LT Cooling: Copper Shim, Thermal Pad or just Paste?

pete_agreatguy · 24 Mar 2017 at 11:40

Hi all,

I need some laptop cooling advice.

Brief Description of what's happened:

My dad's Lenovo G710 laptop recently stopped working (specs and service manual link are at the end of this post).

I've diagnosed the issue to be the nvidia graphics card needs reseating (or whatever the term is).

Questions regarding cooling:

I've always removed thermal pads and just used MX-4 paste from Arctic Cooling on the CPU and GPU.

But I've been doing research and found conflicting advice saying that I should use a copper shim on top of the GPU as well as paste to aid in cooling (transfer the heat).

What are your thoughts?

Does a copper shim help or not in reducing temperatures and therefore allow a longer life of the laptop?

I've done extra research and decided to use the Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme thermal paste next instead of MX-4.

Thanks for your advice all

Dad's Laptop Specs (service manual download link PDF):

Lenovo G710 laptop: Intel i3 4000m cpu, 4GB ddr3-1600 ram, nvidia 720m gpu, kingston 240gb ssd hdd, dvd-rw, wifi and bluetooth etc.

pete_agreatguy · 24 Mar 2017 at 18:30

Why was it a good move in placing copper shims with double sided paste?

Were your temperatures lower? If so, what was the difference?

pete_agreatguy · 26 Mar 2017 at 13:26

I went from a T7100 to a T9300. Great CPU that T9300.

What do you mean by correct size shim?

Are you talking about the surface area which covers the CPU or the thickness?

I was planning on going with a 0.8mm thickness but am unsure on the size of the surface area.

pete_agreatguy · 26 Mar 2017 at 21:36

Wait, I'm really confused now.

I should have a thermal pad as well as a copper shim with double sided thermal paste?

pete_agreatguy · 26 Mar 2017 at 22:40

That was what I thought. I have only had MX-4 thermal paste in the past, no thermal pads.

Thank you for the clarification.

pete_agreatguy · 27 Mar 2017 at 11:00

I'll repeat, I replaced the thermal pad with just thermal paste. I cannot remember the thickness of it. What should I do?

pete_agreatguy · 27 Mar 2017 at 13:51

Well, there has never been any issues with the CPU, it's just the dedicated nvidia GPU that has suffered. I'll research further and thank you again for your aid and advice

pete_agreatguy · 30 Mar 2017 at 07:55

UPDATE: The reseating did not work and therefore the laptop is totally dead. After talking with the IT engineer at the shop I took it to, he said that it's a very common problem because it was a design flaw within all models, regardless of brand. He suggested not to use copper shims but to use a good paste (non liquid). Adding that, if there is a slight gap (talking mm) to use thermal pads instead.

So, I have therefore talked with my dad and found him a replacement modern laptop (a Dell Inspiron 5759 i5 6200U). I got a good deal as got it for £280 and it's not even a year old.

I'll apply some of the GC Extreme paste mentioned above to both the GPU and CPU.

Query though; should I just apply it and let the heat spread it, or spread it manually (cautious of air holes)?

On desktops I tend to do let the heat spread the paste so advice would be much appreciated