Thermal Past Upgrade...Worth it?

I have a tube of OCZ Freeze and was thinking about applying some in my warm GX640, but am I just going to be wasting my time? Has anyone actually applied an aftermarket past on this model (or comparable laptop) and noticed a difference?

 

Overclock3D :: Review :: Battle of the Goop - Thermal Paste Comparison :: Testing & Conclusion

 

My question was whether or not someone has done this on a GX640 (or comparable laptop) and if so, have they noticed any positive results to warrant the procedure.

 

Some users have already confirmed that IC diamond made a bit of a difference. Those users had it applied by xoticpc, so I'm not sure if you do it yourself, it'd be better or not, as I'm unsure of the quality of work done by xotic.

 

Dead2theworld did his GPU, pretty major difference if you ask me, hit him up a pm (Or hopefully he will post.)

 

i'm anal and i actually lapped the heatsink.

I have not measured the difference but by the seat of my pants its worth it.

 

I'm afraid to lap the heatsink on a laptop. I remember doing it on my FX and I ended up taking too much off resulting in poor contact. What grit sandpaper did you use? Also what paste are you using and what are your temps?

 

This post interests me

 

how does one lap a heatsink?
/noob

 

Yes, what does "lap" a heatsink mean?

^^Noob alert, dont flame us plz

 

Lapping is the process of using sandpaper or other abrasive to smooth out the surface of either a heatsink or a cpu with a heatspreader. The idea is to get the surface to look as much like a mirror as possible as to eliminate tiny grooves and imperfections in the surface of the metal for better contact between the chip and the heatsink. It's almost always done by overclockers.

 

Woops. I posted something liek this post in another thread. Hopefully a Mod sees it and removes it for me Thanks.

Anyhoo, can anyone confirm if Arctic Silver or IC Diamond truly makes a difference vs the stock "pad"? Btw, what is a "pad" anyhow?

Thanks.

 

Google , use me. No manufacturer or reseller will ever use thermal compound instead of pads as the gap is massive (Usually 1mm). They only use it for memory anyway and not CPU or GPU die.

PS: as5 is not recommended as it's electrically conductive , bleeds and needs a curing time.

And stop cross posting , asking a question in 1 thread is enough.

 

It's definitely worth it. I just applied IC Diamond 7 today on my CPU (QX9300) and GPU (Geforce 9600M GT running at 600/1500/960 clocks at 1,05V). The temperature drop on the CPU was around 4-5 degrees Centigrade, on the GPU 3-4 degrees Centigrade. I run Prime95 to load the CPU and FurMark to load the GPU. Temperatures were recorded after 20mins for the CPU and after 12mins for the GPU. Before IC Diamond 7 I was using Zalman STG-1 thermal compound.

 

I think the question is somewhat specific to the GX640, because apparently MSI has actually done a pretty good job with the default paste.

 

They always do a good job with paste (Was identified as shin etsu at one point.), but ICD7 as it stands is one of the best out their (And if their using pads) then yes paste will make a difference, but your covering a rather large gap between Ram chips and the HS so it has to be done properly.

 

Guys, I have figured out why my GX640 was running so hot. I removed the heatsink and was about to apply some OCZ Freeze. First thing I noticed was the enormous amount of paste that MSI applies to both the CPU and GPU; I mean there was so much that it had overflowed all over the circuit boards around the Dies. Anyway, I cleaned it all up and applied the Freeze and put everything back together. Guess what, no difference. So I thought maybe I didn't do a good job applying the paste and decided to do it again. Well, I was shocked to see that the paste had hardly left a residue on the GPU portion of the heatsink. The CPU portion was fine but the GPU portion only had a quarter of the paste residue from the Die. What does this mean: poor contact between the heatsink and the GPU. I tried for a good half hour applying and reapplying the paste and the heatsink and still poor contact. To make a long story short, the culprits are the thermal pads for the memory. They are too thick and prevent the heatsink from properly making contact to the GPU itself. I tried at first pressing down the pads with my fingers in order to slim them down a bit, and got better contact but still not perfect. I then decided to just remove them altogether. Guess what perfect contact now! In fact before all this I would run a 60 second Furmark test and at stock clocks the temperature would reach 94C. Now, at stock clocks it peaks at around 76C. Overclocked at 750/1100, the same test would reach over 100C before, now at 750/1100 it has peaked at 86C. I also ran a stability test with Furmark at 750/1100 overclock and after 5 minutes, the temperature peaked at 93C and that was only for a couple of seconds until it dropped to 91 where it stayed for the last couple of minutes that the test was running. This is an amazing difference from such a simple thing. To address the absence of the pads I applied a small drop of Freeze on all the memory chips and I will check tomorrow to see how well the paste has spread. I may need to just get some new (thinner) thermal pads, but I have a feeling the paste will be fine.

