M15x + ATI 5870 (MOD)

Are you talking about using the grocery bag with my finger and spread a thin layer over the gpu?

 

But to the best of my knowledge spreading by hand can cause micro bubbles to form between the heatsink and gpu. I don't know, a nice drop at the center always works for me.

 

that way should work, also i see people spread it with business cards too. but i think the method you mention is easiest.

 

Just play some battlefield 2 and the max temperature 92C.

 

Yeah on a desktop, the heat sink is so heavy it does the job for you, but a laptop heatsink is quite thin and light so I always apply a little pressure before I tighten down the screws. This method should get a thin and very evenly spread film of paste.

Man 90C+ is a little high for me...

 

Apply pressure before tightening and be sure to follow the correct pattern when tightening, not just in a circle, but across the diagonals

 

Ah yes good call on the diagonals scook9. Forgot to mention that.

 

yea i did the diagonal pattern but didn't apply pressure on it before i tigthen it. So you guy think i should reapply it again?

 

Yeah go ahead and give it another go. Just light pressure is good, I like to hold it down tight until I get all the screws tightened. I'm always afraid the thermal pads will "bounce" and lift the heatsink up, causing bubbles to form.

 

k I just apply the thermal paste again and now it idle at 62C I think that alot better .

 

It also may take awhile for the thermal paste to settle in. My idle temps are low 60's now after being in high 60's.

 

Sweet temps guys! Nice work!

 

So what would you guys consider "safe" temperatures? For these jobs:

Idle
Browsing the internet/youtube
Gaming
Benching

Just wanna know so I don't fry my card :/

 

I idle @ 58-59 and gaming it's usually max 77-80 according to HWMon.

For paste application I just did the very basic ball in the center method whereas normally I do the nice layer with a business card.

 

I once remember seeing a tutorial that said getting a mirror finish by using fine grain sand paper, water with a little bit of soap to get a mirror finish would give the best heat dissipation. They also said if you were very very VERY careful that you could do the same thing to the processor for the ultimate cooling and not need any thermal paste. of course i thought they were crazy never did it.
any body think this would lower temps better then using thermal paste or pads.

 

You can lap the heatsink for a mirror finish and it will help dissipate heat, but you still use a TIM regardless.

And you never lap the CPU. The die comes with a nice, smooth mirror finish as-is.

 

I can't get my temp as low as ethan. It still idle around 62-63C. Hopefully in a day or two when the thermal paste get to set in a little more then it get that low.

 

This was when cpus had a plate on top of the die.

I use to use steel wool on desktop heatsinks to get a nice finish...hadn't really thought about doing it to the laptop heatpipe but might do it.

 

Lapping is not necessary on a laptop....it is really only necessary on desktops when the plat for the cooler is not flat. The "mirror" finish is gimmicky and not needed unless you are going for a world OC record really

The proper application of thermal paste (meaning really a small amount) and good contact with the heatsink should give you all the cooling you need

 

If you used MX-3 or something similar, your temps will not lower in a few days as there is no cure time with that TIM.

I know that MX series and OCZ Freeze don't have cure times. IC7 and AS5 do.

 

Another reason I use OCZ Freeze

 

2 hours and 200 hours respective.

 

Looks like ethan8791's method is working well for the M15x. For a high end card in this model 58-59 idle seems pretty good imo...

 

I am going to take my time on Monday and redo the entire system with MX-3.

I also have some high quality 2mm thermal material for the RAM and rest of the board's components.

Monday is going to be a fun day!!

I am very impressed with the i7-620 thus far. Pretty cool running and the performance is great.

 

i can second that just installed and played a bit into the first bioshock ran perfect max specs 1080p res it was awesome gonna update the gpu drivers once vantage and 06 finish dling

 

The 5870 is one heck of a card.

Closest thing to desktop-class performance from a single GPU that I have used in a laptop.

And, like I always say, I prefer a very fast single GPU solution than a CF or SLI setup.

 

Agreed, I just need to get my temps down. MX-3 should give me a much better lowering than AS5 right?

 

Better? Yes.

Much better? Not likely.

There is usually only a max of 5 or 6 degrees C difference between the worst TIM and the BEST.

The way it is applied makes more difference than the TIM itself.

 

Hmm ok. I must be doing something wrong, because my temps are in the 90's while gaming on BC2.

 

Maybe.

Did you clean the die and heatsink very good before applying the TIM?

 

how much better would you say the 5870 is against 4850 crossfire i.e the m17

 

also how much are you applying?

 

Not particularly. I might go out and get some 90% isopropyl alcohol. What exactly is the die?

Also AS5 has like a 200 hour burn in time, which is kind of ridiculous.

 

I'm doing the grain of rice size dot in the middle and letting the heatsink spread it evenly. Although when I screwed in the heatsink, I didn't do it diagonally.

 

Yeah... might want to clean it right.

 

The die is the actual processor part of the cpu package (the square part of the processor that you apply the TIM to).

If you used AS5 I would wait a couple of weeks before deciding to redo the paste job or not as it might drop a few degrees.

 

I redo mine yesterday and it drop down to 63C still not in the high 50 like Ethan. I also use MX-3 like Ethan and the same method to apply the thermal paste.

 

Hey sleey0, do you mind taking pictures of when you install the 5870? I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong with my heatsink, since I got a refurb. Especially when you apply thermal paste, etc. My MX-3 also comes in on monday and I'm hoping my current high temps are due to AS5 not settling in yet. Regardless, the MX-3 is going on it right away. I'd really appreciate it

 

Worrying about a few degrees really is not worth the stress...all systems will not be the exact same temp - it varies from chip to chip

 

True, but my temps are definitely higher than they should be, and I just want some comparison to know if I can do anything about it.

 

Ambient temps will affect things a lot as well.

 

AS 5 sucks.

 

True that, unfortunately nowhere near me sells anything better, so I have to wait for an online shipment :/

 

There is no magic to it lol

Watch this, seems to help as it gives an idea of what's going on with each method.

 

Great video!!

 

All of this paste talk has me wondering if it is worth replacing the stock paste. Are there any temp reductions?

 

Probably not worth the hassle, IMO.

I am going to do the CPU with the GPU on Monday because I will have the system opened up anyway so no reason not to do it.

 

I would speculate that it would be worth doing. The "stuff" that was on my 260 was that horrible material that basically seems like some sort of clay....maybe I'm wrong but just doesn't seem like the most optimal thing to be using.

 

You'd be surprised, the factory paste works pretty well.

 

Yes, the factory stuff is fine 99% of the time.

That is why I said it isn't worth doing a paste job unless you are already in the system for something.