Repaste those Razer Blade 2015's at your own risk!

I was disgusted by this. The heatsink design is pretty fail too because there isn't a solid foundation for it to mate with the CPU/GPU you can see the pipe lines from non-contact on it.

Old compound


Clean and shiny


IC7 Diamond


EDIT:

Ruh roh raggy. Maybe they intentionally use junk thermal compound BECAUSE it doesn't mate properly. I'm getting temps 10c hotter than before. Idle of 55c and with XTU going up to 99c


EDIT 2:

To all those flooding here from the Razer CEO and Engineer's posts: Those of you that claim 5c makes no difference, it makes all the difference when from the factory the unit is thermal throttling at max load. 89-90c is tolerable but you hit 95-96c and it starts 20-40% thermal throttling which is huge. Everyone with a stock 2015 unit that's tested it is getting *some* thermal throttling. The whole reason behind this mod was to get of the thermal throttling completely.

EDIT 3:
Changed title to more accurately represent the thread. Changed some wording in OP in respect of Razer.

 

I don't think this is exclusive to the 2015 version. My 2014 Blade's stock thermal paste was pretty messy, and I believe that's the general consensus among those who have opened their Blades up. I did notice I had to use more thermal paste than I normally would to get even comparable temps to the stock paste, probably because as you stated the contacts with the heatsink are uneven.

 

Using IC7. Do you remember if the black springs were on the GPU side?

 

Yes they are on the GPU side of the heatsink.

 

Thought so. GPU side seems ok when i removed the heatsink. There were a couple "hot spots" where the heatsink wasn't contacting the CPU. I added a bit more thermal paste now my idle temps go down to 46c. Installed Office 2013 and it went up to 70c. Has anyone made a little thermal metal shim to fix this?

 

Now I'm sitting at idle 71c so that definitely did not help. So...PSA: Don't repaste. The stock is junk and the heatpipes suck but apparently that's the lowest you'll get the temps.

Now I need to figure out something to buy that mimics that old junk =/

UPDATE:

Never having dealt with what is referred to as "direct pipe heatsinks" I did some googling and found this: http://www.overclock.net/t/1152242/applying-tim-to-direct-heatpipe-coolers seems you want to apply it using exactly the opposite of what you know. LOL. Tried this. Temps are around 50-60c under casual use now.

 

Though I have no doubt thermal dissipation improved as you indicated, you'd be able to improve that more (potentially) with a proper application of paste.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

 

You will see in my pictures that was my original intention and was applied as such but that does not work with this direct pipe heatsinks. It actually causes it to heat up more if you don't apply it using the "direct pipe heatsink" method.

UPDATE:

Now getting 96-98c (mostly 96c) with XTU stress test whereas before it was 98-99c always.

 

Does it seem like its not getting full contact, hence the glob of paste is helping? Wonder if you add a cooper shim will help?

 

you could get something like this

http://www.amazon.com/Integrity-Bea...8&qid=1424541398&sr=8-3&keywords=copper+sheet

 

I dont think a copper shim or sheet. will help as there would be air gaps unless you welded them together.. (just like razer should have done)

This post just made me reconsider the Blade 2015. Although I'm waiting for LVNeptune review/comparison with Aorus x3

 

This is why I didn't even attempt to change the TIM. I saw I think it was @HTWingNut 's teardown.. I was like.. well.. that doesn't look like it's going to play well with changing compound.

Honestly the temps are not crazy given the size of the notebook, so I don't see a critical need to change it. It isn't going to help a whole lot. Perhaps a couple C, not worth it. It's not like it's a simple plug/unplug operation, it's critically important and any screw-up is going to be paid for.

I do agree though, not sure why Razer didn't weld a shim to the pipes or at least put them through a small block. Probably not enough room. Like I said, it's perfectly fine from the factory there's not going to be enough to be gained I don't think.

Do check out WingNut's teardown of the 2014 though, it's on the forum here somewhere.
EDIT: here it is, not really a teardown, more of a complaint about the gaps.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...clevo-w230ss-860m-stock-and-overclock.759945/

 

I messaged him. He said he went from mid 90's to low 80's

 

Oh interesting.

Maybe invite him in here to tell you what TIM he used.

 

I did. Thinking about buying another heatsink setup to try and get better results by thermal epoxying a copper shim on it.

 

The hard part will be making sure there isn't too much pressure/stress on the cpu/gpu die and mobo.

 

I think .25mm should be fine for not applying too much pressure. If anything can lap the pipes a bit.

 

I'm extremely interested to see how this goes.

I also saw the complete cooling assembly on ebay with both fans for like $60 the other day. Not sure if that was 2014 or 2015 though, they might be identical. Shrug.

 

It is for the 2014 but they are identical.

