AWR417 - Repasted with LM, but high core differential?

Early last month, I decided to take the chance and repaste my laptop using Conductonaut. I don't live in the States so it's hard for me to get thermal pads in my area, so I didn't do any repadding.

Whilst idle temps are good (between 20 -40), I've recently run problems with temps under load. Core 0 almost always hits the high 80s / small 90s, with Core 2 not far behind. Cores 1 and 3 almost never hit the mid 70s. I'm wondering why I'm getting such a high differential a month after repasting?

I heard this might have to do with the heatsink not being properly aligned. I happen to have a CCI heatsink and I was wondering if I should go ahead and get a Sunon one, since they appear to make better contact with the die.

The PCH mod I installed didn't help much either. I used the largest aluminum heatsink from the Raspberry Pi heatsink set, and dabbed a bit of thermal paste under it, but it seems to raise the temperature of the PCH even more than when it wasn't covered.

Would anyone be willing to help me out on Discord to try to troubleshoot this problem? I don't want to keep tinkering around the laptop and break more components (I already broke the Wifi pins and apparently I short-circuited the right side lamps). I would really appreciate the help!

 

I dont use discord.

Anyways, sounds like a classic case of the heatsink not applying uniform pressure. This is caused generally by a contact plate that might not be flat as it should be (convex/concave). The other issue can be not enough pressure. From what I understand R3/R4 both have issues with this out of the box due to the heatsink design.

There are strategies to combat this, search the subforum for stickies as I imagine one of them have already displayed how to optimize the system.

 

I did search around the forum, but unfortunately I couldn't find a consensus regarding the solution to this problem. Certain people suggest repadding, others suggest bending one of the heatsink's tripod arms, and others say to change the heatsinks entirely. As a novice who is uncomfortable with this process, I find myself stuck and not knowing what to do.

I also can't be sure that I even tightened the heatsink on correctly in the first place. I am using an automatic screwdriver, so I might have overtightened in one of the screws at the expense of another area left too loose.

 

Yeah it's a problem for sure and no one seems to want to test the aftermarket solution either.

 

Check your PM.

 

@omy808 please check your PM and contact me.

 

@Papusan please PM omy808. Keep discussion in PM you know what it's about.

 

Dont use an automatic screwdriver. You can easily strip the screws. Whats your build date?

 

Build date? How do I check for that?

This is a second-hand AWR4 but I believe it's one of the earlier revisions. CCI heatsink + 6820HK.

 

Then a new heatsink would be your safest bet imo. Or at least a repad of the thermal pads on the cpu side.

 

Re do the job. Uneven pressure will pump out all types thermal paste. Even Liquid metal won't work. Open up and post pict of what you find. Then take it from there.

 

@ Papusan: I reseated the heatsink earlier this afternoon while keeping uniform pressure on the heatisnk, and screwing in each one bit by bit. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics. The temps haven't improved. Think it's an issue with fit. I'll snap a few pics tomorrow after work when I redo the reseating.

 

I was suspecting this might be the case. Would you know of the model of the best or most reliable heatsink currently out on the market? Preferably one with preinstalled pads because I'd rather not go through with the nightmare of repadding unless absolutely necessary.

 

If they are new they probably would come with pads already pre installed. Thats how they are delivered to Dell. Dont know the part number for the Skylake versions. Dont know who has those though. I can check mine later for the AW15R3 7700HQ 1070GTX version.

 

Open up take pict of everything. Check how the pads fits. Clean up, put on cheap thin cremy thermal paste or even toothpaste on die, clamp down and screw tight. Open up again and see how paste is spread + and pads have the correct inpress over the components. This before you do the final application of prefered paste.

 

Hi all, I think I'm done trying to reseat the current heatsink because I believe that the pads on the chokes above the CPU mount are causing uneven contact. I want to buy a new heatsink but I can't find a legit source for it. Does anyone have any pointers?

If I can't find a new heatsink, I guess I'll have to find 0.1mm pads. Anyone know where I can get those?

 

i would buy k5-pro. it's like a viscous thermal pad, and works like a charm. i repasted my cpu and gpu with LM, replaced my thermal pads with k5-pro, now my temps are 2C within reach of eachother, where as core #0 and core #2 would be an average of 15 to 20C hotter ( 59f - 68f ) then core #1 and #3

 

@Rei Fukai I heard of this! But isn't it risky because the constant heating and cooling of it would lead to seepage over time, which would cause most of it to spill out after a few months?

 

It doesnt stay liquid. It becomes a bit like gum but softer.

