Please Help me with GPU Thermal Paste

Lately I've noticed my GPU fans running as if on load when I'm just surfing the web and stuff. Not as loud as when I'm heavy gaming but it keeps annoying me.
I checked the temps and they're 45~50C idle.
Not sure if it's a lot but I decided to reapply the thermal paste on the GPUs anyways because I've heard dell did a pretty bad job.
I've searched around the forums and i saw threads with pics but they're for R2 with ATI cards.
Now, I've never done a GPU thermal paste application but I've done that a couple of times on the CPU.
First thing, I don't see the thermal pad mentioned on the CPU heat sink. I'll check later when I open it up again but is it different from R1 and R2? I've never touched the stuffs on the 9400m.
Second, do I also need those pads for the 260m's? and I don't really know about the thickness and stuffs. I think they will be different from the 5870's from those guides...
I'll be very grateful if someone can guide me through this...

Also, if my idle temps are not too high, could it be because of the driver that my fans are kicking in early? I'm using the 260.99 which is the only stable R256 driver for me.
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I don't have anything other than alcohol to clean up the old thermal paste and screw drivers. So it'll be great if you can recommend me what to buy too. Sorry for all noob questions.

 

That's about where mine run at idle...depends on room temp and what you're asking the compy to do. Based on my experience 45-50C is about right. Biggest thing to check is how dusty the machines inards are. You can follow the guides for the R2 cooling mod to open the machine and blow out all 3 heatsinks first. This has the single greatest effect on GPU temps that I've found. Then you're down to modding the pads and pastes. Following the R2 cooling mod guide allows you to do this. I have the 260m's as well and I found little effect by modding the paste (whether I used AS5 or Shin Etsu X23). Replaced the pads on the vid memory with Cermique from...wait for it...Radio Shack. Can't believe I admitted that. Messy install as the pad gap is fairly large. Temps stayed about the same but at least I know the good stuff is in there. Now the one place I did make a difference was on the 9400...there was a large gap between the heat sink foot and that gpu. Used the washer mod tighten that up and replaced the crappy pad with X23. Temp dropped 10 degrees C! Also changed the paste on the CPU to AS5 and removed the pads on the 9400's vid memory with Ceramique. Internal geography of the R1 &R2 seem to be very similar. AS5 is the thinest paste & I use that where there is virtually no gap to fill. The Shi Etsu pastes (X23 & G751) are thicker so good for bigger gaps but also much more expensive. Creamique is cheap and thick so I used it for the memory chips. Could've used new pads but just chose to stick with paste. My temps at idle with clean sinks run 45C on the 9400 and 48-50C on the 260M's. Hope this helps. Lots of experimaentation and fiddly work.

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M17XR1 T9900 260Ms SLI 2x640gbHDs Bluray Vista Ultimate x64 8GB@1333MHz

 

Here is my thread.
Read read read. Lots of great info here. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ling-mods-done-tx-4-clip-mod.html#post6780988

 

Thanks for the replies.
I just I'll be following your method, Handsomerob. It should be similar for an R1 with NVIDIA card right?
Also, could you tell me what compressed air can you have?
and is 60x50 fujiploy pads enough or should i get the 150 x 100?
I just wanna get everything right and as cheap as possible.

 

Yep the same can be done for Nvidia GPU cards. Just double check the size of the pads that you need. For example 4870s need 1.0mm thickness pads and the 5870s need 0.5mm pads.

I just had a odd thought LOL. Get a balloon and blow it up. Then release the air on the air vents or fans LOL ehahahaha to use as a makeshift compressed air unit ahahhahaha LOL LOL.

A brush and vacumm cleaner can help also. Just be sure to hold the fans so they don't spin when sucking the dust out.

Yeh the pad size should be enough unless you are planning to be doing it more than once or on several other computers as well. I personally always like to get more as I don't like ordering again. + I live very far away from the store and shipping is not cheap.

Cheers.

 

I only used 60x50. The only thermal pads I'm using is on the CPU
That bigger sheet is a waste
Are you doing thermal paste on the GPU ram chips?
Clip mod?

 

Is it risky?
I've never done any hardware mod so I don't know.
my temps are actually fine as it is for now.
It's just I've been using the laptop for over a year and never replaced the thermal paste on the GPU.
Btw, I ordered one TX-4... one sheet each for 0.5mm and 1.0mm. hope they're enough.

 

Yup you should be good to go chiefs. Its not too risky.

Just do the paste and pads and you should be fine. No need to do anything else really.

All I did was the paste and pads and I get the same temps as the retention mod and others if not better. So yeh give it a go chiefs. If your note happy with temps give it another go.

Good Luck!

Cheers.

 

By risky, I meant the clip mod.
Cuz I read I could hurt the GPU die if I'm not careful.

 

Ah yup trues trues. Yeh it can be. I wouldn't even bother doing it if I were you chiefs. No real need for it. Just start off by doing the pads and paste. That should be good enough.

My 260s max out at 65 degs C now when gaming max load.

Cheers.

 

I don't get it.
I've cleaned all the fans and vents and my CPU idles around 40C and GPUs around 45C. Still my CPU fan is spinning like it's on load.
Not like gaming max but it still annoys me with the noise.
I'm sure it's not the fan's problem because I have an extra and it's the same for both fans.
Could it be BIOS? or driver problem? I've tried both A03 and A05 too.

 

Oles chiefs.

Most likely a symptom of not enough thermal paste on your GPUs or CPU. Probably both. However your CPU would be the main culprit when not gaming.
I would check out the CPUs thermal paste and heatsink contact. Its probably bone dry in there now.

