Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: Ogg to Vlk-451 on Mon Jan 04 2021 10:45 pm

Hello Vlk-451!

** On Tuesday 05.01.21 - 01:28, Vlk-451 wrote to Dumas Walker:

I ordered 16gb of DDR3 1600 MHz RAM for my Thinkpad Edge E545 to help with that problem exactly. I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU to an AMD A10-5750M Quad-Core. I just replaed the original HDD to an SSD. Thinking about replacing the CD drive with a hot swapable 2.5" drive bay.

You sound confident. Good luck. Changing the HHDs and ram is
pretty easy, but you'll have to peel off some extra layers of
gear (heatsink), to get to the CPU.

I recently opened my dear T60 to replace the fan assembly. I was
surprised that I could not maneuver the fan exhaust to lift it
out without first unplugging and lifting the wifi module. Yes..
the steps were all outlined in the maintenance manual - but I
obviously did not "pack" everything down 100% flat as it was
originally.

Anyway.. the lid does not close as smoothly and quietly as it did
before. Plus a screw or two seems to be missing to bolt down the
palm rest properly (but gravity is in my favour anyway).

Next, I really need to tackle the same operation on my beloved
T40p.

I've done work on my PCs all my life pretty much, and worked for a short time on contract with the fed gov to do IT work. We hid hardware work like that sometimes.

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Ogg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

My "new" T540 does not have a light and the keyboard has a
chicklet design.

I hear you. My daily driver is a T410, and it's one of the last with a full- action keyboard. When I work with it from a coffee shop or a remote office,
it feels like a portable desktop rather than a laptop, if that makes any sense. It's also got the ThinkLight at the top of the screen.


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Hello poindexter!

** On Wednesday 06.01.21 - 05:37, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

My "new" T540 does not have a light and the keyboard has a
chicklet design.

I hear you. My daily driver is a T410, and it's one of the last with a full- action keyboard. When I work with it from a coffee shop or a remote office, it feels like a portable desktop rather than a laptop, if that makes any sense. It's also got the ThinkLight at the top of the screen.

Do you use the ThinkLight much? I like the way it helps to
balance out the overly strong light from the screen and provide
*something* over the keyboard work area.

The T410 is coming up to about 10yrs old now. I see that it also
has the decent touch pad with the distinctive button controls! I
miss that on the T540 too. :( The T540 just has one giant "pad"
that sort of toggles to the right or left when you need a right-
click or a left-click - but the function doesn't always seem to
work. The toggle/swing action seems to catch on something
sometimes. I attach a mouse when I need to do a lot of right-
clicks (database, spreadsheet stuff).

And I see that the T410 has DVD/RW. I picked the T540 for that
too.

However.. I really wanted a built-in numeric keypad for all the accounting/booking entries I would need to do. Meanwhile, for
the T60, I use an auxilliary keypad or a separate Apple keyboard
that has one built in when I need the convenience and efficiency
of a proper numeric keybpad.

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Hello poindexter!

** On Tuesday 05.01.21 - 06:58, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

I recently opened my dear T60 to replace the fan assembly..

I did the same to the BBS, running on a T60, I don't recall the wifi card getting in the way. Make sure you replace the thermal paste, I got a 10 degree drop in temp by just doing that!

I forgot to mention the thermal paste experience. Never used or
bought the stuff before so I wasn't sure what I was getting into.

I ended up choosing a cool kit with a syringe and superfine
nozzle attachment. The goop was pure metallic (resembled a dob
of mercury when applied) yet pasty and pliable.

I added the recommended amount to the main CPU, based on the
metering on the syringe (and maybe just a bit more for good
measure)

There were a couple of other chips that had what looked like
remnants of thermal paste but it was "dry" and flakey - so I gave
them some thermal paste too.

The fan seems to be running all the time (but not as screaming
fast as when first turning on the pc), and it runs pretty quiet.
The temp right now after running for 6 hours is about 53C. Seems
high, but there is no real hot air coming out of the vents like
there used to be.

What temperture are you managing for your machine?

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Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: Ogg to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Jan 07 2021 11:45 pm

I ended up choosing a cool kit with a syringe and superfine
nozzle attachment. The goop was pure metallic (resembled a dob
of mercury when applied) yet pasty and pliable.

I added the recommended amount to the main CPU, based on the
metering on the syringe (and maybe just a bit more for good
measure)

There were a couple of other chips that had what looked like
remnants of thermal paste but it was "dry" and flakey - so I gave

i think almost everyone's thermalpaste is dried up and flakey. i'm not even sure it has much of a benefit.
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Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: MRO to Ogg on Fri Jan 08 2021 04:38 pm

i think almost everyone's thermalpaste is dried up and flakey. i'm not even sure it has much of a benefit.

I've heard the surfaces of both a CPU and a heat sink aren't perfectly flat (though you'd have to look at them with a microscope to see any imperfections in the shape) - so the surfaces aren't making full contact with each other. Thermal paste is supposed to fill the gaps, which helps transfer heat.

I've heard of people replacing their termal paste after a while, and supposedly it helps. Admittedly, I had never thought of doing that. And I wonder how one would go about that for something like a graphics card, where I think the heat sink is attached a lot more securely.

