Replacement 17 R3 mobo coming, should I repaste? Best thermal paste?

Have a replacement motherboard coming due to a bum 6820HK processor and some other issues. Part number is: SVC,PLN,I76820,GX,4G,W8P/10H/P. Hoping its a 8gig model of the 980m but I'm guessing not (I bought my 980m 4g RIGHT BEFORE the 8gig model came out FML).

My current system would definitely benefit from repasting based on other posts I have read. My question is if it would beworth the money to order some high performance paste to use when the tech replaces my board. If so - what paste should I order? Board and tech should arrive Monday, maybe Tuesday.


Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

ICD, Gelid Extreme or Grizzly Kryonaut. Liquid Ultra <if> Dell's tech has balls enough to do it for you.

 

dell tech would probably snort the liquid metal paste lol

 

I'm not afraid to do it myself its just having the time to break the laptop down to do it has what has put it off for so long. That's why I'd like to have it down when the board is place.

Its been like 10 years since I've repasted a laptop (thermal paste has come a long way!) but I've repasted server Xeon processors every now and then. Some of the thermal paste seems pretty awesome but looks like some of the liquid ones need much care. I'd like something with excellent thermal properties but doesn't need a whole lot of effort to apply it as I'm sure that would cause issues with the Dell tech.

Does one of the ones you mentioned stand out?

 

I don't have the best luck with them and from reading the forums I 've seen many horror stories. Most of these techs aren't actually Dell employees - they are Unisys sub contractors or, I kid you not, a subcontractor to Unisys which is a subcontractor for Dell. Not sure about global support but in much of the US this is how it goes.

 

I listed the best you can get. Read also http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/3dmark-time-spy-benchmark.793889/page-3#post-10304428

 

Thanks mate! It looks like the Gelix Extreme has a higher thermal rating at 8.5 W/mK versus the ICD at 4.5 W/mK. Now I know the numbers don't always tell the story but based on what I'm seeing I 'm thinking the Gelix Extreme is the way to go?
I'd like to do the liquid ultra but my understanding is the CPU needs to be delidded and I don't want to mess with my extended warranty from Dell. Especially based on the quality of these latest Alienwares.

 

The CPU's in laptops are already delidded. But it is still a job that needs to be done carefully. Best to cover the contacts around the CPU die with electrical tape.

 

Yes, it takes more effort to apply it in the first place but consider it from another angle. Since I applied Liquid Ultra to a number of systems, I haven't needed to reapply it in the two years since - something that can't be said for a lot of the other thermal pastes that I've used in the past. This, as said, depends on whether Dell will do it for you. Gelix is ok too - but given that you won't want to open it up again and repaste, I would try and get the Dell technician to apply Liquid Ultra if possible.

 

I'll get both to be safe. Is the liquid ultra you like Collaboratory Liquid Ultra

https://smile.amazon.com/Coollabora...69929411&sr=8-1&keywords=liquid+ultra+thermal

 

I'll get both to be safe. Is the liquid ultra you like Collaboratory Liquid Ultra

https://smile.amazon.com/Coollabora...69929411&sr=8-1&keywords=liquid+ultra+thermal

 

Liquid Ultra or ICD!!

 

delete

 

Is this the right liquid ultra product? https://smile.amazon.com/Coollabora...69929411&sr=8-1&keywords=liquid+ultra+thermal

I need it by Tuesday but apparently Newegg and Amazon can't do that. Anyone else carry it?

 

http://www.coollaboratory.com/where-to-buy/ OR
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...Thermal_Interface_Material.html?tl=g8c127s451

 

I've watched a bunch of videos and read threads on this subject and it seems like people are leaving the electrical tape in place when they assemble the system after applying the liquid ultra. Am I correct in this?

one thread mentioned doing it for the sake of safety but I haven't seen anything that definitively says to remove it or leave it.

 

If you already used electrical tape... Let it be there. I have never used electrical tape. Be careful and all will be good

 

I've never used tape, personally but there doesn't seem to be any ill-effects from leaving it on there. Honestly, just take your time and make sure it's properly 'painted' on there.

 

OP, if it's not too late I have a thread on this already. Click here for lots of pictures and info.

If you are going with liquid metal, I'd recommend Grizzly Conductonaut. Thermal pad wise, Fujiploy 17.0mk/W.

I'm surprised after two pages of replies, no one mentioned Grizzly Conductonaut?

 

Because Conductonaut is to watery. I use it now but prefer Liquid ultra. 2 or three users have already problems with leaked out Conductonaut from processor. I can't see a difference in max temp between those liquid metals.

 

True, GC is a little more runnier than CLLU, but I do notice a 2-3C in difference under load with GC over CLLU. Either way you can't go wrong and I still recommend CLLU to anyone that is wanting to go LM. Whatever is in stock really, because after a repaste with LM, one should never be coming close to hitting max temp limits for a small 2-3C of a difference to even matter.

