help Laptop heatsink lapping

[Dairis]

I have an acer nitro an515-55. I repasted it about 4 months ago with kryonaut Grizzly. The idol temp was around 45°c and 83°c max when gaming AAA games. Since then idol temp is around 60°c and today it reached 98°c. I’m going to repaste it again, however it seems too soon. I’ve read that it should last at least a year before needing to repaste. Also I noticed that the heatsink was quite rough to touch and when I was cleaning it with cotton pads, the cotton would get stuck to it. This doesn’t seem normal to me. Would lapping it be a good idea?

[Sorenson]

Is this the temp for your CPU or GPU. If it its the CPU you should probably just setup a small under volt with throttle stop. 

[OCNewbee]

that is quite an increase. I am assuming that one of your fans failed or the fan curve is set wrong. Please check your fans. Also, it could be that the heatsink has become loose. You could have also accidentally overvolted the CPU or GPU.

[OCNewbee]

lapping would bring down a couple degrees but it won't solve the bigger issue.

[Dairis]

10 minutes ago, Sorenson said:

Is this the temp for your CPU or GPU. If it its the CPU you should probably just setup a small under volt with throttle stop. 

It’s the cpu temp. And you can’t undervolt i10750h. I’ve already tried it. But if you know of a way to do it please share.

[Dairis]

11 minutes ago, OCNewbee said:

that is quite an increase. I am assuming that one of your fans failed or the fan curve is set wrong. Please check your fans. Also, it could be that the heatsink has become loose. You could have also accidentally overvolted the CPU or GPU.

All fans seem to be working and I use auto coolboost settings for the fan speed. But yes maybe it’s come loose, that’s a good idea that I didn’t think about.

[Dairis]

12 minutes ago, OCNewbee said:

lapping would bring down a couple degrees but it won't solve the bigger issue.

I see. It did seem to be abnormally rough though.

[Dairis]

Also is kryonaut grizzly the best option for a laptop? I’ve seen people saying that they prefer artic Mx-4

[Dairis]

Another thing, should I replace the thermal pads that are around the cpu and gpu. I’m not sure what they are covering. And I don’t have a picture

[Sorenson]

23 minutes ago, Dairis said:

It’s the cpu temp. And you can’t undervolt i10750h. I’ve already tried it. But if you know of a way to do it please share.

Oh no, I forgot they locked it out because of the security vulnerability. 

 

I’ve sene you asking about the thermal paste quality and possibly switching, it shouldn’t make a difference beyond a degree or two by switching to a different brand. It’s more likely that your cooler is having an issue. i would contact the manufacturer and see about getting a repair. You probably shouldn’t mention you reposted it. 

[OCNewbee]

8 minutes ago, Dairis said:

I see. It did seem to be abnormally rough though.

I dunno man. Are those just solid heatsinks or are they heatpipes? If they are heatpipes, you gotta watch out. 

[Dairis]

12 minutes ago, Sorenson said:

Oh no, I forgot they locked it out because of the security vulnerability. 

 

I’ve sene you asking about the thermal paste quality and possibly switching, it shouldn’t make a difference beyond a degree or two by switching to a different brand. It’s more likely that your cooler is having an issue. i would contact the manufacturer and see about getting a repair. You probably shouldn’t mention you reposted it. 

I don’t think repasting voids the warranty since there aren’t any ‘ void warranty ‘ stickers that need to be peeled back. But yeh. I’ll check if maybe it’s just come loose, this would make perfect sense.

[Dairis]

1 minute ago, OCNewbee said:

I dunno man. Are those just solid heatsinks or are they heatpipes? If they are heatpipes, you gotta watch out. 

They are heat pipes. If it only changes a couple degrees then I won’t risk it.

[Dairis]

18 minutes ago, Sorenson said:

Oh no, I forgot they locked it out because of the security vulnerability. 

 

I’ve sene you asking about the thermal paste quality and possibly switching, it shouldn’t make a difference beyond a degree or two by switching to a different brand. It’s more likely that your cooler is having an issue. i would contact the manufacturer and see about getting a repair. You probably shouldn’t mention you reposted it. 

It’s annoying that you can’t undervolt. They should have their own software that lets you do it. Would be great if a software could find the optimal settings for each chipset.

[OCNewbee]

1 hour ago, Dairis said:

It’s annoying that you can’t undervolt. They should have their own software that lets you do it. Would be great if a software could find the optimal settings for each chipset.

I dunno about your specific heatpipe layout but sometimes, the GPU and CPU shares the heatpipe. The heat issue may arise in the case where they share the heatpipe. So the heat from GPU goes to the CPU and thus resulting in the poor thermal performance for the CPU. GPU's have protective mechanism that dials down once they hit a certain temperature (usually 83 degrees) So the problem could be that its the GPU and not the CPU if it shares the same heatpipe.

 

I think you should first install MSI afterburner and undervolt your GPU. This would bring the GPU temp down a notch. As a result, CPU would also benefit from the cooler GPU. If you could take a picture of your laptop layout, that would be nice. 

