[Help] Re-thermal pasting laptop CPU

[ahmedbatty]

Hello,

I want to reapply the thermal paste on my laptop's CPU (never done this before) and I want to know a few questions before I go through with it.

 

Firstly, my laptop's specs:

• Dell Latitude E6430
• Intel Core i5-3380M
• 8GB RAM

My laptop is fairly easy to open from the bottom and I do know which screws are for the heatsink etc.

 

Some of the concerns I have:

• Which software should I use to monitor temps before and after the reapplication?
• Are alcohol swabs okay for removing old thermal goop?
• On which spot should I apply the new thermal paste? (pic of CPU for reference here)
• What should I make sure of during the whole process so everything goes smoothly

 

Please any help would be appreciated.

 

EDIT:

 

I have also read this thread. But still have the above mentioned concerns.

[partymarty]

1- Monitoring temps: I would use HWInfo 64.

2- Alcohol swabs are fine.

3- I would strongly recommend that you use non-conductive non-capacitive thermal goop (like MX4), just to make sure you won't short something when some of the paste gets onto the PCB. That way you can just slap it on and don't worry about a thing.

4- You should make sure that you just do it slowly and that you don't any possible parts on the PCB.

 

It's not that hard, but just be calm, don't be to rough on the chip and you should be fine.

 

The part that I think is by far the most important: make sure that you use thermal paste that CAN NOT damage your system in any way, shape or form. I replace gpu/laptop thermal paste on a regular basis for friends of mine, I always use Arctic MX4. I always put more than enough of that paste onto those chips and I've never killed a chip with it (even though I know a 100% that it will spill out onto the PCB).

[Constantin]

19 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

Which software should I use to monitor temps before and after the reapplication?

For the CPU temp, you can use Intel® Power Gadget 3.5

It is a small gadget with very good accuracy. 

[Klemmbrett]

9 minutes ago, partymarty said:

I always put more than enough of that paste onto those chips and I've never killed a chip with it (even though I know a 100% that it will spill out onto the PCB)

Why put more than enough ? More does not help more its often the opposite. I do a test "drop" that i think is the right amount(weigh it) apply the cooler screw it in and then lose it and check if it covers everything. If it does i clean everything and do it with the same amount of paste again or adjust up/down. Especially on a Laptop that will be moved around you don`t want any pieces of lose dried paste moving around, even if it cant short anything. 

[Constantin]

29 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

On which spot should I apply the new thermal paste? (pic of CPU for reference here)

On those kind of chips, like the gpu, you must spread it and cover the entire surface 

[Klemmbrett]

29 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

• Which software should I use to monitor temps before and after the reapplication?
• Are alcohol swabs okay for removing old thermal goop?
• On which spot should I apply the new thermal paste? (pic of CPU for reference here)
• What should I make sure of during the whole process so everything goes smoothly

1- You can choose between lots of different. On Windows i often used core temp because it generates a log file which you can easy put in excel and or use whatever to compare the different runs before and after would suggest to do some benchmarks and compare idle also fan speeds in idle or under load. 
2- yes but make sure they just contain alcohol and water and nothing else like perfume or god knows what. 

3- black area in the middle.
4- Take your time. Make sure you don´t fry components with static electricity. Don´t use too much paste and not too little. Make sure to gather enough data to compare and check what benefits it brought you. Get a good paste(its the only thing you can change about your laptops cooling, apart from cleaning the air canal from time to time from dust). 

[Constantin]

9 minutes ago, Klemmbrett said:

3- black area in the middle.

It is the chip,die itself, he should spread it all over.

It's not a covered die like desktops pc where you just put a grain in the middle... 

[ahmedbatty]

47 minutes ago, partymarty said:

I would strongly recommend that you use non-conductive non-capacitive thermal goop (like MX4), just to make sure you won't short something when some of the paste gets onto the PCB. That way you can just slap it on and don't worry about a thing.

this is the only one I could find in my city:

 

[Klemmbrett]

2 minutes ago, Constantin said:

It is the chip,die itself, he should spread it all over.