 

yeah that was also my concern, but if you use just a little little bit, just enough to make the surface glas like, the risks become less and less, i've also been able to create a small dam around my cpu die by using the electrical tape (it's a piece of the electrical tape, that i folded, so the tape would like absorb small drops of LM, around the cpu die). also with K5-Pro because it's just like thermal pad but more viscous, it gives the ability to be squeezed, so it can set right between al the small cravases. if you use k5-pro you would not have to worry about the coverage (only if you haven't used too much lol k5) the first day of my LM repaste i still had temperature problems, so i let my laptop sit still for a day in a angle (so the LM would run from north to south) and it did help, cause my temps all got down (with a minimum of 20c - 68f) and in combination with a undervolt of -90Mv on the cpu @4.2ghz all cores, the fans almost won't ramp up. max temp when gaming recorded is 70C as of now that ramps up my cpu fanspeed to 4300 for a few second maybe 20sec, then it goes down to 3700 to 3500. so your laptop will become much quiter !

 

that's not true, when it stays in contact with air it will not solidify, but stay liquid. that's why people with unbalanced heatsinks can still have thermal pumpout of their LM and short their boards.

gallium not only corrodes, it forms an oxide and an alloy. after a few months the alloy is the material that can be scratched of the heatsink ass corrosion. Hence why people use an IHS to inhibit that behaviour.

 

I think rinneh was talking about the K5 there, not the liquid metal. And yeah, I created the "dam" too with the electric tape.

 

I was talking about the K5 paste

 

k5 is not liquid, its a more viscous thermal pad. it's strange to talk about liquid when a thermal pad is not liquid, that's why i assumed he was talking about LM

 

UPDATE: So I went ahead and reseated the heatsink a few more times, and accidentally rubbed off some of the liquid metal from the CPU. I decided to do a repaste on the CPU using MX-2 while keeping the GPU covered with Conductonaut. I did use quite a bit of thermal paste as I had a lot of issues with my core differential, but now all cores are within 6-7 degrees which I'm more than happy with.

However, I think by overtightening the CPU end, or by applying too much thermal paste there, I'm getting higher GPU temps. It used to be that it would never go above 70C, but now temps shoot up to 81C after a few minutes of Overwatch. Should I be worried?

 

I would fix it. I don't like when I get worse temps after doing work. Need to make it right and do a good job.

But MX-2 is quite bad paste.
You don't have anything better?
If you don't want to use LM you should try Coolermaster Gel Maker Nano.
Probably the best paste for bad heatsinks.

 

Gonna get some Kryonaut and K5 Pro when I move in a few months. Might even get myself a new heatsink.
For now, I'm limited to what local stores here sell, unfortunately. I wish my GPU temps were better, but if this doesn't throttle, I'll hold off on repasting until I get proper pastes.

 

I'd suggest against K5 pro, my experience applying it was pretty bad, and they say it doesn't hold well over time.
As I said in the repaste thread my two biggest advices are to lap the heat sink, and be really sure all your pads are the right thickness.

 

I have read a lot about K5 PRO indicating that you have to re-do it every 3 months and that it runs off (loses contact) after its composition deteriorates.
I used IC7 Diamond instead of processor pads as a replacement with good results. During disassembly of heat-sink, after 2 months of IC7 being on, the area was definitely holding its form AND good contact, because I had to use a bit of force to 'tear IC7 gum in half' when taking heat-sink off motherboard.

See pictures 1 and 2:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-13-r3-owners-lounge.797884/page-709 post #7088

 

have been using K5 now for little more than a half year, and i have yet to encounter problems. There where problems with a batch of K5-pro (would be more liquid like than viscous) but that has long been solved. i've repasted 2 more laptops and my xbox one x, and with those i haven't encountered a problem either. I think k5 should be reviewed more before we can have a definite opinion about it. i've never seen it on a platform like GamersNexus, with some real testing and having data available for comparison with thermal pads for example.

 

Good they fixed the formula. So, after tearing heat-sink off motherboard, does it turn into 'chewing gum' or stays paste-like? It has higher Wm/K than IC7 so maybe it does its business good. Do you have any pictures of K5 PRO how it looks after some use?

 

the colour and texture is exactly the same. i didn't make a picture because nothing changed, but i will look for the other laptop and dissasemle it for some pictures. what baffled me the most is, that the amount i applied is enough for multiple uses (as long as i scrape the K5 that has been pressed down between the heatsink and VRM's, and make a small glob of K5 i can re-use the same K5 when assembling the heatsink).

but that's my experience, people could have different experiences with it.

 

Good post, thank you. Can you please confirm that it stays as sticky paste after longer use (toothpaste-like) or it becomes solid (1 hour old used chewing gum on the table = IC7 lol). Thanks, good info. +REP

 

no it definitely stays as a sticky paste ! i don't have any LM ATM, else i would show my AW heatsink. before i repasted with K5 i would have a constant VREL on my gpu (without stuttering) and now it occasionally pops up. So on the gpu side i can definitely confirm it works. My cpu overheated and i had a core differential of sometimes 15 to 20 C degrees. now with K5 i've managed to bring my temps back under 75C (core differential not more than 3 C degrees) with a 26 C degrees ambient room temperature when my ambient house temperatures are around 20/21 C temps will not go over 70 C and fans will not spin faster than 3500 RPM. those temperatures are Heaven en Prime95 temperatures. gaming is likely to be less (haven't checked really, was astonished with the results when benchmarking at such high ambient room temperature)