 

We first need to know where the intake is located and where the exhaust is located.

[OCNewbee]

1 hour ago, Dairis said:

It’s annoying that you can’t undervolt. They should have their own software that lets you do it. Would be great if a software could find the optimal settings for each chipset.

nvm. I found a picture online. One heatpipe is shared between the GPU and CPU. Undervolt your GPU and see how that goes. Also, do you have enough space at the bottom for a proper intake? Having a laptop cooler with a fan that blows air to the two bottom intake fans could help bring down the temperature by around 2~3 degrees during load.

 

*one thing to note is that not all laptop coolers blow air up. There are some that sucks the air out. So watch out before you pull the trigger.   

[Dairis]

3 hours ago, OCNewbee said:

I dunno about your specific heatpipe layout but sometimes, the GPU and CPU shares the heatpipe. The heat issue may arise in the case where they share the heatpipe. So the heat from GPU goes to the CPU and thus resulting in the poor thermal performance for the CPU. GPU's have protective mechanism that dials down once they hit a certain temperature (usually 83 degrees) So the problem could be that its the GPU and not the CPU if it shares the same heatpipe.

 

I think you should first install MSI afterburner and undervolt your GPU. This would bring the GPU temp down a notch. As a result, CPU would also benefit from the cooler GPU. If you could take a picture of your laptop layout, that would be nice. 

 

We first need to know where the intake is located and where the exhaust is located.

 

 

[Dairis]

4 hours ago, OCNewbee said:

nvm. I found a picture online. One heatpipe is shared between the GPU and CPU. Undervolt your GPU and see how that goes. Also, do you have enough space at the bottom for a proper intake? Having a laptop cooler with a fan that blows air to the two bottom intake fans could help bring down the temperature by around 2~3 degrees during load.

 

*one thing to note is that not all laptop coolers blow air up. There are some that sucks the air out. So watch out before you pull the trigger.   

I just opened it up and tightened the screws a bit . Also there is a lot of dust built up in the fans. I’ll try to undervolt the gpu too. But will it impact performance?

[Dairis]

29 minutes ago, Dairis said:

I just opened it up and tightened the screws a bit . Also there is a lot of dust built up in the fans. I’ll try to undervolt the gpu too. But will it impact performance?

This is after 30 min of gaming. The cpu seems to slowly heat up the gpu. I’ll try to repast rid once the thermal paste arrives. And yes I have these little stands that I put under my laptop to have enough room for airflow.

[OCNewbee]

25 minutes ago, Dairis said:

This is after 30 min of gaming. The cpu seems to slowly heat up the gpu. I’ll try to repast rid once the thermal paste arrives. And yes I have these little stands that I put under my laptop to have enough room for airflow.

Which one is the CPU and which one is the GPU?

I am guessing 90 is the GPU and 78 is the CPU.

 

78 CPU is okay. As long as it is under 90, it is fine.

GPU 90 is maximum.

 

If you undervolt, it will lead to lower temperature and it could lower your performance. But if you are lucky, it could lower your temp and increase your performance. Your thermals are pretty standard by the way.

 

Also, your CPU and GPU could be running a bit hot because

1) the fins are full of dust. This ALWAYS leads to poor thermals

2) your paste has dried out because it was exposed to air due to the gap.

 

*if you can, try to set your fan curve a bit more aggressively. 

For CPU, it should be on full blast around at 83.

For GPU, it should be on full blast around 60.

[Dairis]

31 minutes ago, OCNewbee said:

Which one is the CPU and which one is the GPU?

I am guessing 90 is the GPU and 78 is the CPU.

 

78 CPU is okay. As long as it is under 90, it is fine.

GPU 90 is maximum.

 

If you undervolt, it will lead to lower temperature and it could lower your performance. But if you are lucky, it could lower your temp and increase your performance. Your thermals are pretty standard by the way.

 

Also, your CPU and GPU could be running a bit hot because

1) the fins are full of dust. This ALWAYS leads to poor thermals

2) your paste has dried out because it was exposed to air due to the gap.

 

*if you can, try to set your fan curve a bit more aggressively. 

For CPU, it should be on full blast around at 83.

For GPU, it should be on full blast around 60.

My bad I didn’t realise you can’t see which is which. The cpu is the hotter one. I just did a deep clean and it seemed to have done the trick. I didn’t take the fans out before, there was a lot of blockage in outtake. 

[Dairis]

43 minutes ago, Dairis said:

My bad I didn’t realise you can’t see which is which. The cpu is the hotter one. I just did a deep clean and it seemed to have done the trick. I didn’t take the fans out before, there was a lot of blockage in outtake. 

Temps are much better now . Cpu at 81°-83°c whiles gaming and gpu 74°-75°c. 

[OCNewbee]

1 hour ago, Dairis said:

Temps are much better now . Cpu at 81°-83°c whiles gaming and gpu 74°-75°c. 

Good stuff