Replacing Laptop Thermal Paste

[Moohsan]

Hi. Hope all of you are well today.

 

I've been having thermal issues with my Dell Inspiron 15, so I ordered the Artic MX-4 to replace existing thermal paste, thinking the paste had dried up. Still, even after paste replacement, my laptop overheats to concerning temperatures (80-100 Celsius). I feel like I didn't put enough thermal paste, so I'm considering another attempt. But I'm unsure if that is the problem.

 

Thinking back on what I did the first time, I remembered 2 dies under the heatsink and my thermal paste application to only one of them since initially only one die was covered.

Now I'm thinking that I should apply paste to BOTH dies. Then again, I'm not sure what the other one (thinnest die) is. There was a special sticker on the heat sink covering that die.

What do you think I should do?

 

(the attached picture is my laptop before any modifications)

 

On another note, this is how much thermal paste I put:

 

[zeusthemoose]

10 minutes ago, Moohsan said:

There was a special sticker on the heat sink covering that die.

Sticker or a thermal pad? Did you leave it?

[Moohsan]

2 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

Sticker or a thermal pad? Did you leave it?

It seems like a thermal pad. I didn't apply thermal paste to it, but I did clean it with 99% isopropyl alcohol.

[zeusthemoose]

2 minutes ago, Moohsan said:

It seems like a thermal pad. I didn't apply thermal paste to it, but I did clean it with 99% isopropyl alcohol.

As far as I know, it should be replaced then. Some dust could have gotten on it which means that it is not getting good contact with the die and heat is not transferring well.

[Moohsan]

1 minute ago, zeusthemoose said:

As far as I know, it should be replaced then. Some dust could have gotten on it which means that it is not getting good contact with the die and heat is not transferring well.

You think I should apply thermal paste to both dies?

[zeusthemoose]

Just now, Moohsan said:

You think I should apply thermal paste to both dies?

No, thermal pads are used for when there is too much space between the cooler and the die for the paste to work. I would replace the thermal pad on that die and the thermal paste on the other.

[Moohsan]

1 minute ago, zeusthemoose said:

No, thermal pads are used for when there is too much space between the cooler and the die for the paste to work. I would replace the thermal pad on that die and the thermal paste on the other.

How much thermal paste should I use? I applied pea-sized, but my image of pea-sized may not be correct.
Here's how much I applied:

 

[zeusthemoose]

6 minutes ago, Moohsan said:

How much thermal paste should I use? I applied pea-sized, but my image of pea-sized may not be correct.
Here's how much I applied:

That should be good. When you open it up to add the thermal pad, you can see how it applied the first time. If it still looks good, you might not have to replace the paste again.

[Moohsan]

33 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

That should be good. When you open it up to add the thermal pad, you can see how it applied the first time. If it still looks good, you might not have to replace the paste again.

do you know why there are two dies? whats the second one?

[zeusthemoose]

9 minutes ago, Moohsan said:

do you know why there are two dies? whats the second one?

It might be the gpu if yours is integrated.