Video Guide: Changing thermal paste(AS5) on Studio XPS 1645

Due to popular demand of people requesting a guide on how to change their thermal paste I decided to make a video guide for the community as a way of giving back. Enjoy and sorry if I'm no high quality youtube blogger. This is my first video ever.


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Changing Studio XPS 1645 Thermal Paste(AS5) from XmDXtReMeK on Vimeo.

Notes:
You need isopropyl alcohol(99% or high purity)/arctic clean solution would work too with Q-Tips to clean up the previous compound. So please have that handy guys.

Also watch this video on why I will not spread the compound but put a pea size dab of the compound and let the pressure spread it. You do not want air pockets between your cpu and heatsink, it will cause a lose of the thermal interface and wont work optimal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

Break-In Period

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5 conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

UPDATE: I had a brain fart when I was applying paste guys, make sure if you have a quad proccessor to do a horizontal dab not a vertical dap like I did in the video. today I redid it with a horizonal dont make it too long. with vertical i was missing a tiny bit of paste on one corner of the CPU when I opened it up. really tiny corner so you get the point. It wouldn't have mattered much but I'm a perfectionist.

 

Perfect. Great work. I'm sure this will help alot of people.

 

Thanks for the video. Mind telling us your new idle/load temperatures?

 

Great by the way. So there no need to spread the paste?

 

Nice job! Thanks a lot for this vid.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4 refer to the video in my guide.

 

Hey XmDXtReMeK,
Thanx alot for the video guide. Really appreciated
Rep+

 

Thanks for the guide I'm actually going to try this myself in a week or two. So how much of a decrease in your temps did you see?

 

Now this is a really helpfull one, nice work, much appreciated!

 

Sorry guys I forgot to monitor my before temps haha, but my low is 42C and high is 47C idle. Im sure it will drop 3C-6C more after the break in period is over.

 

Thanks very much for this great video! What CPU do you have in there? Also, is the AS compound remover kit worth the extra cost to purchase? Or would the 99% alcohol work just as well? (Though my partner has access to pure ethanol working in a scientific lab as well come to think of it.)

 

Arctic clean is cheap, its up to you, they both do the job. Ive used 99% alcohol for ages before I got actic clean. Its a nice investment to get Arctic clean,it might do a better job, plus its going to last you a life-time(literally). btw on boot for the first 30min-1h its 38-40C after that with msn,browser,skype etc running. I get around 42C-47C. Ill give a gaming report soon.

I still highly recommend getting a laptop cooler for gaming it works wonders, preferably Zalman NC2000.

 

Am I using the cooler wrong or something? I have an NC2000 and I don't notice the temps dropping by much, maybe a degree or 2 tops. But the palmrest and such feels cooler to the touch. So while I'm happy from a comfort perspective, I'm concerned that it's not actually helping the CPU and GPU temps much.

 

Thanks very much! What processor do you have in your 1645 out of curiosity? My i7 820 idles around 53-55C, and the GPU around the same, and that seems a little high to me.

 

I have a 720QM. My GPU temps are 50-51C(GPUZ) but I expect it to drop lower after the break-in period.

Make sure the laptop vents are aligned to the holes. Plus, In idle temps it doesn't make a big difference but in gaming it sure does by 6-10 degrees for me. They did a bad job with the under panel for the xps... I dont know why the whole thing isn't vented... theres like only 3 spots that have air passing through. Also I have my laptop cooler lifted with 2 styrofoam panels one for the front and back. You can always put an ice pack under your laptop cooler too if you like so it will pull in very cold air.

 

amazing guide! I was able to easily follow everything. Temps dropped by 5-7C Thanks!

 

Awesome video! Just remember I think this will void your warranty.

 

It only voids your warranty if you're not careful and damage something in the process. You need to be confident enough to know what you're doing when you're opening your laptop up, and this video helps build that confidence for some. Just take your time, follow instructions, and you should be fine. Dell already puts paste on these systems, but puts it on very carelessly (the paste oozes over the chips' sides and engulfs the GPU/CPU), so replacing that should not be noticeable.

 

As EDU mentioned, it will not void your warranty if you know what you are doing. Dell has picture guides to remove everything and anything from the laptops for their customers. So you'll be fine! I'm glad I could help.

 

Whew! Just got done putting on AS5. I CANNOT BELIEVE how INSANELY sloppy Dell was with putting thermal compound on. There was literally almost 1/8th of an inch in some places, and it was all over the processor base. It took nearly 30 lint-free q-tips to clean all it off. Absolutely MAD. However, I'm already 8-10C COOLER at light loads then I was a few hours before with the default paste. Absolutely stunning results, and hopefully will get even better after it cures!

 

I changed mine like a week ago...now my CPU idles at 38 C and GPU idles at 53 C......pretty happy~~

 

Did you notice improvement after the cure time that AS5 requires to work at optimal levels?

 

I wanted to do this today and somehow the screw was forced in there so I unscrewed harder but couldnt get it out, it applyed so much force that the screw started to loose it phillips shape. I tryied with every screwer around the house but couldnt do it do to its deformed shape. I am worried to not be able to get it out ever again. Any tips?

