GS65 Repaste Question

Hello,

This may be the wrong place to ask, but I recently upgraded to a gs65 and I'm a big fan. I found a great deal on the best buy model, and I've bough my own ssd and ram to upgrade it, and I decided to buy some thermal paste (kryonaut) as well. However this is my first time repasting and I'm seeing some conflicting information. When applying the paste, am I supposed to spread it, or just do a line and then press the heatsink down? Any help would be appreciated.

 

It doesn't matter. There are tons of videos debunking the whole "how to apply thermal compound correcly" just make sure its enough and not to little and you're good.

 

Also be sure to discharge static and not move around too much. BEFORE you take the Heatsink off. I killed my GE62 that way had it less than a year. Which reminds me. I must find out how much a new motherboard costs... frightened to ask.

Thouroughly recommend stripping to underwear. No joke.

 

I just touch the PE "spring" in a wall socket every now and then..

You would need to have a ton of static to kill a mobo, more likelly that you made a short before disconnecting the battery..

 

Like asm1 said make sure you discharge yourself before you open the laptop. I've fried a motherboard about two years ago when I was moving my desktop setup to a new case. And since then I've bought an ESD wrist band and ESD mat whenever I work on electronics. It's not 100% nessary, but these are things you can use down the road and they greatly reduce your chances of ruining your expensive electronics in the future.

And so long as your thermal compound isn't conductive and it wouldn't matter how you put the paste on. Just put a small pea size drop on the cpu/gpu and put the heat sink back on. Most manufactures from the factory put waaaay too much on and it goes over the sides and touches the electronics around the cpu/gpu and it doesn't short anything out. Again so long as it's not conductive.

 

I picked up a GS65 over the weekend and I actually might be one of the only people around to tell you NOT to repaste the GS65.. I repasted it around 4 times and every result was worse than stock. The stock heatsink is a stupid tri-post design and once you remove the heatsink, it never seems to lay flat enough on the CPU. I had half the cores hitting 90c immediately and the rest around 60-70c. The ones hitting 90c were obviously not making any contact with the heatsink after repaste.. I even used a TON of paste to try to fill in the gaps to no avail.

I have a lot of experience repasting machines and this one was by far the worse post-paste experience i've ever seen.

Maybe my unit was a bad one, not sure but you should really consider just leaving it stock and undervolting the crap out of the CPU instead.

 

Well it's a bit late for that lol, even though I plan on undervolting it too. it was actually mostly successful, except for core 2 still having pre repaste temps in general. I'm thinking it might be what you said, and I'm honestly not too sure how to proceed at this point. My thought right now is to give it a couple of days to see if it settles in any better, and if it doesn't, I'll give repasting it one more chance, and get an extra set of hands on it to maybe help keep it steady while I'm reattaching it. After that, I'll be undervolting it either way as long as I don't make things worse. Thankfully I got a pretty decent size tube so I could get prime shipping, so I won't have to worry about running out. If you have any other advice in the meantime, I'd appreciate it, since I've already done it. I'll let you know what happens either way!

 

Also totally didn't realize I needed to turn repasting into a more sensual experience, so I'll have to give that a shot. In all seriousness, the place I'm staying at is all tile and hardwood floor, so static buildup isn't too big a concern for me.

 

1. Apply the paste evenly, but not in excess amount.
2. Slightly tightening each screw in clockwise direction but not all the way, then once the heatsink is leveling nicely on top of processor lid then repeat the tightening process again.

 

I'll give that a try and see if it helps, thanks!

 

Tried that bud.. still didn't help sadly.. I'm on my second unit (exchanged the other) and haven't opened it yet... Too afraid to mess up another one :/ Temps are pretty "okay" after a massive undervolt with the stock paste on this one.

 

Out of curiosity what were your stock temps on the exchange unit? Itd be good to have a comparison to reference.

 

Up to you, since you've done enough you will be better on the next round, but if you aren't feeling comfortable doing it then just stick to what you currently have.

 

Sounds like you folded a thermal pad on the VRM's that caused your heatsink to sit crooked.

Next time, buy some Artic 1mm and 0.5mm pads and replace everything, or remove the stock pads and then carefully put them back, and make sure none is folded.

 

About the same temps on the exchange unit.. The bad news is that it appears the new unit still have a 6c delta between the hottest cores and the coolest ones.. This tells me the heatsink is warped (or likely they are all).

 

I'm stable at -162mv on core/cache on the new unit and while it still pegs 90c, it isn't throttling nearly as bad after a long term Prime95 AVX test. Under most normal gaming loads though it never gets past 80c.. normally around 70c.. So I think i'll leave it alone for now.

 

You need help with that?

Might be a lemon unit too, worth trying to return and then getting a new exchange unit.

 

Indeed I did exchange it and the new one is definitely pasted better from the factory.. Old one was running at 82c on GPU under load, new one is sitting pretty at 76c.