 

Really ? Their heatsink always been crap anyway .. The 725 suffers from poor contact aswell.

You do know that your 3yr warranty just went down the drain right ?

Anyway as the damaged already been done , I recommended MX-3 for both the die and memory ..

PS: don't throw away the crappy pads ! Keep em , might come in handy I n case you need to
RMA, keep them clean also

 

Holy moly, pics or it didn't happen

 

I kept the pads just in case. I doubt the warranty is gone. If I put them back how will they ever know. Here are a couple of pics. I don't know but maybe the paste is settled in better now but I maxed out at 80C this time with 750/1100 clocks at 60 Seconds Furmark, and 89C at 5 Minutes Furmark.

Stock Clocks 60 Second Furmark:


OC'd to 750/1100 60 Second Furmark:


AND 750/1100 5 MINUTES FURMARK:

 

That's just awesome. It would be better if you used a better monitoring program, though, because HWMonitor only gives the one GPU temp (presumably MemIO) while it would be better to see all three.

 

You can also see the Max temp reached using Furmark. As far as warranty, I think I'm doing MSI a favor by ensuring that my GPU is running significantly cooler under heavy load compared to their original setup.

 

¡Santa María, Madre de Dios!

Kosti, you just got me believing that even on my desert-like temperature, I'd fare extremely well with a single-fan setup....

...back to w680cu vs gx740

O_O!!! dang u!!

 

Pics? Tutorial? I'm a noob, so I'm having trouble picturing what's physically going on here. What's a die, and what's a pad look like? Etc etc.

Save me from confusion@_@ !

 

'Die' is the core part, the one where it says 'ATI' in silver lining..

The pad is like a thick tape that connects the memory to the GPU heatsink.

I myself switched out the pad with a little ICD7, but it seems that the MX-3 performs better, so I ordered some more MX-3 for a re-job.

So, my conclusions:

MX-3 > ICD7

Pad < Paste

(You seeing this, ben?)

GX740 > W860CU ( )

 

So say I do buy the GX640... Should I let xotic do the paste, or dont buy the upgrade and just do it myself? I'm quite careful, but I'd need a little guidance from you guys (via pictures).

 

ROFL

don't even know what that photo is supposed to mean,

but yet it seems to be perfect for your expressions. LMAO.


+1 rep dude.

 

its under my microscope, and i like what i see

rofl!!!

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

gotcha.

Don't let my moving on to an M11x deter you from buying one

 

Not a chance in heck...
I was actually moved into buying an m15x... but... no...
I'm still waiting for the money on the sxps16 i'm selling, so when I get the money, I pull the trigger, if by that time GX740 aint out... i'm going clevo.

 

Bump for advice.

 

Email xotic to see if you can paste without voiding the warrenty, if your allowed then do it, if not, let them do it, because if they mess up, they gota fix it .

 

Guys, I'm not just talking about upgrading the paste here. In my case it was done in conjunction with the heat pad removal. You can use the best paste in the world but if the heatsink sits too far from the GPU and does not make good contact, then it will not solve anything. That's why I took more drastic measures. Here are some pics of the original heatsink and die. Notice the heavy amount of paste.

GPU DIE:


HEATSINK:

 

Oh and just in case you are wondering whether or not to upgrade the paste. Here are some pics of MSI's original paste on the CPU to help make your decision. Just a tad much methinks.

 

:laugh: damn ! Is it a 1mm pad ?

 

Ahh thermal pads, we knew it !

