first time re-applying thermal paste.

Hi all my laptop was running pretty hot it would reach 98c clocked at 750/1000 using amd clock tools when playing metro 2033 ( i dont have any other software to test performance so i use this game and fraps) and it idled at around 60c (stock clocks)

Well in not so great with computers and changing hardware and that kind of thing but i grown a set and read Inaps guide and followed his instruction which were very well put.

First i used what i believe to be a standard-ish thermal paste called saphire heat sink compound and hoped just applying it with a bit of love and care would provide me with better results than the factory paste.
I got a better idle temp at 55c but in Metro with same clocks as before it reached 108c after 5-10 mins.:S.
I applied the paste a second time with similar results.

Anyway went out today and got some artic mx3 and im very impressed idle at 47c right now and Metro 750/1000 =79c i like that the artic mx3 is not electric conductive so a noob like me can feel a bit safer that nothing will get fried
Finally i can push my OC a bit further.

Anyway just thought i'd post this to show what the difference between good and bad paste can be.
And also Thanks for the guild Inap im so happy with my temps thanks to you +rep...And no more fan noise in guildwars !!!

 

Great to hear you have lower temps now.

Your first try probably didn't turn out bad because of the paste but because you got some airbubbles between the die and the heatsink... now it seems fine.

Also make sure you keep the insides of your system clean, especially the vents.

 

Ahh air bubbles.So much i dont know but it works great now, So silent in Guild wars.that noise when i played almost spoiled my alienware experience and I'm always cleaning this thing.Maybe too much.

 

great temps, congrats.

its pretty hard to get air bubbles, with the method in my guide. but it happens.

 

wow, I'm jealous. I bought a tube of mx3 but it looks like I got one of the bad batches because it just clumps up into little balls when heated. Can't justify another 15 bucks so I'll stick with my OCZ freeze until it runs out.

 

actually i prefer the ocz freeze over the mx-3, its a little more thicker and spreads better imo.

 

yeah Freeze is very easy to work with, and does its job quite well.

 

I got the Arctic Cooling MX-4 is it any good ?

 

no u shoud ask the dell to redo paste

 

MX-4 is excellent. You chose well.

 

any test's you guys use to like stress the cooling system of the graphics card
I'd like to give them a try. ^^

 

Furmark is the classic. FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net. Start off with Stability Test and Log temps selected to get a feel for the program. Then start over, adding Extreme Burning Mode and Post FX. Watch your temperatures. You would prefer to top out in the mid-80C's; if you hit 95C, shut it down.

 

Keep in mind that 10 min of furmark is more then enough... some people don't know this and run it for 30min and more...

 

Great! thanks guys i'm using it now thought future mark reads 0c for my temps. is it ok to monitor with amd clock tools instead?

 

Yeah, sure, I have never used AMD clocks as I have a Nvidia card but I'm sure it will be good enough to monitor your temps.

 

nice....not sure what all the temps mean on clock tools but as long as all 3 stay below 95c i guess I,m good. Lol this is a lot of fun...Did the extream burn for 10 mins at 800/1050 and it got to 95c

time to learn what im doing and push this thing + rep to all those who helped me xD

 

Wow, 800! On my GX640, anything above 750 would artifact like crazy. Not to mention the temps were easily reaching the high 90s in a matter of seconds with Furmark. I'm sticking to stock clocks. I don't game all that much on it anyway.

 

how about the ic diamond ? I heard they are better. does it spread good like the ocz freeze? any personal experience?

 

HWiNFO32 is very good for temps (click on Sensors tab): HWiNFO32 Download

 

ic diamond is a very good compound, but i only recommend it to someone with experience, because the compound if not handled right may end up scratching your die.

 

So what's the general consensus? Which is best. I'm running out of Artic Silver 5 and thinking of getting something a bit more viscous. The AS5 is really sticky and goes everywhere as it would rather stay on the tip of the tube rather than the die. I'm looking at some MX-4. Apparently Coollabs are extremely good but the stuff reacts with aluminium and literally corrodes it in a matter of mins. Anyone have experiences vs the AS5?

 

thx for your advice . I think i just stick to either mx4 or as5 atm. ic diamond is abit over my budget tho.

 

I am more that capable of doing it myself thank you...Just want to know if the thermal paste i referred to is of good quality.

 

Any thermal paste that is referred to in this forums is better than the blue tack stuff that Dell use. Don't worry about it most members here know what they are talking about

 

Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste Review - Introduction

 

yes but i just say becuase there are alot of noobs who try redo a past and break the video card. if you know alot like me thens this is no problem and you should try.