I had similar shocking fan noise like yours last time. Its all about the paste. Sometimes too thin and little is not the best for fan noise. Temps are okay but the fan noise spinning up and down even when your not doing anything will driver you crazy LOL

Also stick with BIOS A03 unless you were fine on A05. I had battery charging issues with A05.

Cheers.

 

But aren't the fans supposed to kick in only when the temps get high?
It's possible it's the thermal paste but I'm still waiting for my TX-4!!
And A05 runs perfectly fine on mine. Been using since it's out.

 

The fans are having to work harder to keep it at the same temperature as it would with more paste and less fan. That's why.

 

Ah, that explains. Thanks a lot.

 

Yep You will probably find when you open it up again next time that the paste has all leak onto the sides and that theres not that much paste left on the actual die itself. So like the chief JaiaV above said the fans are needing to compensate to try and keep your temps lower.

TX-4 should do a pretty good job for you chiefs. Its much thicker than AS5 so give it a nice even coating on your CPU/GPU Dies. Flip the GPU/CPUs sideways to check if the contact is sufficient. Also theres a thermal pad above the CPU on the heatsink. You need to check that is making contact as well. Easiest way is just to flip the notebook sideways and have a look.

Good Luck!

Cheers.

 

I just finished replacing thermal paste and pads on GPUs and CPU. I haven't tried gaming but after browsing the web and listening to music for a while... I checked the temps and both CPU and secondary GPU are at 37C and primary GPU is at 50C. I thought it was a really huge gap and I replaced the thermal paste on the primary GPU again... and checked again... it's still 50C. What am I doing wrong?
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And the fans are still spinning crazy like before.

 

First of all you need to get the latest BIOS A09
I think everyone is running it and I have no probs whatsoever
Also you need to get the latest vbios for the 5870's
Then see if the fans keep doing what they are doing

 

He's got an R1.

 

Yeah, this time I can see why the fans are kicking in.
After I boot, all the temps start below 40C.
And the temp of the primary GPU keeps rising and rising until it hits 55C and the fans kick in.
That's with no programs opened at all.
After the fans start blowing, the temp goes down and stay at 50C and the fans keep blowing.
I've replaced the thermal paste again for the 4th time.

 

I think at this point we are going to need some pics on how you are applying the paste, and where the extra cooling pads are located. Also remember that unless you perform some sort of structural mod like the retention mod you are not going to see drastic drops in temps. Sorry, I dont really know what mods are appropriate for R1s, I too have only heard allot of experience on the R2s.

The R2 guys have found that some bits on the GPUs themselves keep it from sitting evenly on the core, so maybe this is part of what you are experiencing. That is why the cooling pad placement on the RAM is so important. Stretch it as thin as you can while still covering all the RAM slots.

Anyway, at this point we'll need pics to see whats going on


Just so you know...all I did on my macine was pad and paste replacement. only gained 3-4 degrees in cooling. and truth be told, in balanced power mode the fans will still kick in sometimes around the 50 degree mark doing nothing. I force it to Power saving mode to prevent that. So what is happening to you is not so strange, but I guess it could be better.

 

I replaced the two long pads on the RAMs but left the rest. There're those thick ones on the side too. I don't see them in the pics from those mod guides.
Should I remove them?

And yeah, I'm gonna leave it this way for a while. Noisy fans are better than overheating GPUs.
I just got myself a pair of Bose QC 15 because of this.
Razer Megalodon's noise cancellation is non-existence.
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I'll take pics next time I open it again.

 

Here're some quick pics I took with my phone. (and one that I stole from Handsomerob )







Right now, I'm pretty sure my main GPU is the culprit since everything else is running below 40 and it's running 55 and causing the fans to work.
I've replaced the thermal paste again and again.
All I did was replaced the pads on the memory and left the rest to dell ones.

The green ones are the pads I replaced and the blue ones are the pads I left.
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One good thing though, is that since the fans are always blowing
my gpu temps stayed below 60 after an hour of crysis.
Maybe I'll get over all this after I get my Bose QC 15.

 

Overall, I cant see you doing anything wrong. One thing that is different between your card and the R2s AMD 5870s in the guides is that we dont have pads in the area marked blue in your pciture. And if you are correct that the thickness is different from the those in the RAM region, then maybe there is some unevenness in how it is laying on the card.

Bottom line is that if you really are getting such good temps under load I would leave it as it is. Below 60 for Crysis is awesome! If you are desperate for silence then I would experiment with replacing the remaining pads with those of the same height as the RAM, making sure that all pads make good contact.

Otherwise, I would just make sure I have a shortcut to PowerSaver mode when surfing the net.

 

Yeah I guess.
I tried changing the power mode to Power Saver as soon as I boot the laptop.
The fans would kick in after 5/10 minutes anyway.
I just ordered a pair of AS5
I'll try replacing the TX-4 with that because I might've done a bad job since it was hard. (even getting the thing out of the tube was hard!)
If it doesn't work, i'll just give up.
The laptop's probably just showing its age. :[

 

I see...too bad about the power mode not working. That means contact to the card is really poor at this point.

And yeah if the TX-4 isnt comming out like new toothpaste you need to get it warmer. It wont apply propperly without being that warm. What works for me is speading it like it was a cracker and the TX-4 is nuttella or cream cheese: even to the edges but thick enough to taste.

I still think the pads are somehow the real problem. Otherwise, good luck! Will be rooting for you!

 

I'm an idiot.
My laptop's been fine all along and made this 3 paged thread.
I've been bothered by that loud fan noise and this morning.. I tried disconnecting the HDTV.
Temps went down to 43C idle (37C for secondary card).... and 55C on load.
I tried connecting it again... went back to 55C idle.
I tried turning of the laptop display and it's fine again.
Didn't know multiple monitor had that much effect on the GPU.

 

Glad to hear you resolved it, and it is good to know that HDMI can cause such discrepencies.