 

Ordered the following:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Razer-Blade...883?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339c74af73
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IX448KS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087X725S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I am going to cut the copper down to the size of both the CPU and GPU dies. Then I will be polishing it. I am also going to cut a few strips to cover that gap in between the pipes and polish all of that and possibly lap it .1mm so everything is even and smooth. Then I will be epoxying on the copper shim onto the new heatsink and applying thermal compound and re-attaching.

EDIT: typo.

 

Lol Mike, your such a DIY. Anything for the lower temps / better performance

 

Please let us know how it goes! I'm pretty eager to hear your results

 

Cool, cant wait for results!

 

Just to put this in perspective. Once again, when running Intel XTU stress test the RB 2015 goes to 99c almost instantly and hovers between 97-99c with 40-50% thermal throttling after repaste, not sure what it was BEFORE repasting because I forgot to check. My Aorus maxes out at 70c running XTU.

EDIT: Also the RB has the fans at full blast trying to maintain <99c with throttling whereas the Aorus profile is set to "Auto Low" and is basically the RB's second level fan ramp up in terms of sound. It's honestly amazing that Aorus was able to get such a nice heatsink/fan combo built into the extra 0.2" of space they have.

Here's some pictures of the heatsink on the Aorus, which honestly, Razer could learn a thing or two:





Note the actually copper pad to mate with the CPU/GPU and not just two heatpipes that make so-so contact.

 

Seems like a much better system for making contact with the CPU/GPU on the Aorus! I'm assuming the Clevo I've ordered will have a system more like this...

 

Let me know of any parameters in the Intel XTU stress test, ambient temp, and make sure we both have laptop on a hard flat surface and you can compare to a "stock" machine when I get mine later this week. Mine will be 1080p version (didn't want to mess with resolution changing and prefer ultra quality vs. more pixels for such a small screen) so let's set to a similar res / lowest common denominator and that can help you out.

As a note, I was concerned when I saw you attempting to spread the paste thinly in your first post -- a lot of testing and discussion over the years, as well as the preferred application method for IC7, per their instructions would rather have you add a dollop to the middle of the chips and let it spread via force. The deep gaps of the direct-pipe style that Razer chose to use are disappointing to me... I bet that "messy" application is what's required. You have to add enough paste (more than usual) to have it push out your paste (to make it over the gaps) compared to a nice flat surface.

My concern is that no matter what you do, whether the CPU/GPU are in contact with a nice shim or not... you're going to be limited by the fact that you still have to transfer to those pipes... and I'd prefer the IC7 to be your medium of choice, not anything else. You're also then relying upon two transfers of heat, not just one if you shim it.

If I were you, I'd try cleaning everything off and giving a bigger bead of paste right to the middle of the chips, push it down, don't peek to see how you did -- let it warm up and see what happens & record results before your shim operation. Still compare when you get your stuff, but try that first.

I'll help when I get my system -- again, this design is looking disappointing to say the least. I was already unsure if I was really going to keep this system, but definitely not at if this is the temperature difference like you're seeing compared to the AORUS. If the pipes were ground flat and mated with a nice flat copper block, or ideally was all one solid contiguous piece of copper that would be best.

 

What did you end up ordering because you was dead set on the rb 2015


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I'll run this on my 2014 tonight. I've had it for about 10 months at this point, be good to see what it does with 10 months of wear and tear.

 

You can't. The gap of the pipes is literally smack dab in the middle. If I beaded it it wouldn't do anything except put some paste in the heatpipe gap.

 

Well I hear you. Not a traditional circular bead in the center, at least not without using your entire tube But, taking a closer look at your photos (which is awesome that you saved a shot of it as it was stock) use that as a footprint for how to properly lay IC7 so it can spread according to the manufacturer's installation philosophy:

 

Forums are screwing up again can't view whatever picture you attached =(

EDIT: Showing up now.

Side note. I'm thinking when I try the shim I'm going to cut them to the same size as the heatsink plates on the Aorus but unfortunately I forgot to measure them haha...Hopefully @daza100 can measure the copper plates for me. When I do the initial test I will apply some ic7 to one side and mount it on the cpu/gpu then put a small amount of ic7 on the top side and screw it down. If it works like I hope it will I will put the alumina where the gaps of the heat pipes are and have it permanently installed like that.

Also, looking at your pic I did end up doing that but on the heat pipe side per that website I linked to saying you should do it on the heat pipe not the die.

 

I know, forums were up/down when I was trying to reply for ~30 mins. Testing the upload again, hope it works. You'll see I think it's actually how they may have applied it stock.

I'm hoping this brings your temp down... I'm very eager to get you stock numbers now; there aren't a ton of reviews yet on the web mentioning the CPU/GPU package temps. I found this one review (where you posted too) and he seems to have had 99C package i7 temp at max. Ewww. >.> So maybe what you're seeing now is normal?