 

I did find your thread and it was a fantastic help. I ended up ordering the liquid ultra and Gelid extreme. I would have ordered Grizzly Conductonaut as well but wasn't able to find a way to get it in time. I may still order and do a comparison between the three - if I keep this system board.

Dell did send me the new version and in many ways its a big improvement but my CPU and AGA performance are nowhere near what other members are posting. Right off the bat when Windows loaded I ran XTU benchmarks and received a score of 1237. That was the only time I got a score anywhere near that - even with the exact same config. Now my best score is 1088 no matter what configuration I try.

During benchmarks temp went up to 90 when placed flat on a desk (normally I have had my laptop elevated for better circulation) but I think its clear repasting will do a lot to help those temps.

 

Thanks to all that posted thus far. You've been a better help than Dell!

After getting the improved mobo model up and running I'm not happy with what I'm seeing as far as performance. Dell wanted me to test it out and see how things run before moving to the next step. It seems like they may be willing to do a system exchange but that hasn't been fully agreed to on their part so I may have to settle for another board. We shall see in the morning when I tell them this isn't going to cut it.

 

Definitely thermal throttling. Hang tight for after the repaste + repadding. Keep us updated.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

An exchange is always nice =) Take it!

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

For what its worth XTU does not indicate thermal throttling. I've tried elevating the laptop to improve airflow (I normally have it propped up ~1.5" for airflow anyways) and that helped lower the temp to 78-82 unfortunately I still haven't been able to get my score back to that first time of 1237. Seems strange the best I can pull off now is <1100.

 

They've "escalated" again and have to wait a couple of days for a decision. It's a bit frustrating to see the second board replacement (being the Revision 2.0 of theirs) still has CPU issues. If they offer the exchange I'll certainly take it.

Although at this point I'm tempted to ask for a desktop and I'll get a non-gaming laptop from someone else.

 

Oh bloody hell. Ran XTU bencharks again after fresh reboot.

It should be noted I'm on 1.1.15 as it was the only way to get the system to come on reliably (although today it took 5 minutes and pffttt maybe 30 attempts to get the system to power on and the laptop screen to power up) I tried to roll out 1.2.8 but when the system reboots it just goes into Windows without loading the BIOS flash utility - I'm wondering if the Rev2 system boards aren't compatible with older bios versions. This arrived with 1.1.14 loaded.

Now its showing 1 active core during the test, temp didn't get over 64, max processor frequency 3.31 GHz, and the score is 970 Marks at the default configuration.

I've noticed throughout all my benchmarking with the new board that the fans aren't coming on that I can detect.

Round 2: Change core clocks to 38x and increase turbo boost to 100W. This time it shows 2 active cores, 70 degrees, and max frequency of 3.76 for 1058 Marks.

Round 3: Change core clocks to 41x. and kept turbo boost at 100. Now it bounced between 1 to 2 active cores, max temp 73 degrees, max proc frequency of 4.08 GHz for 1119 marks.

My original board would constantly blue screen if I used the BIOS pre sets. (yes, I know they're junk) but for the sake of science I think I'll benchmark those. I'll also try some BIOS OC configs based on other threads and successful benchmarks.

But first - time for some adult beverages before I tie a boat anchor to this thing and toss it in Lake Travis. I appreciate everyone's input and will post a bit more information there in hopes you all will continue to share your thoughts.



Side note, I have yet to address why my PCIe drive is running much slower than it should in AHCI mode. Le sigh. Read 1600 MB/s, write 780 MB/s. My original board was a bit better than that but still not what others post. With and without the NVMe driver yield statistically the same results .

 

Actually you can turn it on in XTU by clicking on the little gear icon (bottom right section of XTU app) to bring up the Configure System Monitors window and checking the boxes in the respected fields.

As you can see there is, Thermal Throttling, Power Limit Throttling and Current Limit Throttling.

So far XTU is the only app to provide this information. After all it is made by Intel



Thanks @DeeX for showing me this.

 

Ran through XTU benchmarking of BIOS OC presets

BIOS OC Level 1, Max proc frequency 3.85GHz, Temp 70 degrees, 1 active core, no throttling, 1064 Marks
BIOS OC Level 2, Max proc frequency 3.92GHz, Temp 71 degrees, Mostly 1 active core, no throttling, 1075 Marks
BIOS OC Level 3, Max proc frequency 3.98GHz, Temp 72 degrees, Mostly 1 active core, no throttling, 1094 Marks

There's something wrong here that I'm not understanding. My last board had a similar issue. No indications of any type of throttling in any of these tests. All ran with just one active monitor, plugged in, high performance power mode, battery fully charged.

 

Thanks for the info - I did not know about the additional monitoring options. With those enabled - no signs of any throttling.