Thermal Paste Reapplication|Photos|56K Warning

I decided to change the thermal paste in my M11x after doing some research on the matter. From what I've read the factory paste is rather low quality and wax based. The disassembly wasn't as hard as it was tedious and time consuming. Theres nothing worse than when you put everything back together and you realize you have an *extra screw*. My temperatures haven't changed much 1-3c but thats hardly scientific and thats well within the fluxuation range. The burn in time for Artic Silver 5 is 200 hours, so hopefully it improves; and I would imagine this would only extend the life on my M11x. I used isopropyl alcohol 70% to clean off the dies. Normally you will want to use 90% but 70% is all I had. As long as it drys it doesn't matter what you use.

Temperatures After: (Sorry didnt take before screenies, also not sure why my GPU temp is not showing up but its in the lower 40c's too.)



Use a Coffee filter to place between the flathead and the trim so you don't scratch it. The trim pops right out.


Double check all the ribbons are connected when I put this back together I didn't realize the fan ribbon wasn't connected.


Not for the lighthearted


The Motherboard. You really realize how beastly this machine is for being so small.


Factory Goop on GPU


GPU Cleaned.. SHINY


Factory Goop on CPU


CPU Cleaned.. SHINY


Heatsinks cleaned


Artic Silver 5 On GPU


Artic Silver 5 On CPU


Some chinese kid decided to do some art on my laptop apparently lol.

 

Very nice! i may do this on my R1 after i do the 2ghz mod on friday.

this is what im going to use.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...38&cm_re=thermal_paste-_-35-186-038-_-Product

 

Thank you! I got a little OCD with this. That paste is pretty good. I heard from a friend this is the new thing and has 5x the performance as AS5. Newegg.com - Antec FORMULA 7 Nano Diamond Thermal Compound

 

no problem, i might look into that stuff =p

 

Yeah don't take my word for it ive stuck with AS5 and its worked great for me so far. Make sure to get the thinest layer possible as the purpose of thermal paste is to smooth out imperfections at a micro level.

 

thats true, it would be great if my m11x was 5c cooler.

 

I'm still hoping to see more performance after my 200hour burn in time. Also I just order a Intel 6200 N NIC my next upgrade

 

nice! im sure the better thermal paste will help with the gpu overclocking also.

 

I can't get anywhere near you 605/926/1510. I BSOD like a when I went in the 600's lol. Doing more benchmarking whatnot. 500mhz is rather stable. I had it at 520mhz I eventually crashed after about 3hours of solid l4d2 but that might not have been the OC. So I went down to 500mhz. Regardless I only play l4d2 and a little portal 2 now that I bought it so I dont need to OC to much. I do alot more CPU intensive non gaming stuff. My i7 is at 166 stable after doing intelburntests and more so Im pretty happy.

 

stupid fan connector gets me every time...

 

yeah i did a voltage mod on mine haha. also iv noticed the R1 gets higher gpu clocks for some reason. but i dont do that many cpu intensive things. execpt games. and the 2ghz mod will make this thing even better. i havent seen anyone get as high of an overclock as me on the gpu tho.

 

What did you use to clean the heatsinks and dies? Temperatures before and after?

 

Thats awesome.

Hey Davy. Before I answer your question id like to say I am very impressed and use your bios mod to up the GPU voltage to .95. My graphics card doesn't seem to want to hold a OC though. I use isopropyl alcohol, 70% actually which I know is 30% water but it still dried very fast and I used some compressed air to make sure it was completely dry before applying the new paste. When I am gaming the max temperature I've seen in L4D2 is 69c on the CPU and around 66-67c on the GPU. When I am just idling my tempatures for both the GPU and CPU idle around 49-50c. Honestly I did not take very good numbers before I did the thermal paste so I really can't tell you if there is a huge temperature gain or not.

Edit: I was able to get my CPU temp up to 77c and the GPU up to 70c while generating new maps in minecraft.

 

Thanks. Those temperatures seem cool for an R2. Best note down how you cleaned it and the results too.

 

I honestly thought they were rather hot.

 

It's common to see gaming temps on R2s in the low to mid 80s

 

Oh okay thanks for the info.

 

Hmm, R1 runs < 65C max for both CPU and GPU so thermal paste probably won't help my matter much. Mainly voltage issues it seems.

 

It could how olds your R1?

 

Ordered refurb Nov 2010, had it replaced shortly thereafter because it was a crap refurb. New one was perfect, but no idea on actual date because it is a replacement of a refurb!

Either way if temps are < 65C, and usually < 60C, lowering temps won't help overclocking because if it's crashing because of temps I have bigger issues.

 

Oh. Regardless one would assume replacing the paste with higher quality paste as well as having new paste would extend the life of the dies.

 

Well, maybe marginally, but the chips will last probably ten years as long as they're within spec temperature and voltage, so not an issue. Heck I have a couple machines that are bordering on eight years old and still going strong as ever with only changing the thermal paste every few years just because you should.

 

Same here. Still have a 9 year old sony desktop I threw Linux on and use as a server.

 

i found a youtubevideo Upgrading the M11x R2 with internal Bluetooth module and high end thermal compound Alienware m11xR2 high speed modding

 

@theparadox:

To revive an old thread... how have your temps gone since you applied Arctic Silver 5, and let it burn in for a few weeks?

I noticed that my laptop GPU gets up into the 77C range, and was considering applying some Arctic Silver 5 to squeeze a bit more out of the cooling system.

 

I am idling around 43-45c right now. I live in the desert to where it is 38c outside almost everyday and we barely run the AC. One thing I notice that helps ALOT with temps is blowing out the fan with compressed air. Greatly improves temps to get that dust out. Gaming I see around 60c-70 max. Yesterday though I was playing left 4 dead 2 and I had; had my windows open for a few days at nights to allow cool air in which built up a lot of dust in the fans the temp hit 85c. Upon cleaning that out my temps are back down. Hope that helps

 

Wow. Just applied AS5, removed a small bump on radiator plate (I thought it should be mirror polished, but meh~), blew the dust from internals (not much, really) and saw a tremendous temperature drop - from 80 under peak load to 71 (using TS). No more throttling issues, acceptable fan noise and laptop seems much cooler in general as well.

 

Yeah, it was a nice change. I recently did the same thing.

I don't know how much of a difference was made from the actual Arctic Silver 5, and how much was just from the fact that I cleaned out the heatsink & fans. Previously, my GPU temps maxed out at 77C. Now, I'm struggling to get it above 69C.

 

Hmm your guys temps are still rather high... Im selling my M11x now. If your interested Hope my thread helped. Alienware M11x R2 i7 with Upgrades, Worldwide Shipping | eBay

 

dudes i took apart my alienware M11x laptop and got that same star! lol guess we got the same tech