As long as your getting clean contact with the HS with paste, then it won't matter too much, as long as its not world appart though,

Kosti you rock for the pictures, what are your plans now you've cracked it open?

Dead what size pads were on your memory? 1mms?

 

Mine is coming tomorrow ... With pads !

I think as default it was 1mm .. Anyway I'll let you know tomorrow. This time I won't use paste on the memory , gonna give copper a go or I will try to bend the heatsink so that it sits on the memory properly.

Should be another successful mod

 

Haha, as always dead i look forward to what mayhem you will introduce to that GPU

 

Bend the heatsink? Be careful, that's what I did, and I ended up bending the heat pipe. Not too much to break it, but enough to make me want to get a new one.

So, I took it apart again today to check on the RAM chips. Bad news, the paste alone did not cover the gap between the heatsink and the chips. I decided to put the pads back. I pressed on them as much as possible to shrink them down and put everything back together. Guess what? Temps are high again! I'm going to try something else now. I just ordered some new thermal pads from e-bay. The soft blue kind which are apparently among the best quality you can get. These are a lot softer than the stock gray ones and can be pressed down even more. I also ordered a 25 x 25 x.75mm copper plate which I am hoping I will not have to use depending on how good the contact to the GPU is with just the pads. If the contact is not good, the .75mm thick copper plate should definitely make up for the gap.

Link to the pads:
T-flex 6100 Thermal Gap Filler Laptop GPU Thermal Pad - eBay (item 300425131573 end time Jun-05-10 14:39:13 PDT)

Link to the Copper Plate:
DV2000 DV6000 DV9000 TX1000 Copper Pad Shim 2cmx2cm - eBay (item 220542814291 end time Jun-17-10 12:22:52 PDT)

Another cool little project I just finished was modding my Rosewill cooler which I have posted in this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/484660-pimp-my-cooler.html

Up next after the heatsink issues are resolved will be modding the bottom cover to allow better air intake to the heatsink. I was lucky to find one from a GT627 on e-bay for $20. It's almost exactly like the GX640's except for a couple of minor differences in the vent grills.

Anyway, I will keep you guys posted.

 

Which part did you bend ? I planned on bending the copper bit for the memory.
You need to use a thicker compound , mx-3 did a wonderful job on mine.

+1 rep for another anthusiast keep it up

 

Vouch for that.

MX-3 worked for me as well.

ICD7 also works, but after using both, I have concluded that MX-3 works better.

 

You should be careful that your GPU RAM doesn't overheat. Furmark runs will show the temperature of the GPU but not the memory so although the GPU may be ok, the memory could be too hot. I would be very surprised if you found the thermal paste you applied to the GPU RAM has made any contact unless the paste was very very thick. You should get thinner thermal pads or just cut down the existing ones.

Edit: I just read the rest of the thread and saw what you wrote which confirmed what I expected.

By the way, I did some tests with Diamond IC on some old unused chips and that paste (unsurprisingly) will scratch the DIE surface very easily during removal even if you are careful. I also recommend MX3.

 

Thanks guys, will order some MX-3 tonight.

 

I bent the heatpipe right where it joins the plate for the GPU. What I should have done was use 2 pliers. One to hold the plate, and the other to bend the flange for the memory. Make sure to use something to protect the copper when using pliers too.

So if I understand you guys correctly, MX-3 is more forgiving when using a thicker layer than normal? This may eliminate my need to use a copper shim.

 

Well deads 4850 seemed to work flawlessly for a long time, although its given up all of a suddon which is a shame, but the mx-3 he used seemed to cover the memory quite nicely.

 

Yep , now I have 2 GPU the old one can't be OC'd for some reasons but still works beautifully at stock clocks.

just got it in 15mins ago , doing a clean install now. Later on I'll put my ES in ..

 

Dead, what pads are you using now? Stock? Let us know about temps?

 

You need to use HWinfo32 so you can do a benchmark and see what sort of temperatures the actual GPU RAM reaches and idles at. HWMonitor ignores the RAM temp sensors.

 

Yep, GPU-Z can do this nicely too but it can cause stuttering in game play,

I found the pads left the memory 10C hotter when running stress tests on the GPU.