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    m1530 gpu thermal paste?

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by shoubrastreet74, Apr 22, 2009.

  1. shoubrastreet74

    shoubrastreet74 Newbie

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    Hi. I just had the motherboard/video card on my m1530 replaced by the dell guy because of the old defective graphics card issue. I watched him do the whole thing, and when he re-attached cooling mechanism to the motherboard, he used new thermal paste for the cpu, but not the video card. I asked him about this, and he said that the surface of the gpu is different and doesn't need it. I don't really believe this, since it looks just like the desktop gpus that I always use thermal paste on. I'm getting pretty high temps now (65-70C idle). So does anyone know if there is indeed supposed to be thermal paste on the m1530's gpu? Because if there is, then I have a tube of Arctic Silver ready to go.
     
    shoubrastreet74, Apr 22, 2009
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  2. idq000

    idq000 Notebook Deity

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    No, not on the GPU. Usually there is a gap that is big enough between the heatsink and the chip that thermal grease just won't cut it. That is why they use either thermal putty or thermal pads.
     
    idq000, Apr 22, 2009
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  3. idq000

    idq000 Notebook Deity

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    Oh, also about the temps, I have an Alienware m9750 with the 8700M GT card, and it pretty much idles in that range, too. Lol. Just a simple DVD movie will make it shoot up to 90 C. I wouldn't worry about it.
     
    idq000, Apr 22, 2009
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  4. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

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    A copper mod might be a good idea. You basically put a small copper shim between the GPU and heatsink surface, and put thermal paste on the sides, the fill the gap. There have been plenty of success stories with the XPS series, and I'm about to attempt it on my Studio 1535's ATi graphics card.
    I would worry about 90 degrees Celsius just watching a DVD!
     
    Mastershroom, Apr 22, 2009
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