Any way to quiet the fan on the Z?

My fan is humming pretty audibly. It doesn't bother me most of the time, but in a quiet classroom...

The CPU temp is only 35-38... does the fan really need to be on at those temps?
Any ideas?

 

same question here...

i put it in silent mode but can still hear it.

 

Undervolting is pretty much the only thing you can do. It can help but it's not perfect.

Undervolting can be done with RMClock.

 

i'm not encouraging this at all, but i seem to remember someone in the z-owners thread saying that they covered half the vent with tape or something and it reduced the noise noticeably...

imo, not a good idea at all. but he said that temps weren't severely impacted.

 

Not sure if this will help on a Z but on my SZ I created a power profile that only uses 50% of the CPU at max and 5% CPU at min. Not only does it increase the battery but I don't hear the fan at all now. The default fan speed (accessed via power profile) is 5 but I changed mine to "adaptive". For taking notes and light internet access this setup provides plenty of CPU power and excess battery life.

 

yeah, i think this is the best solution

 

Combine this with RMClock undervolting and you've got a winner.

 

The fine granularity of power saving profiles/features in Vista is probably the only thing I miss since downgrading to XP. For instance, setting the upper/lower CPU usage percentages and being able to easily switch on/off the DVD drive seems very useful.
However, I think my battery times are the same or even better under XP without these features - probably because I hadn't tweaked Vista to turn off any power sapping features like indexing or Aero..?

I'm going to try undervolting as soon as I get the time.

 

I wonder what all the noise is about! lol I have NOT heard the fan go on ONCE on my new Z.. but I am glad! lol

 

RMClock offers that, and a lot more.

Interesting. I wonder why that is. What CPU and OS do you have?
Did you do a clean install?

 

Vista Business: P9500 (2.5ghz)

I got fresh start so I did not do clean install.. but I followed EVERYTHING off that vista tweaks and tricks thread

 

Interesting. I think the clean start and the tweaks make the difference.

Maybe the P9500 has something to do with it as well.

 

Dare I say... could it just be that sonoritygenius isn't quite as sensitive to the noise?
I mean I only notice the fan noise on my Z when the CPU is very busy. When idling, it's barely noticeable unless I listed carefully at the side of my Z. And when I'm that close, I'm not sure where the fan noise starts and the HDD noise ends, to be honest. IMHO, people are over-reacting a little to the fan noise. Either that or they probably spend more time doing CPU intensive tasks than I do?

 

Yes, the noise is subjective in the case of Z.. where the low humming may bother some, but leave others unaffected..

I mean unlike the freaking Dell XPS I had, you can hear the fan like a hair dryer lol

I don't do any GPU intensive tasks on my Z. It is on Speed mode only because I like the 'fastness' of everything. I dont do photoshop/gaming on it..

But gosh when I was defragmenting the 320gb HD I was expecting HD noise! AND the fan as it was consistently on for 8+ hours (plugged in) that night.. VERY surprised it did not heat up on bottom and yes fan did turn on once or twice when I WANTED to inspect its noise but very very unnoticeable to me, and VERY cool overall surface (sans the right vent side, DUH) lol

 

yea i have a p8600 on mine , and my fan it noticeably loud.. i notice resetting bios to default settings help with the noise a lil bit according to sony support.

does not bother me much at all , but u can hear it in a very quiet room i wonder when sony gonna fix this with bio updates.. and is it just me or in my power profile i dont see any option relating to fan speed like in my sz?

 

I think you are right AND I think settings and what CPU can also make a difference. I would not be surprised if P9500 is cooler at lowest settings than P8600.

The one Z I heard had an audible sound when it was idle. My current laptop is dead quiet and this is the only thing that would stop from buying the Z (besides the prices here in Europe).

 

How can be possible that the 2.53 ghZ is cooler than the 2.4 ghZ? I ordered the Z11WN just because I thought that is going to be better for the fan issue. Also I heard that the 320 GB HD makes some noise sometimes...
-Phil
At the end, if you find a good on-line shop is still worth it buying for Europe. With the VAT and shipping the prices turn to be the same, if not better in Europe. I got the Z11WN for 2000 euros and you have the warranty at home.

Question: Can I purchase this warranty? Will it work for an european model?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/528335-REG/Sony_VGP3SYLPAD_3_Year_Express_Ship_Extended.html

 

For me personally 2000 euros for a laptop without SSD and bluray is too expensive. As much as I like it.

If i travel to US I can pick it up much cheaper, if i can avoid the customs.

No. US warranty and European warranty are strictly separate.

PS. One theory why P9500 may be cooler than P8600 is that Intel picks the best cores to be clocked the highest. This was how Intel worked a couple of years ago, don't know if it is still true. Keep in mind though that we don't know for a fact if P9500 is cooler than P8600.

 

Yeah,

I know, travelling to US should trick the customs so you don't pay the VAT. But if you travel there only for a laptop is not worth it. You have to pay the ticket, hotel...etc. If you pass for work, is great deal. Anyway, I really need the 3G so the US models was out of the question anyway. I consider importing from Japan (lately seems to work the HSDPA), but is coming also more expensive and if something happens to have to send it over there. Is all the fault of Sony Europe that we don't take the specs that all the world does.

 

I agree all the way. Is absolutely not worth it importing with all the hussle. Wish I had a cousin in US...
Back on topic: Can anyone put a guide how to undervolt the Z with Rmclock? Sorry guys, but I am not an expert and seems quite a diificult operation.

 

It's already been done with Flipfire's very readable step by step guide, here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

(first result in search for 'undervolting guide', btw)