Laptop re-paste temperature improvement?

[michty_me]

I'm currently playing about with undervolting and considering re-pasting my laptop with NT-H2 that I have at home.
When you have replaced the factory paste with a decent brand, did you notice a noticeable improvement in temps?

 

[michty_me]

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.

 

[michty_me]

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.

This is true, I've never really done any tweaking at all in my life so whilst away working, I've decided to do some research and play about with RAM oc'ing on my Ryzen system and to see if I can get a decent temperature on my laptop. Just helps pass the time when I'm away from home.

 

[michty_me]

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.

 

[michty_me]

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.

Good idea, do you have to reapply liquid metal more often?

I've done it on a few laptops, has always made a very noticeable improvement.

Just regular paste or liquid metal?


On a side note, I used msi afterburner for the first time today.
With just an undervolt of the CPU I was hitting temps of around 82deg (CPU) 76deg (GPU)
With the CPU and afterburner set at around 1810Mhz at 0.875v my temps dropped to 77deg (CPU) and 68deg(GPU).
Same game, same settings,same level replayed. Cou was maxed and GPU was around 70% so a good improvement.
Out the box it was usually about 87 Deg CPU and 82deg GPU.

 

[michty_me]

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 be as well give it a once over and apply some new paste as I'll have it open anyway swapping out hard drives next week.
I think I'll order some thermal pads for doing the VRM's too.

 

[michty_me]

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.

 

[michty_me]

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!

 

[michty_me]

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.

Yeah I think half the paste was missing from one of the CPU and GPU also. Hopefully it stays cool from now on. I had also bought a spare bottom cover for £15 and was going to modify the spare to have extra breathing to lower it even further but not sure if I will bother now. Always an option in the future.

I'll probably look at re-pasting with LM when it needs redone. Certainly sounds worth it. Plus had be as well use stuff at my disposal first.