Question about temps and repasting

I've had the 17 R3 with 6700HQ and GTX 965M for nearly a year now and i haven't repasted, and my temperatures at absolute max load (e.g 95%-100% cpu on all cores and 99%-100% gpu core usage in Battlefield 1) and when my fans are settled on the optimal rpm are as follows:
Core 1: 83c
Core 2: 78c
Core 3: 72c
Core 4: 71~72c
GPU: 63c

in games like Overwatch though my temps are lower:
Core 1: 76~78c
Core 2: 73~74c
Core 3: 69~70c
Core 4: 67~70c
GPU: 57~61c

Would you say these are good temperatures??, cuz i've had 3 incidents in the past with my M17 R4 frying 3 graphics cards and a cpu due to drying out paste (3720QM and GTX 675M), and tbh i can't afford having any such thing happening to my 17 R3.

I'd do the repasting myself if it weren't such a daunting task and i really don't wanna take risks, alternatively i could give it to a dell service center and have them do it for me, but i really don't trust service centers to be anal like i would (i.e everything pops in correctly, don't use a blower on the fans without holding the blades still, don't overdo the pasting, keep the station clean from dust and debris, don't play frisbee with the laptop when it's running as to not damage the HDD....etc).

And either way the paste used will be the run of he mill white silicon based paste, so what's your opinion??, should i have the laptop repasted or there's no worry for now?, when should i worry (i.e what are signs of needing to repaste other than high temps)??

 

83*C max for a CPU core , while technically safe, is a lot hotter than your coolest core - 72*C. That's likely uneven paste/mounting pressure. It's up to you. If the temps worry you, you could try. Personally, I don't see a necessity for a repaste. My CPU goes up to around 85*C max and my GPU levels off at 80*C. Still safe.

Your GPU temps are stellar.

 

I should've said that these CPU temps are my PEAK temps, not sustained.

83c in BF1 are my PEAK, usually at 100% usage on all cores in BF1 the temps hover between 76~80c, the 83c is like just a small spike.

 

Then I personally see no reason for a repaste. I mean, you'd drop ~5-10*C with a repaste but you have to decide whether the hassle is worth it.

 

i just want to be in the clear, if my temps are like...borderline ok, then i will repaste, if they're normal then there's no reason to for now.

 

Well, you can wait for other people's opinions but I'd say the GPU temps are fantastic and the CPU temps are okay.

 

thanks

just curious, what sustained temps do you get on your Asus GL502VT??

 

With turbo enabled and BIOS 203 - I get low noise and temps around 90*C CPU and 85*C GPU
With turbo disabled and BIOS 203 - I get low noise and 79*C CPU and 80*C GPU
With turbo enabled and BIOS 300 - I get high noise and 86*C CPU and 81*C GPU

I use 203 and no turbo.

 

Borderline okay would be 90c. But you are still well in the safe zone. Try using prime an Heaven benchmark at the same time to absolutely stress the machine. But your temps are in the same range as my machine with the 980M and same CPU. But I have repasted with Kryonaut. So a heavier GPU but better paste also.

 

have you any specific temperature ranges with any specific games?

 

i wonder how they'll be with turbo

edit: by turbo you mean Intel Turbo Boost or fan turbo profile?

 

Not really. I dont mind that too much. But most games stress only the first 2 cores a lot and the last 2 do a bit less. in BF1 it never goes above 76c in my case. But I use Kryonaut paste instead of stock.

 

With high fan speed and intel turbo - it's around 86*C max like I pointed out. But with a 970M, 2.55GHz is more or less enough for me and I value the lower noise and lower temps

 

i see i see

Are you aware of the BIOS settings "CPU performance mode"??, it's disabled by default, and i found out that by enabling it you make the fans a lot more responsive to temperature, so instead of getting temps of up to 92c on core 1 with it off, i get max 82 on average.

Check it out if you haven't already and tell me what's it set at.

 

I have it at disabled. Because the fans seem to spin up at very strange moments. Sometimes when nothing is being stressed. So in my case it is turned off.

 

that makes your temps even more impressive.

 

quick question, is it ok to reuse the same thermal pads if it's the first repaste of the laptop?

 

Its okay as long if you keep them clean. I recommend to start repasting after the laptop has cooled down for at least 1 hour. Because they become very soft when being warm. It is easy to tear them in such a state since they also tend to be more sticky.

 

i see, thanks for the tip.

 

I agree that your temps are acceptable and there is no need for an immediate repaste. Since manufacturer's paste tends to dry out over time, perhaps you could keep an eye on temperatures and repaste when average temperatures approach 90 C.

 

You don't really have to repaste, but if you're going to go through the hassle and want to get the lowest temps possible, look into liquid metal, namely the Grizzly Conductonaut. And as mentioned above it's ok to reuse the pads just try not to touch it with your fingers, use tweezers or something so you don't get oil on it. If you do go liquid metal, definitely surround the die with some thin thermal tape (thin one not the regular thick kinds! 3M Super 33+ is the one I use) in case some of it spills out when you put the heatsink on. Liquid metal will net you much better temps vs traditional paste like AS5 or ICDiamond. If you already knew this, then no problem. Regardless, removing the stock cement and putting on good paste won't hurt.

 

How old is the paste that is on there? The Dell paste/stamp is ok but after a couple of years it gets mucho dry.
It takes a while to get dry but once its reaches a certain point temps skyrocket.

There are multiple reasons that re-pasting would help the longevity of your system.
For one like you already mentioned the heat will cause the paste to dry out and break down. This will slowly lead to higher temps.
Next is the issue of the temps themselves. While these temps are indeed in the acceptable range, it is always better to get the temps as low as possible.
Why you may ask? Well for one lower temps means the heat is properly being transferred to the cooling system.
When the heat is not transferred to the cooling system the heat is transferred into the chassis. This will lead to other components getting exposed to higher temps.
There are tons of components on the motherboard if any of them fail you then have an issue.
Just for a food for thought example....
Do you recall the XBOX 360 Red ring of death? That was caused by the constant heat cycles. After years of an Xbox 360 heating up to extreme temps and then cooling over and over caused the soldier on the BGA to fatigue. Granted this could have many different variables like crap soldier, constant general heat, and breakdown of the thermal paste causing the ambiant case temps to be higher. I have fixed hundreds of 360(s) by reflowing the solder, I have fixed many MXM cards, and many desktop cards by the same methods. The extreme heat clearly played a big role in each of these problems. Many of these cases w
My point is that heat plays a key role into the general life of your system. The lower the heat the lower the risk of general failure of other components.
So I would personally suggest that you re-paste.
Obviously im not suggesting that this will prevent all component failures, but I have personally seen heat take its toll on systems.

I personally would always repaste but thats just me.

 

check my original quote in this thread, both of these results were after playing 30~45mins of battlefield 1, however my cpu usage didn't reach 95%~100% like it often does in bf1, so to get a proper full load temps add 2 degrees to core 0 and core 1 peak temps

 

Cool I still have an original series 1 Xenon xbox 360 from 2005 running! I also did the reflux / reflow many times until it was totally sorted. Think the problem was heat cycles as you say but also the fact that they switched to lead free solder here for EU regulations.

 

Agreed. Repasted my M14x R2 w/kryonaut after 4+ years of use on dell stock paste. Temps went from high 80s w/20C differential down to high 70s w/6C differential (10C improvement). I wish I did it earlier since my laptop runs noticeably slower 4 years later, it's still definitely worth it (fans aren't in jet mode anymore). And now my M14x R2 is a quiet dedicated media server