Thinkpads Forum

it sucks. thermal distribution / conductibility is frustrating. have installed tpf control so fan kicks after 60 celcius, that is in internet. my paste is good quality so i don't get more than 81 celcius which is safe but the fan is running very often and is loud
my model is with intel graphics only so i wanted to ask if models with the nvs card have different fan assembly than mine. (i found out already that this is the case between t520 and w520)
if that was the case maybe installing the other fan could do something
i have owned t420 since 2016 but used it only randomly until recently - was always wondering about the thickness but now i know

I've recently purchased a T420 (My first thinkpad). I have a nvs model and it will often crank up to ~80c even ~90c under a mild workflow (web browsing). It could just be that my thermal paste is well beyond expiry, though i use a very minimal desktop environment (linux+dwm).

The T420 with nVidia NVS graphics has a different heatsink, with an additional heatpipe and copper plate that leads to the graphics chip. I've heard some T420 owners have used that heatsink on the Intel-only variant, but slightly modified-- the copper plated is covered with Kapton tape to prevent it from making contact with the solder pads on the system board, and copper foil tape is wrapped around the heatpipes to facilitate heat transfer to the third pipe (since it's not connected to the copper plate for the CPU).



There's a better-looking example of the mod for the T430 heatsink: https://imgur.com/a/t430-hsf-mod-H1XQXQE

When I read it the first time, I was a bit confused:
"the copper plated is covered with Kapton tape" and "copper foil tape is wrapped around the heatpipes".
Technically correct, but explained better as:
"copper foil tape is first wrapped around the heatpipes" and "the copper wrapped part is then covered with Kapton tape..."

I need to try that copper foil out on my T430. It's got a 3840QM installed, and was running reasonably cool, but after only a few months its now hitting 100C so I need to do something about that.

PTM7950 here we (should) come...

I never had success modifying T420 or T430 heatsinks for use with the 45W quads. If it was a T430 I’d suggest the 3612QM or 3632QM which are deliberately underpowered and rated at 35W. For T420 in my experience it was better to stick with the basic i5. They are not slow.

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 09, 2025 10:56 pm

The T420 with nVidia NVS graphics has a different heatsink, with an additional heatpipe and copper plate that leads to the graphics chip. I've heard some T420 owners have used that heatsink on the Intel-only variant, but slightly modified-- the copper plated is covered with Kapton tape to prevent it from making contact with the solder pads on the system board, and copper foil tape is wrapped around the heatpipes to facilitate heat transfer to the third pipe (since it's not connected to the copper plate for the CPU).

this photo is from t430 i assume with dedicated card - correct?
maybe putting copper foil tape around my current fan assembly can ameliorate the situation...

deickos wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 16, 2025 3:19 pm

this photo is from t430 i assume with dedicated card - correct?
maybe putting copper foil tape around my current fan assembly can ameliorate the situation...

The embedded photo (the one that appears on my post itself) is from a T420. From the looks of it, the fan isn't completely installed.

The imgur link below it is from a T430. I chose to link to it because it looked like a better, cleaner implementation of the copper foil tape mod.