Nightfox

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Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: Nightfox to MRO on Sat Jan 09 2021 10:15 am

Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: MRO to Ogg on Fri Jan 08 2021 04:38 pm

i think almost everyone's thermalpaste is dried up and flakey. i'm
not even sure it has much of a benefit.

I've heard the surfaces of both a CPU and a heat sink aren't perfectly flat (though you'd have to look at them with a microscope to see any imperfections in the shape) - so the surfaces aren't making full contact with each other. Thermal paste is supposed to fill the gaps, which helps transfer heat.

yeah but these are precision machined products, so i think of possibility of that being true might be slim. like i said in another post, some false statements became known as truth when it was repeated a lot.

I've heard of people replacing their termal paste after a while, and supposedly it helps. Admittedly, I had never thought of doing that. And I wonder how one would go about that for something like a graphics card, where I think the heat sink is attached a lot more securely.

i've done it because i had it open anyways. and more me, a hot cpu stayed a hot cpu. this might be a psychogical thing for some people. they buy the special paste and go through the work and then they think it makes a difference.
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Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: MRO to Nightfox on Sat Jan 09 2021 02:49 pm

I've heard the surfaces of both a CPU and a heat sink aren't
perfectly flat (though you'd have to look at them with a microscope
to see any imperfections in the shape) - so the surfaces aren't
making full contact with each other. Thermal paste is supposed to
fill the gaps, which helps transfer heat.

yeah but these are precision machined products, so i think of possibility of that being true might be slim. like i said in another post, some false statements became known as truth when it was repeated a lot.

Even if it weren't true, I would imagine that after repeated heating and cooling, the surfaces of a CPU and a heat sink probably don't remain perfectly flat and would probably develop some imperfections in their shape after a while. Kinda like a street or a sidewalk that cracks after a while due to repeated thermal expansion and contraction (though metal isn't as brittle as a sidewalk or a street).

Nightfox

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Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: Nightfox to MRO on Sat Jan 09 2021 03:58 pm

Even if it weren't true, I would imagine that after repeated heating and cooling, the surfaces of a CPU and a heat sink probably don't remain perfectly flat and would probably develop some imperfections in their shape after a while. Kinda like a street or a sidewalk that cracks after a while due to repeated thermal expansion and contraction (though metal isn't as brittle as a sidewalk or a street).

well the cpu, heatsink and the mobo are sandwiched together using tension.
so you have metal, heat and tension. maybe over time they merge together even better?
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Ogg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Do you use the ThinkLight much? I like the way it helps to
balance out the overly strong light from the screen and provide *something* over the keyboard work area.

I don't use it all that often, but when I do, it's a much better solution
IMO then under-key backlights. I don't know why, but being able to see my hands in the dark helps. I'm not a touch typist as such.

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Ogg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

What temperture are you managing for your machine?

55-65c, after running 24/7 for a week. Depends on the ambient temp and
what's running at the time.


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Re: I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU
By: Nightfox to MRO on Sat Jan 09 2021 10:15 am

I've heard the surfaces of both a CPU and a heat sink aren't perfectly flat (though you'd have to look at them with a microscope to see any imperfections in the shape) - so the surfaces aren't making full contact with each other. Thermal paste is supposed to fill the gaps, which helps transfer heat.

The best thermal insulator is a vacuum. Next would be just trapped air. So the paste is an attempt to provide 100% molecular contact to the surface to transfer heat from one material to the other. BUT there is always a bottleneck between two seperate objects no matter what.
So no matter how dry the paste if it's undisturbed it should work as long as all the molecules are still in place there. And that's the actual problem... reality is the computer is going to get bumped, moved, just the expanding and contracting given enough time it will let the dry material subtle on one side or another as dust and it leaves small holes in the paste which act as an isulator. So it's a good idea on old machines to scrap the old paste off and apply new thermal paste.
The heat sinks on GPU's can be difficult because they don't have a form factor standard on how to apply cooling so manufactures can get pretty experimental. But they all do come off after unbolting and solving the Rubix Cube style cooling systems. Many times the heat sinks are put on with thermal tape which looks and acts like double sided tape. IMHO tape does not work as good as paste. But to get the heatsink off you usually have to slowly and carefully pry on the heatsink while you use a heat gun and good pair of gloves. :)
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Hello poindexter!

** On Friday 08.01.21 - 06:30, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

Do you use the ThinkLight much? I like the way it helps
to balance out the overly strong light from the screen and
provide *something* over the keyboard work area.

I don't use it all that often, but when I do, it's a much
better solution IMO then under-key backlights. I don't know
why, but being able to see my hands in the dark helps. I'm
not a touch typist as such.

When I first received my T540, they sent me the variety that had
illumunated keys, in error. It wasn't totally bad. There was
still sufficient light cast from the brighter display to cast
some light, and the light around and under the keys provided a
cool futuristic effect. But the keyboard quality felt
different. The key-presses felt hollow and lacked weight to
them. Infact, some of the keys would stick at the edges of the
frame where the keys would pass through when pushed down.

So, that one went back to the supplier. The standard keyboard
for the T540 felt closer to what I am used to on the T60.



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Hello poindexter!

** On Friday 08.01.21 - 06:33, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

What temperture are you managing for your machine?

55-65c, after running 24/7 for a week. Depends on the
ambient temp and what's running at the time.

Then my 53C isn't so bad then, and the new fan and thermal paste
are probably doing their job well.



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