Is it worth paying 50-75 to have someone reapply the thermal paste on my y570(laptop)?

My laptop cpu is severely overheating so I wanted to know whether it would be worth paying a really well known computer shop to reapply the thermal paste for me. Another computer shop that I don't know and am not sure if I should trust said they would do it for only twenty. Do you guys think it'd be worth it to go to the expensive shop and haggle a bit?

 

>$50 seems a lot of money for $1 of materials plus 1/2 hour of time unless the computer is really challenging to get inside. I suggest you first read this thread to learn a little about the different types of thermal paste and then ask each place what paste they use. If they haven't a clue then go elsewhere. If they do know which paste then they might know how to apply it. I would tend to go to the smaller guy who might even agree that you can watch how it is done.

You can also ask whether they will give the inside of the computer a good clean as part of the operation. Quite often it is the accumulation of dust and fluff where the fan blows the air through the radiator grille on the heatsink that is a major cause of overheating. However, that's something you should try to check for yourself.

John

 

Well, I'll be bringing my own thermal paste(MX-4), but I guess I will ask them those questions. Also, what would be a good price in your opinion?

 

If you have the paste already, may as well just DIY.
Say it is a hour of work, 20 is fair if they do a adequate job, including some cleaning etc.

 

Another vote for DIY. Here's a completely disassembly video.

Skip to 7:13 to see how to disconnect the fan cable and where the heatsink screws are. I know they did a very total teardown in the video, but just by eyeballing it, it appears that the bottom cover does not get in the way of the heatsink, and you could simply just remove the heatsink and access the CPU without having to tear the whole thing apart like they did in the video.

 

$50-$75 is awful for that little work. I'll take a guess and say you're looking at GeekSquad or something? >.<

It's pretty easy to re-do the thermal paste in most laptops. It would be helpful to know which model laptop you have; maybe there's a step-by-step guide to repasting it online somewhere.

EDIT: Didn't see that the model was already mentioned!

 

He mentioned it's a Y570 in the title, I'm going to assume that's a Lenovo Y570.

 

If you lived near me, I'd do it for a drink or something.

Good advice from those guys above. You should just read a tutorial, watch a video, and do it yourself.

 

You should trust the computer shop that wants to charge you $20 because that is more in line with reality and they are not trying to scam you. Do not trust any computer shop that wants to charge $50-75 for a CPU repaste because they are trying to rip off unsuspecting customers with that kind of price.

 

I'd beg to differ.

While I'm all for DIY and have swapped CPUs/heatsinks and many other things for free when asked nicely, once you own an actual B&M store a whole another perspective opens up, based on the rent, insurance, workers that have to be paid and so forth.

In all fairness, charging $70-80/h for labour is the going rate in most of the U.S. with a 30 minute minimum charge...

My $0.02 only...

 

$70-80 an hour for labor is ridiculous when they pay someone minimum wage to actually do the work. You aren't having someone show up at your house in the evening and offering you a glass of bubbly as you wait for them to finish. Trust me, they aren't charging $50-75 to replace the thermal paste because they have so much overhead, it is because they realize that most of the people walking into the store are suckers with no other options. So then what about the shop that will only charge $20 to do it? I guess they are losing money?

I've been around my fair share of computer repair shops. Most, but not all, are super shady. Exorbitant prices are the biggest giveaway. The scenario given by the OP sounds like a classic case. Luckily there are shops and people out there, like the other shop that the OP mentioned, that are willing to do the job for a fair price and aren't trying to prey on people who think that opening up a PC requires voodoo magic.

When I was in high school I wanted to apply at the largest computer repair / used computer store in town. In thirty minutes of browsing the items around the store and listening to employees and customers talking, I realized that I had too much of a conscience to work there.

 

While your presumption is correct when it comes to big box stores, the smaller ones don't necessarily operate that way. I've got a couple of friends who own such PC repair shops and none of them is paying their workers minimum wage, since they want the work done right, and no theft.

Admittedly I have never ran a PC repair shop, but owned a store at one point in my life and will tell you that overhead does creep up on you, whether you like it or not.

Maybe they have no work.

Maybe they're the ones paying their staff minimum wage.

As have I.

Personally, I hope that OP decides that the DIY route is the one to take. I'd never make a recommendation for/against a particular store without knowing more about them than just their pricing, but that's me.

I could absolutely see that.

Once again, my $0.02 only...

 

You are absolutely right about this. I was just jumping to conclusions based on my personal experiences. Either way though, I think $50-75 is simply too much for this kind of job. I would recommend the OP to not take the computer there unless there really are no other safe options.

 

Agree on all points.

Only charge component costs myself, but that's because it's a hobby. If it'd be my business then there's taxes to pay and, especially, insurance. Some $40 would've been a minimum, unless it was below-the-table or an attempt to hook up a new customer for future repair/replacement jobs.

You're probably correct as well, but that's life , isn't it? You can do something someone else can't, so you charge them for that. And the less people that can do the same job, the more you can ask.

Of course, this is a no-skills-required type of task, but so is being a lawyer or a consultant . Doesn't stop them charging $150+, does it? And it is, at least, a task that can be valued in measurable terms, instead of an 'advice' which may or may not have been helpful, which you'll never know because the alternative route has not been taken. A drop in temperature is something real, at least ...

 

It's not worth going to a computer store at all just to ask them to reapply thermal paste.

Get yourself a tube of IC Diamond and a packet of thermal pads from Amazon. At the most you'll lose about $15 or even less.

And just to be safe, add an anti-static wristband into that mix as well - only a dollar or two.

 

Well, I can't do it DIY because I am not willing to risk screwing up my laptop, but I'll see if they go down to 30-35. So do you think that the cheaper computer shop would be worth going to instead? I don't want them to mess anything up and me be liable for it.

 

Since the 1st post said the first shop is "well known" and the cheaper one in your circumstance it's reasonable to pay the well known shop.

 

kushi100,

Sadly, it's either DIY or pay ridiculous prices. Moreover that, where I live, computer repair shops are notorious for all possible kinds of fraud. You'd better first check for negative reviews of the shop you're going to trust your notebook with, or make them do the job in your presence.

 

You know prior to the Clevo laptop in my sig, the last time I built a computer was in 2004. I also felt very uncomfortable with all the DIY stuff at first because I didn't want to screw anything up, especially not on a laptop that cost me >$3500. But after reading the service manual and watching disassembly videos like 10 times, and then memorizing the key steps, I took a deep breath and dived right in. It was definitely a bit nerve wracking the first time, but I didn't rush, and took pictures along each step of the way so I could figure out how to piece things back together.

Anyway before crossing the "cool story bro" line, I just want to say it's really not as hard and scary as you think. As long as you take your time, and make sure you mark down everything so you know what piece goes where, you'll be fine.

Besides, learning how to DIY will save you tons of money in the long run, and also means a lot less downtime because you don't have to rely on others.

 

^^

DIY is also a great life skill and isn't something to be passed up.

 

I'd clean the headsink and fan out before I dropped even $10 on thermal paste. That's much more likely to make an appreciable temperature difference.

 

Already done.

 

GPU's temp is mid 80's while editing or playing games, but cpu is well into 90's

 

kushi100, you'd better undervolt it anyway, that's too much.

 

You can't undervolt the sandy bridge processors, only lower the multiplier and that lowers performance too much. I read that many of the y570's came with poorly applied or no thermal paste at all.

 

Wow that Y570 is quite a bit of disassembly. But $50-75 is still a lot. And I still say try yourself. It's the only way to learn. If you can turn a screw and keep things organized it's pretty simple to do.

If you can dodge a wrench...