If so*, we're gonna have to do something!

 

It's definitely not normal. My idle temps are horrible. I had to gimp my CPU to 25% due to the TDP being generated it was eating my battery, 99% to 50% in 30 minutes. It was OK after I forced the maximum CPU down. Fans also kicking up super high on idle now. Sigh.

 

Gotcha. Just making sure you had enough to spread, you'll see for sure when you take it apart to try your shim! Good luck & thanks -- Keep us posted on the shim.

 

Wild. It's almost like IC7 wasn't designed for this you know? Like, it's only supposed to be an ultra-thin micro-gap filler and becomes worse than cheap pastes when it has to make up several millimeters worth of gaps & terrible design.

 

I wish I knew what the original crap was just to apply it for a test.

 

Kinda looked like your standard white, cheap paste from the pic... You almost might as well try at this point. But I'll run any test you need this week so you compare to stock if you wait. Just let me know.

Also take a pic of your current spread when you get to taking it apart. Wondering if some part of the chip didn't get enough paste....

Ultimately, I'd prep the pipes like in your link, but apply the majority of paste directly on the chip as in my picture... In that other link, that's a little different since you know where the pipes are going to hit precisely. On our RB's, it's more of a crap shoot.

If you've already checked your IC7 spread though and found you had it covered, I'm out of ideas!

 

It was more grayish and kind of hard and when I rubbed it off with a cotton swab it came off in flakes.

 

Looking at alienware topics, then this I get very sad feeling about future of gaming notebooks. Altho my m6800 is dead silent at idle with no fans spinning its so retardedly louder than old m6600 while under load. Its just sad where notebooks are headed...

 

I ran XTU CPU Stress Test for 5 minutes, CPU never got over 80C, took quite some time to get there, fan was abnormally quiet through the whole thing. There was no throttling.

 

This had me thinking maybe some of the thermal paste that are closer to metal like Cooling Laboratory products might actually be useful in a direct pipe situation. Then I remember how a lot of that stuff is conductive and the cooling laboratory stuff will eat up that beautiful aluminum case if you aren't careful.

 

Well then.

 

And this was on the 2014 model?

 

I ordered a XMG P505 (a rebranded Clevo P651SE) in the end, here's what I posted elsewhere:

"In the end I decided the whole importing a Razer Blade from the USA thing was going to be too expensive, especially as I'd have had to buy a 3rd party too to have any kind of warranty, and have now ordered an XMG P505 (a rebranded Clevo P651SE) from a UK supplier ( MySN), who, incidentally, offer a 2 year collect and return warranty at no extra charge!

The P505 is a bit too large and heavier for lightweight travelling, though, so I will probably keep my current dual-boot Macbook Air too.

If Razer ever start retailing direct to UK/Europe, I may reconsider purchasing one of their computers, though."

The P505 configuration I ordered was about £900 cheaper than the Blade would have been, and has faster RAM and a larger SSD

 

Funny that when you go against it you see the perks and you are 900 better off for the same hardware.
I did check out their site actually. I looked at the c405 (p34w) and saw what prices they had. But the machine looks like the v2 from the pics. I messaged them if it was a mistake or not because the fact that v3 is a black machine now.
If so I might return mine from over clockers and purchase there. And tbh honest though the p34w comes with 2yrs warranty. I have no idea how it works. Like do I have to ship it to them or they collect etc. where as xmg do collect and return. Plus the thermal paste is mx4 artic silver which makes me think. They voided the warranty seals themselves so when I put ic diamond on there be no seals (that's my thinking). It costs more but I think it be worth the hassle with warrantyBut only do this if the machine is the nice black. I dunno see if the White can tempt me cos it be similar to my hp 840 g1 in terms of look but got till Thursday to get a reply from xmg and decide before I can't return for refund.


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Edit: I just got an email from them as I wrote this reply confirming it was silver... So I'll look it up and decide if I can change

 

I did consider the P34 and definitely have ordered the XMG one if I had gone that route - more options, better stock thermal paste etc.

 

Yeah

 

DUDE! You've been called out by Min-Liang Tan himself!

https://www.facebook.com/minliangtan

https://insider.razerzone.com/index.php?threads/razer-blade-engineering-design-and-thermals.4515/

http://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/2wn5fr/stock_thermal_compound_and_heat_pipe_design_is/

 

Now that's impressive community awareness and quite cool to see. This matches my suspicion though as to your only way out of this Neptune: don't shim it, just paste that sucker up. Try IC7 -- make sure you definitely put on enough. If it doesn't work, maybe since you know, the CEO has referenced you, you might be able to pay for and get the stock paste from Razer?

 

Yea I couldn't wait. It was out a week sooner than I expected and had the chance to own it before the weekend. Only thing is xmg uses the old shell and not the nice new black


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