 

So quick update. I tried repasting it again with more success this time. I've also undervolted it to -150 and redownloaded the dragon center so i could set a fan curve, since the fans weren't really kicking in properly from the windows settings. I'm hitting low to mid 80's on the CPU with the exception of core 2, and 70's on the GPU. At this point I think it's the heatsink not being properly balanced, but I'm not entirely sure how to proceed to get the contact perfect. I could add more paste so it get's a better contact but I'm not too sure about it. It's still running a lot better, and core 2 is the only one that really throttles, so it's a major improvement regardless.

 

The problem is it isn't better pasted from the factory at all.
MSI laptops use "Lairdtech" paste. It's a thermal stamp. All the pastes are 100% identical. It's a stamp.
The problem is the convex heatsink quality lottery or how evenly or unevely the screws are tightened.

Here's what it looks like before it is ever installed. (this is a GT75VR CPU heatsink, original).

 

Understood, I guess I was referring mostly to the heatsink lottery then.. Wish MSI used something more reliable :/

 

Small update. I repasted it, and did a thin spread this time on the cpu. I also got my undervolt up to -0.165 on the core voltage offset, and my temps are now maxing out at mid 80's playing games with only core 0 and 2 hitting 90 to 91 max during stress tests, with an average of high 60's low 70's. There's only slight thermal throttling on core 2 when the temps peak, and on core 0 and 4 when I stress test it. I think at this point the only things I could do are sand down the heatsink to try to balance it (which I won't since I wouldn't even know where to start on that), or use liquid metal to bring the temps down further. I could technically bump up the fan profile more, but I'm not a fan of jet engines. I might give lm a shot at some point but at the very least, I think it's a large improvement and more than usable at this point. I also managed to fix the creaking on the panels so I'm just gonna jot this whole experience down as a success with room for the improvement in the future.

 

Can you take a clear picture of the underside of the heatsink, if it's not too much trouble?
Thank you. Sanding should be a last resort. I want to see if switching to 0.5mm "Arctic" thermal pads might get cores 0 and 2 down. As this is the same issue many of the 4 core laptops had (due to VRM pad elevation + convex BGA CPU slug + Convex heatsink (you would "think" a very slightly concave (not convex) heatsink would fit a very slightly convex CPU, since that's logic, right? But MSI is smoking heroin or something).

 

Just to make sure, do you mean without the thermal paste? I can do it, I just wanna make sure before I take it out since I already have pictures, just with paste on them. Also it's completely possible that I'm just not good at securing the heatsink properly. This is kind of a first time thing for me, so while I'm pretty stead at applying the paste, I might not be screwing on the heatsink in a way that distributes pressure evenly. If you think better thermal pads might do the trick, I'm down to try that too. This whole thing is a big experiment for me, so as long as I don't fry it(it is my new everyday/work laptop), I'm game for just about anything.

Edit: If they are smoking heroin (or something), I'm mad that they're not including some with every purchase for the rest of us to use lol.

 

You have to repaste if you remove the heatsink anyway, so it doesn't really matter (can't re-use old paste when removing heatsink due to impurities and air bubbles and other stuff. Usually never turns out just right).

What I want to see is the VRM layout of the heatsink. I want to see if the heatsink is also cooling VRM's and if there are thermal pads on the side of the heatsink where the CPU cores are hotter. That would suggest the 'pad' side is elevating the heatsink VERY slightly compared to the "no" pad side.

Try to think of a drawing of two slightly convex surfaces touching each other. Now imagine if one long side gets slightly "elevated up" even by 0.1mm. You can see what happens....

 

I can do that, sure. The pictures I already have don't show the whole design anyway. It'll probably be tomorrow since I'm about to hit a food coma though. Also as far as the vrm's are concered, if they are what I think they are, they are covered by the heatsink, but there's thermal paste on them from the factory, not thermal pads. I've been unsure about whether to repaste those as well or not though, since that's not exactly something I know about, so I've just left it alone in the meantime. I'm wondering now though if that might be part of it as far as the thickness/consistency of the thermal paste vs. the paste that I've been using on the cpu and gpu. IDK, so any input on that before I open it again would be great, as far was whether i should put a dot of paste on the vrm's when I open it again.

 

Guys this is why we have youtube:
Seems like a nightmare to take apart and repaste :x very fragile all over with paper-thin cooling system.... would not want to do that more than once a year.

 

Well now that I see that video, I don't know how much help these will be, but here you are anyway. Also as far as opening it up is concerned, it's really not difficult at all. As long as you don't go hulk on it, it's not bad at all, it just looks scarier than it actually is.

Edit: Not sure why the images aren't being linked in, so just in case, here's an actual link to the images. https://imgur.com/a/PlsS9Ja

 

Very nice.
Tripod heatsink with the single screw on the side with the VRM cooling on it. Less pressure on the top sided cores (possibly cores #0, #2 and #4) than the bottom cores, AND a convex heatsink Well it sure LOOKS Convex !

@Papusan isn't going to be happy to see this.

