Dell Overheating Question: TIM?

I am helping a friend with an old Dell Vostro 15" (T7500/8400M) with OUTRAGEOUS temps. The video card is about 70C (acceptable) but the cpu peaks above 80C with clean vents, max van profile, and undervolting. I did tear it down but made sure to reassemble it correctly (done a couple in my day)...I am wondering if applying some Arctic Silver Ceramique would be a good idea? I don't have any other explanations for the heat.... I appreciate your input! GG

 

Not Arctic Silver Ceramique, you will want to use Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease.

The video card is also too hot, being that it is part of the Nvidia recall, you'll want to make sure your BIOS is up-to-date and the system is kept as cool as possible. Otherwise, you'll eventually be looking at a GPU failure due to overheating.

 

Thanks Robin! I totally forgot to check the BIOS version. I will also take a look at updating and perm underclocking the 8400m. I assume that 2 years after the fact it will not be covered by Dell's extension coverage for the issue. I was thinking of AS5 but I opted for Ceramique because if I mess up with it, there is no possibility of a blown fuse/etc. I know it's not as good or as 'easy' to work with, but I figure it only takes one time I make a mistake on someone's computer. When undervolting I was getting some really low voltages with stability, so I am a bit off with this laptop. I bumped each up an extra voltage notch just in case, above my 2 safety bumps already. Overly cautious, but again, not my hardware. If I get a better handle on this, I will post up, maybe serve someone down the road. Again, thank you for your help!

 

Arctic Silver 5 is pretty safe to use, I just put tape around the surface of the CPU, which makes spreading the grease a lot easier as the clean-up is just removing the tape. It's similar to painting and masking tape, as long as you don't "paint" over the taped portions, you will be fine.

 

May I ask why? I think the ceramique is more easy to use, more easy to wipe off than the as5, and the difference isn't much.

 

Arctic Silver 5 has much more heat conductance than Ceramique, so Arctic Silver 5 is more commonly used.

 

You want neither. IC Diamond 7 is better than either of them.

 

Debatable. The differences are so negligible that if I took 2 laptops and applied both greases and let them cure I bet you there would really be no difference in temps if at all.

 

I have been in and out of these laptops a TON of times. The video card has the heatpipe/heat sink attached to the top of the video card. The problem: there is NO TIM between he video card and heat sink, just a heat pad. If you put on thermal compound it will help a bit but not much.

Look into copper modding it. I have been wanting to do that for a while.