The effects of Cooler Master NotePal U3 /w 6 fans

UPDATE: Since I last did the mod, both fans went out and I quickly assumed that the fans sucked, just like many here have said. There are a lot of "they don't last long" feedbacks here regarding the fans if you do some searching. But one boring night, I decided to take out my tester to see if the fans really were broken. They didn't seem to be so I tested each one with a 9v battery (easier to touch the +/- to the battery terminals). To my surprise all 6 fans worked flawlessly. It turned out that the speed/RPM controller was the one that broke. I guess I overloaded it with 6 fans and the tiny capacitor popped. It was obvious when I opened it up by removing the small black screws. I thought since I had another speed/RPM controller I would use that one and replace the broken one. Then I thought better of it. I said screw it and just skip it. I decided to take out the USB male part of the controller and connected it directly to all 6 fans (still in parallel). I know that if I plugged in the USB into my laptop, the fans would each probably be running at less than 500 RPM (that's not an estimate, that's just a guess, even an exaggeration to say that it's SLOW), meaning it would be pretty much ineffective. So I took out my old USB chargers from my old phones. I had the standard Blackberry, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and Asus (tablet) chargers, all with a female USB port. I checked the specs on each starting with the most powerful one --the Asus Transformer charger. I believe it's rated at 12v 2.1A output. The fans whirred like they were on crack. They were super loud and there was no doubt if I left them running like that for a prolonged period they would burn out or start melting from the inside until the melted plastic clogged the fan, preventing it from turning. I found the safest charger to be a Motorola one, which is 5.1v .75A. I figured this was the closest to the laptop's USB output but because it's 6 fans, the extra amperage couldn't hurt. The results are the fan blowing at about the same RPM as they did originally when the controller was set to the highest --maybe a little louder. Just a little, though, not by much. I've had them run for hours at time (8-12 hours) with no problems so far. My computer temperatures are pretty much the same as before when the 6 fans were powered by the laptop with a controller.

Prior to owning 6 fans for my NotePal U3, my GPU temp readings were around 87* C to 89* C after 3-5 minutes of test (Kombustor) duration. Apologies for not having any screenshots of those since they weren't really anything to be proud of. In fact, others with a NotePal U3 recorded lower temps of about 85-86* C after 5 minutes. Maybe one day I'll do another test and let it run for about 20 minutes with just 3 fans to see how much I benefit from the 6 fans. I'm pretty sure it would have climbed higher though if I ran it past the 5 minute mark.

Today, I received my second set of (3) fans direct from Cooler Master. Though it came from Cali, it came in the mail (I'm in NYC) in less than a week. I paid $10 for this second set with free shipping. The U2 set of (2) fans, I believe, are $8 which will give you a total of 4 fans on your NotePal U2.

Anyway, here are some screenshots:

After running Kombustor for 3 minutes with 6 fans, I got this...


After running Kombustor for 5 minutes...


After running it for 23+ minutes...


So basically, after 5 minutes (I watched it for another minute or so after taking the screenshot at the 5+ minute mark) it just see-saws back and forth between 85-86* C and never more than 86*. The back and forth starts to spread further apart until it settles at 85* C.

Now, to describe the climb from whatever the idle temp was to 85* C, it was so slow. It was like watching a glacier move. It starts picking up speed at about 50-60* C and then staying at that slightly faster speed all the way to 85-86* C. That tells me one thing... the 6 fans are working!

While that's impressive, I wanted to see how quickly the temps drop after closing the burn-in test. It drops RAPIDLY!

After less than one minute the temps drop (about 30-40 seconds)...


After about 2 minutes, it settles at an idle temp of 40* C even. I should have taken a screenshot but I was already cropping and resizing the other screenshots at this point. Lol.

Here's the set up...




I know it looks like a mess down there but that's the best I could do lining up the fans under the P170EM's every single vent. There are actually a few more towards the front where the chassis allows the fans inside to suck in air from the front, but it's impossible to put any fans under those. Not only are there no holes for the fans to clamp on, the fans would also be touching the desk making the U3 wobbly.

