E6400 thermal pads replacement

I feel a bit silly but my E6400 was overheating when using photoshop or playing games so I removed the heatsink to see if it needed cleaning. It was virtually spotless - tiny bit of dust on the blades of the fan but nothing else.

However, when I took it off, the thermal pads were torn so I used Ceramique thermal paste but it's overheating more now (hitting 90+ celsius) when using graphics.

I'll get new thermal pads, but it looks like two different pads - one is a pale pink and the other is a very pale sort of green colour. Are they different thicknesses or something?

And here is where I feel even more silly - I didn't pay much attention as to which pad went on which bit of the heatsink.

Can anyone help please?

Alison

 

The thinner pad (pink) goes over the GPU and the thicker one (green) goes over the chipset.

You cannot replace these pads with paste because the paste won't be thick enough to bridge the gap.

I don't know the specific thicknesses or where you can buy the pads individually, but you can always buy another heatsink and it will be cheap and come with the pads.

 

Thank you. Is it OK to use thermal pads that have probably been used before?

I have found different thicknesses of pads, but like you say, it's knowing what thickness these ones were - would a thicker pad be the wrong thing to do?

 

You could also replace the GPU pad with a 0.5-0.8mm thick (can't remember the exact dimensions) copper shim and get about 20-30C improvement in GPU temperatures.

 

Do you mean this type of thing?

Vktech 30Pcs 15mmx15mm Heatsink Copper Shim Thermal Pads for Laptop GPU CPU VGA: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

What about the chipset? Anything particular I could use there, or just any thermal pad?

 

Yes, that's about right. The correct thickness is 0.8mm though. The chipset is perfectly fine with a pad as it does not generate much heat.
Also, found the guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...-e6400-similar-performance-cooling-guide.html

 

Can I use basically any pad on the chipset? That guide is really good - thank you for finding it for me. I hit over 100 degrees last night so I'm wondering if I should phone Dell - this laptop has always run hot but I didn't realise just how hot till I put speedfan on - now I'm sitting watching the temperature climb - probably a bad idea putting that on! LOL

 

As long as it's thick enough any pad should work...

Be careful if you're going to shim your GPU or any chip though... if the shim isn't quite the right thickness it could tilt the heatsink and worsen cooling on both the shimmed chip and possibly others.

 

I don't think I'm brave enough to shim it. Is it OK to use pads that are maybe a bit too thick? I've no idea how thick they need to be and I can't find the information out. I even phoned Dell but that was like pulling teeth and I eventually got fed up and hung up.