 

Isn't he the guy who hates all laptops with soldered chips? I don't see why he would like this laptop in the first place

Also small update. When I repasted it this time around, i didn't put any pressure on the heatsink and let the screws do all the work, and it seems to have worked out better than previously. Core differential is down to about 3-4 degrees when gaming, and the highest I saw core 2 hit was 84 degrees. Im sure it'll probably shoot back up to 90ish during stress tests, but at this point, that improvement is probably the best result I'm gonna get unless I lm it, which I'll pass on for now. I need a break from opening up this laptop for a bit lol.

 

To be fair I like laptops and still don't like this design But then again what to expect from something marketed as "thin". I am surprised it can still cool the 8750h to be fair, my gt75 is barely sufficient for it on stock paste and stock voltages lol. I guess the shared heatsink helps, everyone says they aren't good but there are some awesomely cooled shared heatsink laptops out there.
I remember hitting over 90 degrees on cpu trying to stress test my laptop in stock and that wasn't even prime95 xD But I guess 90-95 is the new standard as my gpu also went over 90 stock (ok I blame the loose screw and half dry paste).

 

Doing it wrong once is bad enough to make you paranoid isn't it ?

 

Yep. And I've built several desktops before that and never had a problem. I even had a Alienware 17 before that which I opened a dozen times with no ESD protection and on carpets. Nothing. Just got unlucky that last time so I take extra steps to make sure it will likely never happen again.

 

What would you guys consider the best thermal paste to be that is non LM?

 

Depends on how good your heatsink is. If it's warped, uneven or with bad fits (ICD). http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...nd-apply-traditional-and-liquid-metal.806840/

 

Phobya HeGrease Extreme - thought I'd try this. Slowly working up the courage to think about doing my GE63...

 

I personally like IC diamond

 

And this, ladies and gents, is why you search threads before you decide to be an idiot and repaste like I did.

In all seriousness though, looking at that thread, the phobya nanogrease extreme looks like a pretty interesting paste to try considering my heatsink isn't exactly even, and I'm not even close to good enough to be able to sand down a heatsink. I could just let it go, but that OCD side is kinda kicking in here to give it a shot.

 

I have a -37 version from Best Buy that I bought a couple of months ago. I've upgraded with a second 1tb Samsung EVO960 and 32GB of RAM. While I was in there, I decided to repaste the heat sinks.

This is a very delicate laptop. I don't recommend doing the repaste unless you have done a *lot* of this kind of work. I really would urge caution with the GS65 even for ram and ssd upgrades, as the entire mobo has to come out and there are a lot of delicate connectors to take apart.

I found that one of the thermal pads on a VRM inductor was pinched and folded from the factory. The CPU was a bit overgooped, the GPU was reasonably well done. In addition to a bunch of thermal pads, a section of VRM components was coupled to the heat pipes with a blue colored, thick, rubbery type of heat compound.

I cleaned all the existing grease off, including the thick blue stuff off the VRM parts. I carefully placed all of the thermal pads in their proper locations so that they would mate with the cooler correctly.

I used Thermaltake TG-7, 'cause that's what they had at the local store. Comes with a little spatula. Spread it thinly and evenly on CPU, GPU and dabbed each of the VRM components by the RAM sockets that were factory prepped with the blue paste.

If you look carefully, several of the cooler screws are marked with numbers. Since they were marked with black marker at the factory after each was tightened, I followed the same order in torque down sequence. Little at a time, nice and even.

After re-assembly, I haven't done a full thorough benchmark. But in running Furmark, I do not hit thermal throttle anymore. I do hit power limit throttling, but with fans running in the default performance mode, temps are running in the 70's. Framerates are steady for extended periods. No need for cooler-boost fan mode.

In my opinion, the factory pasting was OK. Had they not folded a thermal pad on a VRM inductor, it probably would have cooled better, since it likely would have seated the cooler better. I don't know. Again, I don't recommend this unless you're really comfortable with working with this stuff.

The laptop is more of a workstation for me, rather than a game machine. Mostly I run in linux with occasional Windows 10 sessions.

 

I ran Cinebench several times, top score on CPU was 1090, low score 1028, average 1032. CPU temps quickly go up to 90c. CPU frequency starts at 3914 and after several runs of Cinebench, thermal throttling bottoms at 3212 monitoring with MSI Afterburner. GPU bench runs 90-92 fps, but the fans hardly run at all and the GPU hits about 56c max.

I tried coolerboost mode - fans running max and oddly enough, the scores and throttling were about the same as having the GS65 fan on auto.

 

If you want to quickly and easily add 50-100 points to your Cinebench CPU score: Simply lift the GS65 into the air a few inches off the desktop surface. This allows the fans to draw a lot more air and not suck in so much of the heated exhaust air.

Scores, 5 sequential runs with the GS65 off the desktop in an air-conditioned (74F) office: 1181, 1178, 1155, 1155, 1149.

Absolutely zero tweeks. Dragon center set to "Performance" profile, turbo mode (no offsets) and fans on Auto. Cooler boost made more noise, but curiously, not much difference in scores.