It's not a covered die like desktops pc where you just put a grain in the middle... 

Yes the die and not the "entire surface". 

 

21 minutes ago, Constantin said:

On those kind of chips, like the gpu, you must spread it and cover the entire surface 

Well about the grain in the middle you can do that there as well but since the most are not a square and more rectangular its more a sausage like application:  

[partymarty]

1 minute ago, ahmedbatty said:

this is the only one I could find in my city:

 

That one is great to use, cuz it won't fry your parts if you spill something.

Great choice!

[partymarty]

When I put thermal paste on a die like that I use this method:

 

1- Put a small dot on the die

2- Just the syringe thingy (where the stuff came out) and just spread it out until the entire die is covered with a thin layer.

3- Put the cooler on it.

 

It is REALLY important that the entire die is covered. If not? High chance something dies cuz of too much heat.

 

Edit: they added a spatula thing with your paste. Just put a small dot on the die and use the plastic spatula to spread it out nicely over the die.

When the entire die is covered just screw the cooling back onto it and you should be good to go.

[genexis_x]

3 hours ago, ahmedbatty said:

• Which software should I use to monitor temps before and after the reapplication?
• Are alcohol swabs okay for removing old thermal goop?
• On which spot should I apply the new thermal paste? (pic of CPU for reference here)
• What should I make sure of during the whole process so everything goes smoothly

1. Basically any monitoring software will do (eg HWinfo64)

2. Yes, BTW alcohol isn't a must to remove old paste

3. The middle piece (apply a straight line. put a little more/thicker to avoid uneven core temps)

4. Keep calm (no shaking hands), ESD

2 hours ago, Klemmbrett said:

Why put more than enough ?

Sometims useful in tripod heatsink to reduce uneven core temps

2 hours ago, ahmedbatty said:

this is the only one I could find in my city:

Where you live?

2 hours ago, partymarty said:

1- Put a small dot on the die

Not in laptop BGA chips

[ahmedbatty]

5 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Not in laptop BGA chips

Please explain this more

Thanks

[genexis_x]

7 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

Please explain this more

Thanks

BGA chips have exposed IHS unlike desktop LGA chips which has a square cover on top of IHS, therefore dot method isn't suitable since the thermal paste needs to cover the whole IHS (which is a straight line)

[markr54632]

1 hour ago, GeneXiS_X said:

BGA chips have exposed IHS unlike desktop LGA chips which has a square cover on top of IHS, therefore dot method isn't suitable since the thermal paste needs to cover the whole IHS (which is a straight line)

Laptops will have an exposed die with no ihs most of the time.

 

To op that thermal paste will be fine, on bare die applications the thicker the goo the less often you will need to reapply as a general rule. You want an even spread so either line method or spread method work best.

 

Also avoid mx4 and nth1 paste for bare die applications.

[genexis_x]

8 hours ago, markr54632 said:

Laptops will have an exposed die with no ihs most of the time.

 

To op that thermal paste will be fine, on bare die applications the thicker the goo the less often you will need to reapply as a general rule. You want an even spread so either line method or spread method work best.

 

Also avoid mx4 and nth1 paste for bare die applications.

Thanks for correcting. Well explained

[ahmedbatty]

So, I have applied the thermal goop and cleaned the fan as well

I noticed that the fan isn't spinning, so I tried checking in the Dell diagnostics in the BIOS. The fan is fine.

My question: do laptop fans also stop when temperature is below some point? like the fans in desktop PCs (PWM, graphics card fans) stop at idle

[genexis_x]

11 hours ago, ahmedbatty said:

do laptop fans also stop when temperature is below some point?

yes

[ahmedbatty]

I was successful in re-thermal pasting.

The old thermal paste was very hard and difficult to remove. I went through a lot of alcohol swabs for removing that.

I am happy to report that the fan is not working very hard at cooling anymore since there is no more dust and idle temperatures are between ~45 to 55 Celsius. Old idle temps were ~ 58 to 69 Celsius.

 

Thank you all who responded and helped me on this thread.