Cooling paste

[Jeroen]

Hello,

I am wondering or it should help to put some fresh cooling pasta on the CPU, GPU etc.

I've heard that if the cooling pasta is becomming old, it shouldn't have such a good effect anymore as it had before...

I've cleaned my laptop for some times, and when I remove the Fan and the heatsink from the CPU i can see the cooling pasta is verry dry and is not enymore spreaded over the CPU (some places aren't having any more cooling pasta on it).

I thouhg reputting some cooling pasta (first cleaning the old) woul help it to cool it bether and give some more performance (in games...), but I mean reputting it on the GPU, chipset, CPU,...

[ofelas]

am wondering or it should help to put some fresh cooling pasta on the CPU, GPU etc.

Pasta, whether fresh or old, on your CPU & GPU would be a bad idea, especially if it contains marinara/pesto :)

However, paste is a good idea; make sure you throughly clean the old paste off using 99% + isopropyl alcohol, let the clean surfaces dry, and apply a good thermal paste like Arctic Silver 5, ShinEtsu G751 or Nanotherm PCM+ in a very thin layer on the CPU & GPU die.

Good thermal paste should not lose it's efficiency over time.

And, forgive my play on words - your English is way better than if I was speaking your language. :)

[Jeroen]

OK sorry, I am dutch (flemish) speaking and cooling paste is not one of the words I use a lot :)

but I am not going to refresh it because my laptop was in repair (problems with screen) and it seemed they gave me a new mobo so they will have done it good i think :)

But maby I am going to refresh it in a year or later (whem I am cleaning it out again...)

[mobilenvidia]

Don't worry us Dutchies (or Flemish) must stick together.

It is best to keep the paste fresh when it dries it will allow air to get in and air is a very good insulator.

Like Ofelas said the better brands shouldn't dry, use a good paste.

Remember when it comes to thermal paste less is better, you only need a VERY thin film for it to work best.

And heads up for using your GPU to cook pasta :)

Aldente

[®®®]

am wondering or it should help to put some fresh cooling pasta on the CPU, GPU etc.

Pasta, whether fresh or old, on your CPU & GPU would be a bad idea, especially if it contains marinara/pesto :)

However, paste is a good idea; make sure you throughly clean the old paste off using 99% + isopropyl alcohol, let the clean surfaces dry, and apply a good thermal paste like Arctic Silver 5, ShinEtsu G751 or Nanotherm PCM+ in a very thin layer on the CPU & GPU die.

Good thermal paste should not lose it's efficiency over time.

And, forgive my play on words - your English is way better than if I was speaking your language. :(

:) :P

:P Trust him he knows what he's doing :)

Jeroen, Hopefully your Laptop is really repaired and you finally can use one of our driver to fully activate the power hidden in your machine :(

[ofelas]

:)

[Darmdorf]

Sorry I?m so late with this, but the theme really is of utmost importance when it comes to the care & feeding of our beloved notebooks.

Thermal paste or compound as the name implies, is an especially good conductor of heat, and performs a lifesaving & critical function in our notebooks. Several internal heat sources (roles played by those important chips -- CPU, GPU, and often even the chip sets as well, especially in desktop PCs), pump out enormous amounts of thermal energy as useless byproducts of their work. If this warmth were not to be ?destroyed? in some fashion, these heat sources would destroy themselves, and most likely turn the notebook itself into a puddle of useless thermoplastic.

To this end heatsinks (regardless whether active or passive) are directly bound as effectively as possible to the notebook?s capital heat sources, in an attempt to transport all the excess internal heat to the outside, and over the shortest possible distance. Heatsinks are usually finned metal bodies designed to pass on their heat directly to the surrounding, and hopefully moving, air. That same air is a shamefully bad conductor of heat, and thus often captured between two panes of glass to make thermo pane windows, which prevent the comfortable warmth within our living quarters from escaping back to Mother Nature.

By filling in the microscopically uneven surfaces between the heat sources, and their heatsinks, thermal paste displaces all that unwanted air, and forms an extremely efficient bridge for heat, even in minute quantities. Unnecessarily large amounts, however, have exactly the opposite effect and merely serve to displace the two surfaces even further apart! It has been said that in the quest for perfect thermal contact, the black-belt OverClock?ers even painstakingly lap-in the surfaces of their heatsinks and chips by hand for hours upon plates of glass with jewelers rouge until they?re mirror smooth.

Unfortunately even the best thermal paste is subject to ageing, since it is not fully inert. Over time it dries out and looses its elasticity, creeps, and finally even builds ?blisters?, all of which break the hermetic ?seal?. This allows air to sicker back in-between the two surfaces, which effectively reduces the heat transfer to a mere trickle, usually causing the CPU to drastically overheat and be throttled down by on-chip sensors. Thus after several years the thermal paste should be carefully removed and refreshed to avoid unwanted complications. This is, however, not a task for laypersons, or the faint-of-heart, and can result in severe damage to the notebook.

