TX1 fan noise

[McMagnus]

Hi

I upgraded from a T1XP to a TX1XP last week and the new fan is starting to bother me. I've heard (at Tom's hardware I think) that the new Centrino chipset runs a bit hotter than the old, but I thought the BIOS would be able to keep it slow enough at the lowest performance setting to not bother me.

However, when at the lowest possible performance (CPU Control on "Battery Life" and the "System Idle Process" toggles between 98-99% and the My Computer->Properties says the CPU is running at 299MHz), the fan is still spinning up and down every 6 seconds or so. The old T1XP was dead silent until I at least started compiling or something. And then the fan spun up only after running at 100% CPU for almost a minute.

Also, the fan itself has a noise of its own in the new TX1XP. In the old T1XP, all I heard was the sound of the air flowing out, nothing else.

So, the problem is two-fold.

1. The fan spins up and down constantly. It runs *much* more than the old T1XP.

2. The fan sounds more than necessary. The old T1XP proves that it's possible to make them really silent, why isn't the new as silent? Did I get a bad one? Should I switch?

[lantek]

Anyone had any update on this issue? Thanks.

[Thalamus.]

With a slim and light notebook like this, cooling is always an issue, but this also has to be balanced with the noise from any fans that are fitted. Usually when I'm testing a notebook like this I try to use it in a very quiet room, late at night on mains power, then I can judge how much noise the cooling system is really making. I'm currently sitting in a very quiet hotel room and I have to say that the sound from the fan is very noticeable. That said, most notebooks switch everything on to full performance when you're plugged into the mains and most of the time this just isn't necessary. I tend to adjust the power saving settings in order to facilitate quiet operation without any effect on general performance. This is something I did when I was reviewing the Sony S4M, which had a loud fan spinning constantly when I first started using it, but became quiet as a mouse after a bit of tinkering.

After a bit of tinkering in power management, I set the CPU to drop its speed and set the fans to quiet mode. Instantly the fan spun down, but then a few seconds later it spun up again, then stopped, then started, then stopped, then started ad infinitum....It's generally accepted that tonal changes can be more annoying than a constant noise, and I have to say that in this case it's definitely true. To be fair though, this is a very early sample of the TX1XP and both the T2XP and the S4M quite happily ticked over silently with a bit of tweaking – Sony has since assured me that this has been addressed in production units.

May be of interest when contacting Sony again!!

full review here http://laptop-notebook.blogspot.com/2005/10/sony-vaio-tx1xp.html

[McMagnus]

Thanks for the input but that was not an update. We have already posted the same info earlier in this thread, including a link to the (your?) review?

What I really want is a statement from Sony regarding the big difference in fan noise between the T1 and the TX1. See the thread above for more info.

[Wanderer17]

I'm looking for a TX1XP...

... and I noticed, that no dealer in my surrounding does have this NB in stock at the moment. One of them told me, that Sony did order back the TX1XPs and work on a revision....hope, this is true.

@ Sony: can you confirm this and when can we expect a new revision?

[Thalamus.]

Sorry missed the post, it's not my review but thought it may be of interest as Sony had been made aware of the noise before launch, hope the post by CharlyS is correct and you receive the revision.

Sorry for any misunderstanding

[Pagemakers]

I'm looking for a TX1XP...

... and I noticed, that no dealer in my surrounding does have this NB in stock at the moment. One of them told me, that Sony did order back the TX1XPs and work on a revision....hope, this is true.

@ Sony: can you confirm this and when can we expect a new revision?

Given the choice I would not purchase this machine again.

I upgraded form a TRMP5.

The TX1 has a worse screen, no inbuilt mic and because of it's non standard screen resolution it plays havoc when used with an external projector! Oh yes...and no Windows discs, you have to make your own up!

[Wanderer17]

....has a worse screen, no inbuilt mic and because of it's non standard screen resolution it plays havoc when used with an external projector!  Oh yes...and no Windows discs, you have to make your own up!

... and a slow 1,8"/60 GB HDD - where only 37 GB are free for use. And the typical "Sony-support"... :-(.

Given the choice I would not purchase this machine again.

Thanks!

[robpaxton]

I've undervolted my T2 and although it is a different model which is already inherently quieter than the TX1, have reduced the time the fan runs by a considerable amount and received the added bonuses of a cooler processor with an improved battery life.

For anyone interested in trying this, I'm running with total stability and the voltages I'm using are:

600Mhz - 0.732V
800Mhz - 0.732V
900Mhz - 0.732V
1Ghz - 0.764V
1.1Ghz - 0.796V
1.2Ghz - 0.828V

YMMV

[carthorian]

my t2 works perfectly, a battery life of 6.5 hours, a completely silent cpu when working at full capacity. 40GB hard disk space (20 reserved for back up, ofcourse you can change that). Everything running smoothly. I can only advice to buy a vaio, best laptop i've ever had

[Wanderer17]

FYI: Vaio Europe does NOT confirm any issues "There are no problems known...".

I think, I will refrain from buying a TX1XP.