I highly recommend this set up for those with overheating problems, overclockers, or those looking to prolong their rig's longevity. I'm not sure why Cooler Master hasn't thought of this. Surely they've done some tests? And if they have, I'm sure they've tried it on laptops with chassis that have many ventilation underneath. They could even make a slimmer profile USB plug and make all six fans take up only one USB port. They can call it U6? That would be very nice.

UPDATE: I finally did the foil tape mod. Without tooting my own horn, I have to say, I applied the aluminum foil tape so neatly it looks like it came that way from factory. I'll provide pics or videos when I get a chance. It looks really clean and I cut some pieces to shape so that they look like they really belong there. The good news is that my temps dropped even more. Same room temp, with U3 6 fans, etc. and I get no more than 82* C. After the 5-minute mark, it would go back and forth between 81-82 with like 8-10s in between.



The foil tape mod (pardon the phone quality)...














UPDATE #2: I finally got to splicing the fans' cables and putting them together so all 6 fans use only one USB. It's actually very easy. If anyone plans on doing this to save a USB port or just to avoid the tangled mess of having 6 fans, just do the following:

Note: This is easier to understand if you're doing it as you're reading this.

1. Remove the shrink tubes from each of the set of fans. Be careful not to cut or strip the wires inside. You will find smaller shrink tubes covering each of the three soldered set of wires to prevent shorting.

2. Use a soldering gun/iron to unsolder one of the set of fans' controller/USB or lightly tug on the wires to undo the solder.

3. Now you can solder the yellows with the yellow on the other set of fans' controller/USB, the red with the red and the black with the black.

4. Done.

I've also noticed that using a phone charger that has a USB female port (or any charger that has a USB female port and low voltage) will give you a nice RPM enough to drop your temps further. The downside to this is that the noise is now apparent. Also, this will shorten the lifespan of your fans. I did this just to try but didn't record how much the temps dropped by. I just saw them drop by 2*C and I disconnected right away.





I also zip-tied the two cables by the fan speed controller so the controller box doesn't shift around when I change speeds. I couldn't find any shrink tubes or electrical tape so I used some of those anti-static tapes instead. This is temporary, of course.

 

Nice! My U3 is en route and should be here soon, I hadn't even considered the extra fans. The cool temps are certainly nothing to complain about!

Did you do any comparisons as far as noise before/after? Do you notice much increase going to 6 fans over stock? From what I understand the U3 is pretty quiet to begin with, so I'm just curious how it sounds for you.

 

All I hear in my room is my AC, but even with the AC off, you'd have to put the fan next to your ear to hear them. It's so quiet. It doesn't matter if it's 3 or 6. Combined, they're still slightly quieter than the two fans in the P170EM at idle... and that's with the U3 fans at full RPM.

What I'm trying to find out right now is if it's better to use the lowest RPM settings when the CPU/GPU fans aren't working at their hardest. When the laptop fans are working at idle, and the U3 fans are at their highest, I notice a lot of air bouncing back. Like you really feel it. I'm wondering if this counters the suction of the laptop's fans. So far I haven't measured a noticeable difference. I guess to save battery (if unplugged) use at the very lowest setting? I don't know yet. I'm still trying to figure this out.

At 99% load, I don't even know if the GPU fan is at its highest RPM but just in case it does ramp up even at 85* C, might as well put the U3 fans to work. Lol.

 

That's good to know. I was wondering what sort of airflow that might put out, interesting to see that it might be overwhelming the internal cooling. I am glad to know that even with twice as many fans it is still very quiet.

 

Wow 6 fans, how many Amps do these USB 3 have...

 

That looks like an air conditioner...with 5000BTU's....

 

No clue. Hahaha. I tried stacking the USB plugs for the two sets of fans and it handled the load quite well. I can't measure the RPM though so I'm not sure if all 6 fans wereat 100%.

Hehe. Funny you mentioned air conditioner. I tried no fans on with my A/C in my room and the numbers were about the same as with the six fans on with no A/C in my room. There was no point measuring that because we all have different size rooms, temps, A/C units, or whatever but I just thought that was interesting.

 

The U2/U3 fans are actually really poor quality so I wouldn't recommend buyg more of them. The U2 fans are better than the U3 fans, as they get more power per fan.

