Difference in Temperature/Noise Between 2 Same Model Sony SZ's

Me and my roommate both have a Sony SZ of the same model (SZ320CP) purchased about 5 months apart. When our computers sit next to each other, I notice that mine is a lot hotter (I'd say about 8-10C higher) and my fan runs a lot louder.

To rule out some possibilities, both of our computers ran Vista on idle and there was big difference. I've since reformatted back to XP and even then, with a clean install and everything it's still hotter and louder. What do you guys think can be the cause of this?

 

Have you tried undervolting the CPU and clearing out the dust in the cooling vents? Also, are you using the same GPU (ie the intel one vs the nvidia one)?

 

Well neither CPU is undervolted so to undervolt one of them wouldn't be "fair". GPU wise, we are both using the Geforce 7400 in speed mode. Also, my roommate's was 5 months older so if anything his should have more dust and neither of us has cleaned it (how do you open that part to clean btw?).

 

Check what hdd is in yours and which one is in his... Use System Properties/Device Manager or HD-Tune...

 

same hard drive

 

I've found that various Vaios can have varying qualities of thermal paste (tape) application, and none of them are good (I've redone 3 SZs personally). Very easy to fix however, just buy some arctic silver 5, remove a few screws from the bottom, pull off the CPU's heatsink/heatpipes, clean surfaces with isopropanol (or hell, Vodka if thats all you have), apply AS5 as THIN as possible (I find a gloved finger works best, easier than credit card), and then put it back together. Takes less than 5 minutes, 10 if you're trying to be slow.

As for dust, a quick spray with compressed air in the vents is probably enough. Myself, I got the disassembly guide and took the laptop apart till there was nothing more to take apart (without a soldering iron!) and redid every single thermal joint (GPU, GPU Ram, northbridge, Northbridge secondary heatsink) etc. Best 6 hours of my life, and I didn't notice any difference, heh. 85% of the benefit came from just redoing the CPU thermal paste. Cheers!

 

run nhc on both and see what the actual difference is.