Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

[aztec506]

Hey guys new W520 owner - and I inadvertently selected the default wireless card (DOH the 1x1 agn) and was wondering if I get the 6300, would the laptop already have the required 3 antenna wires? Or would I have to source that too?

Also anyone know a source for the 6300 wifi card? I've found a few places but not sure if its legit. I'd rather not flash a custom bios unless I absolutely have to. Thanks!

I searched on IBM's site IBM Maintenance parts | Retail - Part order - United Stateswith the part number 60Y3233 will this work?

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=INT-633AN

[ydaf]

Only think I could suggest is to call IBM about the issue, since your laptop is still under the 1yr standard warranty.

Now it's working again! Don't know why it had stopped but everything is working perfectly now.

[enkrypt3d]

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=INT-633AN

I can't find the part number I bought in this list (FRU: 60Y3193)

System service parts - ThinkPad T520, T520i and W520

But I do see the FRU 60Y3233 part number but I dont see it on the link you posted..... ugh what a pain in the !

[enkrypt3d]

Just said screw it and bought both of them....

FRU 60Y3193 & FRU 60Y3233.... and i bought 3 antenna wires in case my laptop only has 2.

[moogleassassin]

An update on the i7-2820QM to i7-2960XM upgrade... the 55W heat sink came this morning and I installed it. The system is working a bit better. A couple of gotchas:

1. The heat sink takes a bit of clever maneuvering to get in and out. Be careful with the various wires and thin metal flaps that guide the wires.

2. The heat sink spring-loaded screws need to be torqued down gently but firmly to make good contact with the CPU and GPU. They're not tight until they stop turning.

3. It turns out that when both the nVidia 2000M GPU and i7-2960XM are being taxed , the combination produces far more heat than the thermal unit in the W520 can dissipate. The CPU will begin thermal throttling. The situation is a bit better when only the iGPU is selected in the BIOS. I wonder how Optimus fares.

Now for the million dollar question: Would I do a i7-2960XM upgrade again in the W520 or consider any extreme processor in future W5x0 chassis without a radical design change in the cooling system? No. The thermal throttling leads to only marginal gains in the benchmarks and is practically unnoticeable in the real world. The vote against the extreme processors was something I had said very early on in this thread some time last year and I continue to hold that view. In another system with better cooling this processor might make sense. For what it is worth, this was an expensive experiment (north of $1500) that should only be attempted for pure bragging rights. Beyond that is is a huge waste of resources.

Lenovo would be wise to try to tackle the thermal unit in this chassis prior to the Ivy Bridge refresh but something tells me a whole lot won't change.

nice info - cheers

I guess my inevitable question is going to be, where can I buy the 55W heatsink, what exactly does it come with (uprated fans included?) and is there any reason why I shouldn't install it on a 2670QM (2.2 quad) processor?

Personally I don't care about noise, my previous laptop was like a jet engine and I would much rather my W520 was a little cooler when running games and stuff.

Just thinking I could install the uprated cooling and make everything work that little bit better, noise is irrelevent to me

[enkrypt3d]

nice info - cheers

I guess my inevitable question is going to be, where can I buy the 55W heatsink, what exactly does it come with (uprated fans included?) and is there any reason why I shouldn't install it on a 2670QM (2.2 quad) processor?

Personally I don't care about noise, my previous laptop was like a jet engine and I would much rather my W520 was a little cooler when running games and stuff.

Just thinking I could install the uprated cooling and make everything work that little bit better, noise is irrelevent to me

I dont think you need to mess with it - I run SWTOR on mine with the 2860QM 2.5Ghz which goes up to 3.5Ghz with Turboboost and have no heat issues. the bottom of the laptop stays nice and cool and yea the fan kicks up a little bit but its pretty quiet and the only warm spot is the exhaust on the left side of the laptop...

Where are you guys having heat issues? I've ran prime95 for 30 minutes w/o any issues with heat.