Either way, these fans will eventually die. Mine lasted about a year before I got a replacement from Coolermaster, and if you look around for user experiences this is not very uncommon. I replaced mine with a desktop fan, which I power from the wall, when I need to shave of a couple of degrees or overclock a bit more.

 

Instead of laying-out the fans flat, you should try to stack them 2 or 3 in series (if you have enough clearance), with each stack lined-up with your CPU and GPU intake ports. You may get more pressure that way and force more air into your laptop where it's needed.

Event better would be to make a gasket (sandwiched between laptop and cooler) that seals those fan stack outputs to the laptop intake grills. Although there might be a stall issue at low airflow... Something to try.

 

This is honestly the first time I've heard of this. I have never heard anyone say their fans breaking down. Thanks for the heads up. I'll see how mine do over time.

Even without stacking them, they already overpower the laptop's fans since mine has never gone to max power (and especially because I don't have the Fn+1 thing). The way the layout is right now has every opening towards the back covered. The U3 fans are so wide, though, that the smaller vents deflect most of the air back. It's hard to make this efficient since the cooler is designed for any laptop that's 17" or smaller.

What I'm hoping for right now is a KBC/EC firmware update that will allow Fn+1 to max out the laptop fans. When those fans go max RPM and they want to suck in more air, then that when these 6 fans will really, really drop the temps. So far these are really doing a better job that 3 though. I mean, I can really feel it.

I constantly put my hand behind the laptop and I doesn't feel the same. I was worried at first because I thought it was my GPU being underutilized, but then I realized it was because my GPU temp hasn't risen as high so it would warm ever so slowly, cool down quickly, warm up again, etc. Before it would heat up and blast hot air through the back when I played games and then take a while to cool down when I exit out of a game.

 

I've done some mild research on coolers and it seems to me that very few coolers will actually give you a significant temp difference. I like the Note pal U3 because it's sleek and even if it only raised the back of the laptop a few inches in a stylish manner and acted like protection when on the go it would be worth the 20$ it costs. Any fans are nice but if I was serious about OCing and cooling I'd isolate the botton of the laptop with plastic and have a portable AC unit blow cold air all day. Now that will drop your temps by 10 degrees I would say.

My desk is also pretty cluttered so anything that elevates the laptop from the tobacco crumbs and dust will be welcome

The Note pal X3 looks nice but is too bulky and requiring a case of its own, and seems like the kind of construction that would start creaking after a while.

 

It's not something you would want to seriously consider if you will be lugging it around with the laptop everywhere you go. It is more of a semi-permanent solution for a home office, but I would take mine to an all-day LAN for sure.

The portable AC unit blowing cold air is a good idea, just watch your humidity levels. I had a friend try something similar years ago, and he ended up with condensation on his motherboard. It didn't short, which was amazing, but he never did that again.

Seanzky, I have my U3 with 3 fans, and at the moment it is minimally effective at the moment (no temp difference in FurMark, or at the most 1-degree cooer). Not sure if this is due to my CPU running hotter due to +10TDP over yours or if my fans are runnig backwards, but I was hoping for about 3-degrees C cooler on those tests. At this point I'm thinking it may be a bad paste job from the shop.

 

morey you should see bigger drops than that. put one fan over the vram vents and the other two where the regular fans are... it works wonders

 

That is where they are. I may try some additional positioning in the morning and see if that changes anything. What paste did you end up going with over the IC7?

 

if your handy with a soldering iron, you can make them spin faster by connecting a couple of points on the controller board. i just bought one of these for me and my mom and so far its pretty great, espescially the posture, since my wrist is broken it puts less strain.

also you could just take out the existing 10x80mm fans and replace them with whatever 80mm fans you want.

 

Really? Just by -1*C? My numbers with 3 fans was just like what fenryr told me so I'm shocked right now to know that it's not the same for everyone. I have been told by some people, though, that the fans are bad and they don't last long. I'm guessing you've got a lemon? With 6 fans, my temps definitely dropped some more. Every opening down there except for the ones in the front have cool air blowing into it. I bet if I can get the fans in the chassis to go max RPM, it'd be crazier.

