Anyone replace the thermal paste on a Vostro 1500?

My temps are starting to creep up and I suspect the thermal paste is the culprit. I'm looking to replace it. If anyone has done it before. My question is, does the Vostro use a thermal pad or just a heatsink on on top of the CPU?

I checked the service manual and it made no mention of a thermal pad. Just looking to make sure before I tear it down.

 

I did in vostro 1400
Thermal pads are used in gpu and northbridge, but not in CPU
clean the heatsink and fan, change the thermal paste, undervolt it
and you'll get a cool fresh notebook

 

what can i replace the thermal pads with? im starting to get GPU issues

 

coppermod or brand new thermal pads.

 

Generally unless the thermal pad is not making contact on both surfaces, they are good for a long time.

Thermal paste - the Stock Dell stuff is crap, and usually is the first thing I change

 

Thanks for the info guys. I notice my GPU (8400m GS) idle is now around 50c where it used to be 37c. I also notice that with certain games my temps both on my CPU and GPU will increase pretty quick within 2 minutes and the fans will kick into high gear.

When this happens my CPU temps will climb to 60-65c and my GPU will climb to around 62c. I know this is not too bad but I want to get a handle on it since the 16:10 screen format is a dying breed.

 

How do you go about undervolting a Vostro 1500? And will I lose performance since my CPU is already poor (T5270 1.40GHZ)

 

It's easy. Read the undervolting guide.

John

 

Thanks John, i'll do this after I replace the thermal paste which is a pain but easy for me to do since I agree with the consensus that most mfg use cheap thermal paste.

 

I tried the undervolting trick and it helped drop my CPU temps on load from 67c to 52c.

I was able to use the lowest voltage settings available. So far no BSOD but I still plan on replacing my Thermal Paste as my GPU voltage on load depending on the game creeps up to 58c.