Repasting and Repadding the MSI GT83VR 6RE Titan SLI

I've been thinking of changing the thermal paste and possibly the thermal pads (as I will be removing the heat pipes and this will likely damage my old pads) of my MSI GT83VR.

As far as the thermal paste is concerned, I think I will go for Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. The same company offers pads as well (Minus Pad 8), but I've never changed thermal pads before, so I have no idea which ones to buy. Some people on this forum seem to recommend Mod/Smart Fujipoly extreme thermal pads, but according to a few Amazon reviews that I read, they don't stick properly. What brand would you recommend? How thick should the thermal pads be? Is 1 mm the most suitable thickness?

I am open to your advices. Thank you for your time!

 

You might find an answer to this in the GT83VR Owner's Lounge. If not, you should be able to remove and replace the heat sink without damaging the pads. You can measure them and order the sizes you need. In all my years of laptop overclocking, I have seldom needed to replace the thermal pads. Unless yours are getting dried out, dirty or breaking apart, you probably don't need to worry about replacing them.

I have found the super-expensive thermal pads to be a waste of money. I have found the sticky, wet and squishy silicone thermal pads to be more effective. Someone is probably going to jump in and argue to the contrary, which is fine. I am just sharing based on my own personal encounters with roughly 30 years of experience, about half of those years overclocking the snot out of my computers, so take that for whatever it is worth.

The hard thermal pads with a higher thermal conductance rating do not compress well and have great potential to increase GPU core temps due to diminished contact pressure. And, the GPU core is the part the gets the hottest. The RAM chips do not get hot enough to need special treatment. Other than the GPU core, the big square gray-colored inductors can get pretty toasty. Everything other than the GPU core can be cooled effectively with nothing but a fan blowing on them (which is not possible in a laptop) and that blows the logic of sinking a ton of money into super-expensive thermal pads.

I have purchased the crazy expensive thermal pads with abnormally high thermal conductivity ratings several times. They are not durable (easily broken), have never improved my GPU temps, and have often interfered with GPU die contact. Every time I have done so, I regretted spending extra for them.

Pro Tip: If and when you do replace thermal pads, place the new pads on the GPU components, not the heat sink. That ensures flawless alignment. Placing them on the heat sink can be hit or miss. Also, clean all of the surfaces making contact with the pads using alcohol, the same way you would the GPU die contact areas.

@Papusan may have some additional words of wisdom for you.

 

As bro Fox said. If the pads is ok no need to swap them. Only if they are damaged or isn’t in correct thickness. Imprint from the components on the pads shouldn’t be too visible. Equal bad if you don’t see imprint into the pads at all.

The expensive FujiPoly high performance Extreme pads is too stiff. And often will be damaged if you open up your machine a second time. Bad for your wallet. They are too expensive and not worth the price.

Either buy the cheap Arctic or the more expensive Gelid Pads. They are soft vs. FujiPoly Extreme pads. Exactly what you should use. Remember you’ll need different sizes. Stacking pads is a no. The cheap Arctic pads is more than good enough. Good luck.

 

Thank you, @Mr. Fox and @Papusan!

Since I've never opened this laptop, I guess that my pads should still be in decent condition. As I mentioned, I don't have any experience with thermal pads, so I thought that I would need to change them as well. I found a video of a guy repasting his GT73VR (which should be similar to my GT83VR), and he also placed new pads, so I thought that was the norm. 2:30-3:30

Frankly, I am not sure if he had to change his pads, and I am also not particularly fond of the way he placed the new ones. What do you guys think? If my pads look like that, should I change them? Thank you!

 

I've never seen thermal pads get torn up that bad. If yours look all janky like his did when he took off the CPU heat sink, then you should replace them. I seriously doubt you're going to find them in that condition. I suspect he did something before and knew they were torn up since it was not his first repaste.

Edit: @Kaloyan - I also do not recommend either of those thermal compounds. Both of them are rubbish. If not liquid metal, then I would use Phobya Nanogrease Extreme or MasterGel Maker or MasterGel Pro thermal paste. Kryonsnaut is decent, but it's too light and has a bad habit of not staying in place. The other two are excellent, and they are much thicker and don't have the pump-out problems that so many thermal pastes do.