Advice/Help Applying Thermal Paste - Latitude D630

So I've finally decided to tear this puppy apart and repaste my CPU. I've already downloaded the service manual, bought a tube of thermal paste, and will pick up some 90% alcohol and coffee filters tomorrow.

A few questions:
1. Dell apparently used "thermal cooling pads" instead of thermal paste - do I have to use new pads instead of thermal paste?

2. Is there just one pad, or is there one over the Intel iGPU? I'd prefer to do both if so.

3. I know, the less paste the better, should I spread it out or just put a rice grain sized blob on the CPU/iGPU and slap the heatsink back on?

Thanks in advance. I'm just trying to milk a few more months out of this thing until I can finally get my desktop build ordered.

 

common you ask too many questions for a 50$ laptop, just put thermal paste on the thing and enjoy

 

That was not helpful in the slightest. Plus this is the only computer I own so downtime or damaging it is no small deal. Thanks for being semi-insulting though!

For anyone else who wants to do this and has a Intel GPU, you MUST keep or replace the thermal pad. Removing it to try and use thermal paste leaves a gap between the chipset and heatsink that must be filled somehow.

If you do forget this or your thermal pad is messed up, you can order a new one. Part number is UP755 and the price is around 3 to 5 bucks USD.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Actually both. Pads on the chipset, paste on the CPU. If the original pad hasn't been damaged then there's nothing wrong with re-using it. Went through a few different orders of material from China before I found something that fixed the problem 100%.

Otherwise, make sure you get the correct thickness of material for a replacement. I used overly thin material on my D830 rebuild, and ended up with a lot of crashing.

CPU is pasted, GPU is padded.

Yeah you don't need much, but don't worry about a little bit more than you technically need. As long as you're not making a mess.

I just use the cheapest Chinese paste I could find, in a big tube for a couple bucks shipped. Never really found any benefit versus the more expensive/flashier-marketed pastes (ie: Arctic Silver).

The T9300 or even the T8100/T8300 (Penryn series) are rather worthwhile upgrades if you're still on a Merom CPU. Can be had on eBay for as little as $10-$20.