CPU CLEANING! :D (on a laptop...)

[Volvith]

Hi,

 

So i was doing maintenance on my asus n56jn laptop for the first time since i have it (3.5 years), and i decided to unscrew my heatsink/fan from the MOBO.

... Oh boy...

 

Now, i have never built a PC, but i know one thing, and that's that it's generally bad when the thermal paste covers literally the entire top of the cpu.

For reference, this is an i7-4700hq, laptop cpu, which has a heat-contact-surface-thingy-name of a square centimeter.

The applied thermal paste area was about 10 times that. o-o

 

There are orange, see-through plastic covers around the heat-sinky areas of the CPU/GPU, and underneath that is thermal paste. (So. Much. Thermal paste.)

Do i clean this out, or just leave it there to rot?

[MrMcMuffinJr]

take a picture please 

[Altecice]

Now that you have taken the heatsink off the CPU you have no choice. You need to clean off and replace the thermal compound. What you're describing is perfectly normal and correct on a laptop CPU as they are missing the IHS that desktop CPU's have to allow them to distribute the heat more efficiently, so need the extra thermal compound to act as the TIM or buffer for the gap between the CPU and the heatsink.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Volvith said:

Hi,

 

So i was doing maintenance on my asus n56jn laptop for the first time since i have it (3.5 years), and i decided to unscrew my heatsink/fan from the MOBO.

... Oh boy...

 

Now, i have never built a PC, but i know one thing, and that's that it's generally bad when the thermal paste covers literally the entire top of the cpu.

For reference, this is an i7-4700hq, laptop cpu, which has a heat-contact-surface-thingy-name of a square centimeter.

The applied thermal paste area was about 10 times that. o-o

 

There are orange, see-through plastic covers around the heat-sinky areas of the CPU/GPU, and underneath that is thermal paste. (So. Much. Thermal paste.)

Do i clean this out, or just leave it there to rot?

Well,now that you removed the heat sink, you should apply some on there, but this may be risky...

[Volvith]

1 minute ago, Altecice said:

Now that you have taken the heatsink off the CPU you have no choice. You need to clean off and replace them thermal compound. What you're describing is perfectly normal and correct on a laptop CPU as they are missing the IHS that desktop CPU's have to allow them to distribute the heat more efficiently.

Okay, i HAVE actually cleaned the shiny surfaces of the processors, but i am wondering whether i have to completely remove all the thermal paste, even around and underneath the orange covers...

(Thanks for the help though :3)

[knightslugger]

10 minutes ago, Volvith said:

Okay, i HAVE actually cleaned the shiny surfaces of the processors, but i am wondering whether i have to completely remove all the thermal paste, even around and underneath the orange covers...

(Thanks for the help though :3)

no but it's good practice as crusted up TIM can act as an insulator.

[Volvith]

1 minute ago, knightslugger said:

no but it's good practice as crusted up TIM can act as an insulator.

Thank you!

[JakeNTech]

To replace the thermal paste I recommend the following: 

1- Get some arctic silver 5, Its the best I have found, but any thermal paste will do

2- Once you have taken the heat sink off, put some TIM remover onto some tissue, toilet paper will be fine, and gently wipe over the CPU and GPU/North bridge and the heatsink. 

3- Wait 2-3 minutes

4- Wipe all the surfaces you have just cleaned with a material like your t-shirt

5- Apply a line of thermal paste in a parallel line to the longest edge on the CPU, GPU/north bridge. 

6- Spred it out, you want a thin layer over the whole die. 

7- Place the heat sink down and wait. 

8- Put the screws back in a star like pattern, don't tighten them too much until they are all in

9- Make sure that it is all tight and reassemble you Mac

This is the way I have found to get the best results. Hope it helps.

You should try to replace the thermal paste at least once a year if your computing device is under full load a lot if not then every two years should be fine. 

 

[RollinLower]

14 minutes ago, Volvith said:

Thank you!

that is a laptop chip tough! it does not have an integrated heatspreader so you need to cover the entire thing in thermal paste again, or you will burn your chip!

 

i honestly can't believe noone in this thread has bothered to tell you this yet