 

How does the U3 compare to the Coolmaster SF-19. The SF-19 fans move around 120CFM, which I have upgraded to 167CFM. While the U3 with the standard 3 fan moves around 46.2 CFM, would their be any advantage in replacing my SF-19 with a U3?

 

The two coolers are used for very different purposes it seems. The U3 is more for mobility. Something you can put your laptop in and hold with the garter (check their site) and use the carrying handle to carry. So competing at a LAN party, for example, would mean packing and carrying a lot less to and from the venue as well as switching seats/tables, if needed. It's very lightweight.

The U3 also has a nice angle for typing. The SF-19 is more for stationary gaming with a laptop. It looks like a dock with a USB hub, but I'll be honest I'm not familiar with it since I don't own one. The fans might be stronger like you've said, but it looks like the fans need to be since it's not an open design like the U3. Also, the U3's fans with regards to power is more than enough. I find most of the air bouncing back from the laptop, in fact. But the ability to move the fans depending on where the laptop's vents and intakes are is the biggest plus in my opinion. You can line them up exactly and increase the fan's efficiency. They're also very silent which is a big bonus.

 

After repasting with gelid extreme, adding several heatsinks and rearranging my u3 fans i am now able to OC my 3720qm and keep it below 79C in the intel burn test. i went back down to 3 fans and offset them so that the center is over solid plastic and the blades are over the vents. this gave me lower temps than using 6 fans. I really do recommend gelid extreme. when applied properly the results are absolutely fantastic!

 

How many heatsinks did you put inside? I haven't done that mod yet. As for the Gelid Extreme, maybe one day when it's time to change the paste. As for having 3 vs. 6 fans, I've lined mine up perfectly and I tried it with 3 and 6, having 6 still wins out for me. The difference for me, since I have no heatsinks or the Gelid paste, is pretty big. I'll do a video one day to show you so maybe you can compare and see if I'm missing something with the 3-fan configuration.

 

I use the F-19 Stealth notebook cooler from coolermaster and it is really sweet. Twin 120 fans, easy to replace and move around underneath. Also it acts as a USB hub, very handy.

 

Oh, so you can move it around, too? I didn't know that. Ignore my previous post about only the U3 being able to move the fans around.

 

UPDATE: I finally did the foil tape mod. Without tooting my own horn, I have to say, I applied the aluminum foil tape so neatly it looks like it came that way from factory. I'll provide pics or videos when I get a chance. It looks really clean and I cut some pieces to shape so that they look like they really belong there. The good news is that my temps dropped even more. Same room temp, with U3 6 fans, etc. and I get no more than 82* C. After the 5-minute mark, it would go back and forth between 81-82 with like 8-10s in between.

 

Hmm one of my fans has died after only a month, well i guess ill replace it with a real 80x25mm fan and then it will really blow some air.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

Ouch.

Please let me know where and how did you find a suitable fan for the U3 when you find one.

 

I heard a few people tell me via posts and PMs that the stock U3 fans are not as good and they don't last long. For me, it remains to be seen. Only time will really tell. If they do go down, I too will be replacing mine with some really high output fans. For now mine has been working pretty well. I use them every night.

Also, I've had one person here so far tell me that having 6 fans didn't help for him. I tested mine 3 vs. 6 and 6 definitely gives me lower temps. Anyone else with 6 fans can give feedback?

 

I attached one of these to my Notepal when I used it with my HP DV6z:



Amazon.com: Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 External USB Cooling Fan 12CM AF0007: Electronics

66.5 CFM / 3.6W / 0.3A

@ Seanzky - what clocks are you running on your 680m and what BIOS?

 

Ha! I wish I went for the 680M! Lol. I have the 7970M unfortunately. Money wasn't really an issue, but I went for the "best bang for my buck" and AMD/ATi screwed me. Lol.

How silent is that fan and is it low profile enough to fit more than one without touching the desk?

 

Ah sorry, I had signatures and avys turned off (so I can surf NBR at work, lol).

I used it on a U2, but you could fit two side by side. It has a user adjustable speed too. I had to remove the fan adjustment because it was on a bracket on the fan, but it still worked, and was on a short wire so I could still access it and adjust the speed.

