Difficult one to answer as it depends massively on how destroyed (or not) your old paste is. Strictly speaking a few degrees are to be had. NT-H2 is a "good" paste as well so you could expect it to perform better than factory but how much better isn't something you'll likely get an informed answer on.
Yeah I suppose its would be a bit of a guess.
I've managed to get my temps down to high 70s just from using a slight undervolt when using Prime95 and plan to get stuck into MSI afterburner to do similar to the GPU. I guess that isn't too bad considering others with the same laptop are reporting 90deg+ on similar tests.
I may re-paste to see if I can improve it a little more.
To quote a large retailer "Every Little Helps". You're obviously investing a lot of time and research into this so why not dot every I and cross every T by repasting? You'd have the worst luck in the world if you made it worse.
https://youtu.be/hdTsra-uLBI
Linus tech with liquid metal on a gaming laptop.. up to 20 c cooler
Go to 7.36 for the table of results
I did consider it but it will be transported about in planes, helicopters bags etc so don't want to risk it spreading elsewhere.
The amount required is easily held in place by friction.
Kapton tape aroung CPU/GPU reduce potential contact on application also.
I have LM'd a laptop that I used to cycle to work with in a backpack with no issues.
I've done it on a few laptops, has always made a very noticeable improvement.
Yep, my Dell 7559 was much quieter with proper thermal paste. The old stuff was caked on and all over the place.
Quieter due to the wee fan not spinning up as much
I had the laptop open yesterday for a look and noticed fairly large splodges of thermal paste hanging out the heatsink. Gave it a prod and it feels like dried PVA glue or silicone sealant.
Finally got round to re-pasting it (Thermal grizzly not LM, I chickened out and used my brothers left overs), Installing a 1TB NVME and 2TB SSD I had laying about. Unfortunately the Thermal pads I was told I needed were a bit small. Probably discrepencies in tolerences seeing as it seems flimsy crap. Both temps were using an undervolt of -125mV for the CPU and 900mV hitting 1850Mhz on the GPU.
Anyway, From playing Battlefield 1 my temps went from last week being around 80 deg on the CPU and 70ish on the GPU, They now sit firmly at 59deg on the CPU and 58 deg on the GPU. I can barely hear the fans now either. Its such a difference!! I guess the standard stuff was garbage!
Good to hear! It is slightly worrying how badly some things are done at factory though isn't it? At least it's something you can affect and with great results by the sound of it.
My heart did sink a bit at you "only" using paste not LM though but it's what you're comfortable with at least and you have had great results from it.