer. If a new fan can kill the whine and maybe cool the comp down even more... I'm in.

 

My fan on my X220 as far as im concerned is not noisy. I too am against a Bios update that address that concern by lowering thermal thresholds.

Id rather address the concern in other ways, TPfancontrol or thermal paste.

 

Depends on how soon Lenovo would officially release 1.16.

But if I understand correctly, 1.16 would just lower fan speed in its profile. It most likely wouldn't fix the high pitch noise problem. What I'm trying to do now is to make sure that heat transfer is as efficient as possible. // During tear down process, I would be able to study the assembly a little more to see if the fan itself is replaceable and which kind would be needed.

 

FYI, thermal paste wont help all that much. I should know, cuz I did it myself.

I am waiting to get reports back from people who sent their machines back to be serviced for this issue. If people are getting quieter fans after service, then Im gonna do that same thing with my on-site warranty.

 

Not sure if that was you or someone else, but I remember reading somewhere that idle temp doesn't really change, but loaded temperature went down 5-10c after reapplying the paste.

Good idea waiting for feedback about fan replacement though.

 

The new BIOS has helped my X220i quite a bit. Tearing your machine apart machine seems a little extreme if you've not tried other remedies.

 

After much more testing, I'd say the thermal reduction is about 5c at the high end. But, there are throttling issues that need to be worked out, which makes it hard to judge how much temp reduction I am actually getting. Also, since I tested, I'm running the 1.16 bios which has changed the fan profile a bit, so again, its hard to tell.

One thing I will say is that the fan and heatsink assembly runs very close the the TDP of the processor. There isn't a lot of headroom above the rated 35watts, before you hit 100c which is the max thermal junction of the cpu.

Kinda a bummer, since it will prevent the processor from being safely turbo'd for long lengths of time.

 

The bios has helped my computer reach higher temps before it whines... not the true solution I was looking for.