Fan/Temperature Issues: Do you Dock your E6400/6500?

Im trying to gauge what everyone else is experiencing when they are docking their Latitudes.
More specifically, as it relates to fan usage and general temperature.

That said, I have three questions:

1) If you own the Nvidia and you have fan issues, have you just resigned to the fact that your fan runs all the time or are you still looking for a solution?

2) If you own the Intel Graphics card, can you share your fan experience(s) when your laptop is docked?

3) Lastly, please indicate if you are using the laptop open when docked, closed with one external monitor or, two external monitors.

 

When using my E-Dock Plus, temps rise between 5-15 degrees Celsius. This happens on both my E6400 and M2400

To answer your questions,
1. I have the Nvidia in both laptops and the fans come on more frequently while docked. I would tend to leave it that way since the CPU and CPU are running warmer and any attempt to lower the fan speed will make the laptop run hotter.

2. Do you mean the Intel wireless card? I had the 5100 in my E6400 and the 5300 in my M2400. Both works fine when docked.

3. I usually have my laptop monitor closed and connected to an external monitor via HDMI.

 

I meant the Intel GPU/4500.

 

Hmm, I'm actually thinking about getting a dock myself, simply to organize the mass of USB devices I usually have attached my E6400. I'm interested in this one too, but I'd like to know how it is with AND without a monitor, since I don't intend to use an external monitor at the moment.

I hear the Nvidia card heats up and the fan runs up quite a bit, but I too haven't heard much about the Intel.

 

I have an E6500 (win xp pro) with the P8400 (2.26GHZ) cpu, Intel Graphics, 64GB SSD system drive and Intel 5300 wireless card. I dock it with the Eport docking station and I do keep the lid closed. I have it connected to 1 monitor, a Dell 1901 flat panel.

Under normal load, the fan is either off or running at around 2700 rpm. When it does run, it will bring down the temps in a reasonable time and then switch off.

Harvey

 

See my sig. for the specs. My experience is similar to David's; when docked (I have the E-Port, not the Plus), the fan does come on sooner and more frequently. I also usually have the monitor closed and connected to an external. The fan noise doesn't really bother me that much as I typically have music playing in the background anyway, when working at the laptop for an extended period (i.e. such that the fan comes on and stays on).

 

Which graphics card are you using?

 

We have several (25 now) E6500's with Intel X4500HD gpu's - 15 of which (including my own) use E-port docks most of the day.

My personal E6500 is connected via display port to an external 24" Dell 2408WFP running at 1920x1200 with the E6500 also used an extended desktop space at 1440 x900 I use to park outlook and some other management tools I can quickly cycle throughout the day.

Fan operation will greatly depend on the system's bios firmware. Dell set the fan threshold very agressively on both the A11 and A12 bios so it's running on low even when the system is at a cool 30c. I've also noticed that A11/A12 's fan trigger is also tied into the cpu load and not just temp. Sometimes just launching an app can trigger the fan to go into high speed for a few secs and then back to slow again, no change in temp the whole time tho.

Bios A06 is much better in this regard. It only kicks in at around 50c and simply runs dead silent the rest of the time.

 

Very interesting info; thanks for sharing.
I would say that the settings are even more aggressive with the Nvidia GPU's, hence my fan constantly running at top speed.

I wonder...with the Nvidias; is that DELL has set a lower heat threshhold so the fan goes on at a lower temp (38-40) or, is that the card simply generates too much heat and poor heat dissipation design warrants constant fan usage?

 

I don't particularly care about the fan noise- but the CPU throttling on my E6500 w. NVS and P9500 cpu is terrible