I wanted to support AMD, but after hearing the initial problems I just bit for the 680m. Wasn't real keen on spending the money, but at this point glad I did.

 

How can I attach these fans to the U3? From what I've seen, the U3's fans have some sort of special brackets that allows them to latch into the tiny holes of the base plate. Can the brackets be removed and fitted on other fans as well, or did you do something else?

 

Zip ties.

Actually I think I just removed the grille, and used the screws. You could get it to align to only two holes iirc. I don't remember exactly it's been a while, but in the end I believe I used zip ties.

 

You've got to be kidding...zip ties?!

LOL!!

The best ideas still seem to be the simplest ones

And regarding the fans' power, can it be properly connected to the power of the U3 or did you do something with that as well?

 

I was going to say the same thing. With zip ties, it's going to be harder to move the fans around and more time consuming. I would also use the screws to hold them on the NotePal. If there are thumb screws with the same threading, I'd get those from a hardware store. If the fan's chassis is plastic, you can always create the threads by forcing the screws, too. Like the old school way of doing it on desktop cases.

 

Actually, if you have some electrical know-how, I'm pretty sure you can save the power control and reuse them. I've thought of splicing one and combining all 6 fans with one controller since using just one port works.

 

I dunno. Once you get the location you need/want then it's likely going to stay there. Zip ties work great. Snug, and easy to remove. I have a bag of like 500.

 

Very nice damn that must make a lot of noise lol

 

The 6 fans I have? Nope, none. Lol. It's more silent than the silent fans in my P170EM. I've put it close to my ear just to barely hear the air move, but not the fan's bearings or whatever.

 

Mother of god, that is just awesome then

 

And just for the record, I'm nowhere near deaf. My hearing is awesome. Then again, some people have said their fans in their laptops are noisy. All I can say is the NotePal fans definitely aren't. I have yet to hear from other NotePal users claiming their fans are noisy.

 

i second that they are very quiet.

 

Added pics in the OP for my foil tape mod.

 

UPDATE #2: I finally got to splicing the fans' cables and putting them together so all 6 fans use only one USB. It's actually very easy. If anyone plans on doing this to save a USB port or just to avoid the tangled mess of having 6 fans, just do the following:

Note: This is easier to understand if you're doing it as you're reading this.

1. Remove the shrink tubes from each of the set of fans. Be careful not to cut or strip the wires inside. You will find smaller shrink tubes covering each of the three soldered set of wires to prevent shorting.

2. Use a soldering gun/iron to unsolder one of the set of fans' controller/USB or lightly tug on the wires to undo the solder.

3. Now you can solder the yellows with the yellow on the other set of fans' controller/USB, the red with the red and the black with the black.

4. Done.

I've also noticed that using a phone charger that has a USB female port (or any charger that has a USB female port and low voltage) will give you a nice RPM enough to drop your temps further. The downside to this is that the noise is now apparent. Also, this will shorten the lifespan of your fans. I did this just to try but didn't record how much the temps dropped by. I just saw them drop by 2*C and I disconnected right away.





I also zip-tied the two cables by the fan speed controller so the controller box doesn't shift around when I change speeds. I couldn't find any shrink tubes or electrical tape so I used some of those anti-static tapes instead. This is temporary, of course.

 

Your finger nails appear very well manicured.

 

ROFL. I just knew someone would notice. I guess they are. I wash my hands like a million times a day, too. It's OCD.

 

I couldnt resist

 

So what type of fans(6) do you guys recommend getting on the u3?

 

you order them from coolermasters website. they are the same fans that it comes with stock

 

i mean like aftermarket fans as everyone said the stock u3 fans are cheap. I wanted to upgrade these stock fans to something more powerful, but i do not know what type to get

 

Someone recommended some high-powered ones that were almost as silent but I forgot which --too lazy to look for it on Amazon or here. :[

I'll just hold off on the research for when mine, if ever, breaks down.

 

Haha no no wasn't even thinking of you being deaf but nice to hear

I might consider the same... but my temps do not rise above 78 *C so I'm kinda confused whether I need it or not (obviously I don't) but still