 

What the f*** is up with repeating you know alot and are a computer engineer in practically every 14 posts you made here, yet mostly repeating what someone else said 2 posts before you, giving bad advice (reinstall windows 7 because the internet access icon gives an X mark, come on!) and mostly actually not giving any usefull advice at all, and asking for rep in half of the posts you make. Highly annoying and it's not really contributing...

Now back on topic, i always use AS5 paste since i'm just used to it and know what the results are. I Tried MX4 last week, and i must say it's quite easy to work with, and the results are a bit better then AS5 from what i have seen on temps in my machines.
But the stuff dell (and alot of other manufacturers actually) uses as thermal paste is really crap. So pretty much everything you can think of to replace it is a huge improvement.

 

Well said, Jiggy. And overdue.

 

I prefer ShinEtsu G751, overall I have had good results with it on some of my desktops that I used it with, and overall awesome results with my M15X.

 

Thanx for the info Rev

 

LOL... couldn't have said it better myself.

 

So i have just removed the dell paste and applied the MX-4, the GPU is down quite a bit, but CPU is not that impressive, do you guys think i should try reapplying it, or is it fine?

This is after playing Metro 2033 for around 20mins on stock paste and MX-4 paste stock clocks.

Dell Paste:


MX-4:

 

Your temperatures look very decent to be honest with the new paste. (actually they weren't that bad also with the stock paste).

Keep in mind it takes a while (100-200 hours) for the paste to settle, the cooling will increase a few degrees over time.
How did you apply the paste, it's possible you might be able to reapply it using another procedure to get a bit more cooling out of it, but as said, they don't look that bad at all imo.

 

I basically followed Inaps guide to the letter, but i didn't have alcohol to clean the CPU & GPU die's so i just cleaned them with a lint-free cloth. Do you think if i cleaned the GPU & CPU with alcohol prior to applying the MX-4 that would have made a difference ?

I would really love to keep my GPU below the 70's, if its possible. Regarding the settling time for the paste, does AC MX-4 have settling time ? I recall reading that it doesn't have a setting / curing time... but i might be mistaken.

 

Below 70 degrees is a nice goal, but i don't think you will reach that with any kind of paste.
There will be situations where it will be higher. A card can take some heat, it's just that you don't want it to idle at 70-80 and go over a 100 under load.

I never use alcohol, i just use a cloth to clean the chips and the area around it (i do try to clean it thoroughly, especially also the area around it, i hate having piles of old paste around a gpu, it looks ). I think alcohol could make a slight difference though, only a miniscule piece of dust or leftover from the cloth could result in a couple of degrees higher temperature due to that little area not being cooled and an air bubble over it.

In all honesty, your temps look really good. I am not sure about the settling time for the exact paste you use.

One thing you could try cool-technically is to buy a handfull of small copper heatsinks on ebay for 3 dollars, and use those to have your heatsink spread it's heat better (i'm actually going to try this mod myself soon), which will give you a few degrees more cooling.

 

Thank Jig, could you perhaps provide me with a link to those copper heat sinks, the exact ones that you are gonna buy ?

Thanks for the help & info

 

I will be trying out these:

Copper RAM Heatsink Heat Spreader SD/DDR SDRAM DDR2 - eBay, Memory Chipset Cooling, Fans, Heatsinks Cooling, Computer Components, Computers Networking. (Eindtijd 06-mrt-11 10:42:28 CET)

Copper RAM Heatsink Heat Spreader SD/DDR SDRAM RHS-03 - eBay For RAM, Heatsinks, Fans Heatsinks, PC Components, Computing. (Eindtijd 16-feb-11 03:30:38 CET)

They are very small and should fit if installed correctly (obviously, this is what i'm going to find out, but i think it will) without any kind of modification and with the bottom cover on the notebook, and those 2 links will show you 2 different types which you can use together depending on what size will fit where.

I also found some thermal pads, but i'm not sure where you would be supposed to fit those (i assume it's not meant between the GPU and the heatsink, but maybe it is, then it might be interesting for extra cooling).

 

The thermal pads are used between the GPU RAM and the heatsink, aparently its worth replacing the stock thermal pads with after market thermal pads (Fijipoly). Unfortunately i cant get hold of it in R.S.A

 

A couple of guys in the MSI forums tried those heatsink spreaders on top of the stock heatsink and they reported some pretty good results. Most e-bay sellers ship worldwide so you should be able to get thermal pads or copper spreaders shipped to S.A.

 

I have had only nasty experiences with eBay to be quite honest. But then again $3 isn't a train-smash, maybe worth a try...