Now that your trusty notebook is disassembled before you, it?s a good idea to perform a few additional housekeeping chores before beginning with the main agenda. The cooling fans and heatsink fins should first be carefully cleaned from all accumulated lint and dust. Don?t fall prey to the enticing siren syndrome! Don?t even think of letting the poor cooling fans rotate freely under the influence of a vacuum cleaner or compressed air! Be sure to use a toothpick or other suitable instrument to block the fan blades from rotating freely. Those small bearings are extremely fragile, and will be severely damaged at any Rpms above their normal rating.

Here comes the fun part. Now we?ll try to carefully remove the heatsink from the underlying chip as per manufacturer?s documentation. Cooked thermal paste can be like glue! Be sure not to pry, wedge, twist, or turn the heatsink from the chip, as irreparable damage to the socket or motherboard will surely result! Some form of ?soft force? will most likely be necessary. I prefer to carefully separate the two objects with a sharp razorblade or Exacto knife. Don?t scratch the surfaces! There?s no need to worry about the paste remnants just yet. Slowly slice a comfortable distance along a side, and then continue to work your way around the remaining accessible sides in the same fashion until the heatsink is finally free from the chip. Take your time, otherwise it may be expensive! You may also discover that what initially appeared to be thermal paste is indeed quite something else! Many manufacturers opt to mate the heatsinks and chips of their products with thermal pads instead of paste. These pads are composed of a stiff, fibrous material designed to perform the same task as paste, but with major differences. First of all, they can be applied by trained apes, which understandably make them the favorites of those penny-pinchers. And secondly, they are coated on both sides with a rather tacky adhesive. Unfortunately their thermal performance is only moderate since they are rather thick, and worst of all, they loose even more efficiency when the two parts are separated and rejoined (i.e. reused). This often happens when technicians are forced to remove CPU heatsinks or heatpipes to perform other tasks in our notebooks (replace LCD screen cables, fans, etc.). Since time is of the essence, the pads are merely left in place. Be sure to always replace thermal pads with proper thermal paste!

The residual thermal paste or pad adhesive can now be carefully ?massaged? away from both surfaces with a little help from a stiff, yet pliable tool that won?t scratch (I heartily recommend using the edges of an old credit card) and a little isopropyl alcohol. Don?t exert too much downward force on the chips themselves, as that may result in damage to the motherboard. The end result should be a dry surface, absolutely free of all paste or adhesive remnants, and without any signs of grease (fingerprints or the like); otherwise the new thermal paste will not bond.

The next step is to apply a small ?worm? of fresh thermal paste along an entire edge of the heatsink. In this case less is more! The chip is not quite as easy to work with since it should still be in its socket. All we have to do now is fill in those microscopically uneven surfaces. Using a stiff plastic card (the trusty credit card once again), we can carefully spread the paste in a single motion away from the edge across the whole surface over to the opposite side, repeating again at 90° with the excess from the last pass until a smooth, almost invisible film results. We?re only interested in filling in those little unseen hills and valleys so that air won?t be able to interfere in the heat transfer. When the heatsink is then slowly settled at a slight angle onto its counterpart, we can feel the two surfaces ?swim? when carefully rotated a few degrees. Affix the two parts again as per documentation. Now we should have achieved a hermetic seal across the entire surface area with optimal hear transfer properties.

At this point we can also seat/reseat any plugs or sockets which may be accessible. Don?t forget to also remove the memory sticks and any plug-in cards to clean all oxidation from their contact surfaces. Carefully rub an eraser across the individual contacts until they appear ?squeaky clean?. Be sure to remove any remaining rubber particles with a clean and lint-free cloth. After all this TLC your notebook should feel much better! The same procedures can also be applied to your favorite desktop system.

[®®®]

:) :) Wow, that's what i call a guide! thanks again for contributing here :P

[Darmdorf]

Hey, thanks for cleaning out my trash, and greetings to Berlin. :)

Glad you like it. That's just a drop in the bucket compared to what you regulars have invested here. Glad to help where I can, hope it proves to be useful to someone. Being an Old Dog can often have merit. :)

[®®®]

FAQ'd it :)

[Jeroen]

WOW, that's a good guide!!

Thanks for posting it, I will try to clean it when I've got the time!

[Guest John]

I have a question - what are the usual symptoms of a CPU heatsink coming away from the CPU? My Toshiba has been acting up and giving me messages such as, "Outlook.exe - the instruction at 0x10014a3c referenced memory at 0xf02ff053. Memory could not be read." At this point, I hear the fan kick on and the upper left side of the keyboard feels warm.

Today, I got the blue screen - "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer." Again, the upper left seems more warm than usual.

Last request: How do I remove the back case to inspect the CPU and heatsink?

TOSHIBA Sat. 5205-S703

Windows XP PRO SP2

[taiguy]

WOW... Nice Guide... Lol, I guess the last tech who worked on my desktop didn't have a clue what to do with the paste, when I took my heat-sink off, i had a dried-up "S" about 1/8 of an inch high sitting on the processor... And I've been trying to figure out why everything keeps lowing down, lol..l. Thanks for a thorough cleaning guide!!