[moogleassassin]

I dont think you need to mess with it - I run SWTOR on mine with the 2860QM 2.5Ghz which goes up to 3.5Ghz with Turboboost and have no heat issues. the bottom of the laptop stays nice and cool and yea the fan kicks up a little bit but its pretty quiet and the only warm spot is the exhaust on the left side of the laptop...

Where are you guys having heat issues? I've ran prime95 for 30 minutes w/o any issues with heat.

I'm a bit of a gamer I was playing WoW on max settings 1080p for about 5 hours on Sunday and while I kicked the fans up to max and can't deny it does stay "fairly cool" the only hot spot is on the wrist pad right under my hand... which just gets uncomfortable after a while.

I can enable VSync to cut the effort the graphics card has to do, which makes it cooler, but playing with VSync on has historically given me a headache (no idea why...) so I generally turn it off.

So I'm just wondering if the uprated cooling would aid that little bit to take it from "uncomfortable" to "ok".

[enkrypt3d]

I'm a bit of a gamer I was playing WoW on max settings 1080p for about 5 hours on Sunday and while I kicked the fans up to max and can't deny it does stay "fairly cool" the only hot spot is on the wrist pad right under my hand... which just gets uncomfortable after a while.

I can enable VSync to cut the effort the graphics card has to do, which makes it cooler, but playing with VSync on has historically given me a headache (no idea why...) so I generally turn it off.

So I'm just wondering if the uprated cooling would aid that little bit to take it from "uncomfortable" to "ok".

Thats odd b/c I dont have that issue on mine...... is it b/c I have the 2860QM? The only noticeable warm spot is the bottom left side near the back where the fan is...... thats it. The palm rest is nice and cool. I played SWTOR for at least 4 hours with everything on max and had no issues.

[moogleassassin]

Thats odd b/c I dont have that issue on mine...... is it b/c I have the 2860QM? The only noticeable warm spot is the bottom left side near the back where the fan is...... thats it. The palm rest is nice and cool. I played SWTOR for at least 4 hours with everything on max and had no issues.

hmmm... I wonder if you have the 55W cooling on that CPU model? Dam.. maybe I should have opted for the higher cpu just for the cooling :S

Still have 48 hours to decide to send it back, but tbh now I have it I would rather just install the thing myself (or have Lenovo do it if they will get touchy about the warranty)

[hrana]

I guess my inevitable question is going to be, where can I buy the 55W heatsink, what exactly does it come with (uprated fans included?) and is there any reason why I shouldn't install it on a 2670QM (2.2 quad) processor?

The 55W unit can be bought by calling Lenovo's (IBM) parts line. It's just an uprated fan and not much else. Early on Lenovo was using 55W units on even 45W TDP CPUs so it is best to read the part number on the heat sink you already have. I don't think it is worth the trouble to upgrade the fan. It won't net much on this notebook IMHO.

Where are you guys having heat issues? I've ran prime95 for 30 minutes w/o any issues with heat.

I see it in any benchmark that taxes both the CPU and GPU simultaneously. When the CPU is being taxed on its own it can take a bit longer for it to begin to start throttling.

Thats odd b/c I dont have that issue on mine...... is it b/c I have the 2860QM?

The 2860QM is a 45W TDP processor it runs a bit cooler. Your 2860QM might actually be able to beat the 2960XM due to the cooling issues that hold back the latter CPU.

hmmm... I wonder if you have the 55W cooling on that CPU model? Dam.. maybe I should have opted for the higher cpu just for the cooling :S

Still have 48 hours to decide to send it back, but tbh now I have it I would rather just install the thing myself (or have Lenovo do it if they will get touchy about the warranty)

It's worth checking to see which you have but like I said earlier its not worth upgrading. Just keep your system as is and enjoy it. Trust me, I have buyers remorse right now and would love to return the CPU, heat sink, etc. and pocket the cash. I have to say this was a pretty dumb experiment on my part.