Im talking about the outside cover, the one with the feet and X holes.

 

What was your Idle before (and at Max CPU and GPU Load)?

What is your current temps at Max Loads?

 

Im going to be attempting to apply AS5 to my system 2mara. The question I hav is, is it better to turn on the laptop straight after reassembly and leave it running for a specified amount of time, or to reassemble and leave the AS5 to cure with system off?

 

whut..no way that dot of arctic silver will spread all over the gpu core ?!

 

@DuranXL, the hottest part of the core is actually in the center of it. There really is no need for the paste to cover the entire thing. Also if you watch the video XmD linked (the YouTube one), you'd be surprised how far the dot spreads (maybe just add a little more than the linked video and you're good).

 

Gosh! It was a headache applying AS5!!

My temp wid stock was 44C idle for CPU and 49C for GPU and guess what now its 44C idle for CPU and 50C for GPU

I applied it the best i can. I used Acetone to clean the CPU, GPU and Heatsink. Applied AS5 on CPU wid horizontal line method and GPU wid dot method. Guess need to wait for Cure period to over

 

I hope you used pure Acetone its not recommended to use it. Thats really odd that you didn't get an improvement yet. Everybody usually gets a 1-6 degree improvement and then an additional 3-6 degrees after.

oh sure it will, look at the video included in the post for demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

 

I did this the week i received my laptop, but you should spread it around the whole chip.

 

What should i do now?? what do you recommend?? BTW how much ur GPU and CPU idles at?

3.5gm of AS5 can be used how many times??

 

No, you shouldnt spread it, that would make air bubbles which are not good. Just put a little spot in the middle of the chip, once the heatsink is appylyed the paste will spread by itself.

 

I have done both methods now (spread and dot/spot) and to tell you the truth, I was getting better temps with the spread method. I will be doing more testing (taking it apart and trying both methods again) and post my results. And yes… I do know what I’m doing, so please don’t say “you’re doing something wrong if you’re not getting better temps over the spread method” or something to that extent.

 

I never said such thing... I said if your temps didn't drop from the original dell stock thermal paste, then you are doing something wrong. No need to be a meany about it.

You can wait for the break-in period if you are patient also test load temperatures. Also, you can try the spread method and see if that gives better results. 46-48 GPU and CPU 38-43 still break-in period isn't over.

 

Sorry, I wasn’t quoting you or anyone else… It’s that I can actually see someone making this statement. In fact, you have done a fantastic job on this tutorial… and will receive a rep point!

 

Break in period is about 150+ hours of use. And i think the spread method is more effective.

 

Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

I just redid mine and its the same. When i took of the heatsink i saw AS5 was properly applied and covering the complete core n very less coming out of the core.

 

Does this void the warranty or is it all good? I got some nice arctic silver ceramic paste that needs a new home


Edit: nvm on the warranty part i just did not read the 2nd page.... would the ceramic paste work just as fine as normal arctic silver? I use it on my desktop systems and notice a 2c lower drop then with normal silver on all intel systems I used it on...

 

Can these instructions be followed on an SXPS 1640 as well?

 

Adsolutely, Just the design of the headsink and the processor might be different. Coz this video has Quad core 1 and you are using Dual core, so you have to choose how to apply the paste

 

Well, I'm going to be applying this here in a minute. Wish me luck! LOL.

I did watch the video, and I took my laptop apart just to make sure I could do it and put it back together with no issues...that was much easier than anticipated.

Well here goes nothing! Hope to see you on the other side of 84C!!!

 

What would the best method to applying this to a dual core CPU?

There seems to be more options (horizontal, vertical, pea, cross) than I knew before and its getting more confusing!

 

For the dual core I used pea size, since its a square. I used horizontal for quad because its a rectangle. By the way just an update, my gaming temps dont go beyond 75 degrees anymore, even after hours of gaming and OCed video card and with a notebook cooler its around 70-72C.

 

Did it just an hour ago. Did a set of tests that I also did 7 months ago and all temps seem to be 10C lower!

Thanks for the video, helped very much.

I'll try some gaming over the next few days to see if it really makes a difference where it matters!

 

Not a problem, Im glad I could help!

 

If you must use cotton swabs, make sure you get ALL the fibers off the dies
Some fibers including cotton can impede the even flowing of the thermo paste
You want the dies & heat sink fiber/dust free

 

Everything was dust and fibre free. I found using a paper towel pretty good at cleaning it all off. Also helped clean off some very subborn thermal paste... well it was like dried cement!

 

Hi all. Can I see some screenshots of you guys using cpuid hardware monitor with your i7-720?

My temps are all over the place after doing this mod (don't remember beforehand), currently CORE 0 is 50C, CORE 1 is 47C, CORE 2 is 52C, CORE 3 is 49C.... Those are Celsius readings at idle, NC2000 is turned off.

I'm thinking I may have not put enough paste on it, or it didn't spread properly.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

BTW my ATI 4670 according to GPUZ idles at 51C.

 

That's about how my 820 is as well, it's all over the place. My GPU idles about 52-53 as well, and I'm starting to think I did a poor job as well. :\