paste or not to paste

So I'm wondering what kind of thermal paste Dell uses from the factory for the r4? Is it any good ? And IS it recommended to repaste. I sorta want to but one time with my r3 I repasted it and after I turned on the computer I got a black screen with beeps indicating a gpu problem. So I'm a little afraid to do it after that. Any idea what could of happened to it back then ? I didn't put too much, used the heat sink to spread it, everything by the book. So what's the review for the stock paste job .?Anyways thanks guys.

 

I don't recommend messing with the stock paste job unless you're having problems with your temps. The deal with the stock paste is that it's not designed for optimal heat transfer (most aftermarket pastes blow it out of the water). However it is designed with the less tech savvy in mind meaning that it has a very long service life and probably will not need to be replaced over the life of the laptop.
As for your R3, a whole host of things could've caused your GPU failure. Could've been a poorly seated GPU (knocked loose from the slot while repasting) or maybe you damaged the card somehow.

 

so basically if my temps are good dont worry about repaste eh? what does my idle gpu and cpu temps be, and how should they be when stressed? just so i have a reference point, thanks

 

Your specs would help us give a more accurate estimate of an acceptable range.
However in general, under stress neither your GPU nor CPU should exceed 80C ~ 85C. Anything higher, a repaste and cleaning of the heatsink fins is in order.
Idle temps are misleading and fluctuate quite a bit depending on many factors like ambient room temperature. For example, my idle temps in the winter when the room temp is around 20C range between 35C ~ 45C. In the summer when ambient room temp is around 25C ~ 28C, my idle temps range between 37C ~ 55C.

 

i have the 7970m and the 3610qm i7... cpu idle at about 50c GPU idle at 54-57. how are those temps?

 

I did a repaste on mine following a guide i found on here and it dropped the temps by about 5-10C on both. Running furmark and prime95 at the same time gives me a max cpu temp of 80c and a max gpu of 68c now which im happy with. Before the repaste the cpu hit 90c at one point and the gpu was going to about 76c. i can imagine the repasting job i did wasnt to the best standard as im a bit cackhanded but still it worked out

EDIT: forgot to mention mines the 3820qm with the 7970m gpu

 

Which paste did you use when you did it. I have some ic diamond but dont like it because of how it scratches the dies

 

I used Antec formula 7. Its also diamond based. Worth noting my idle temps didn't really change just the load temps.

 

dandan, wait till you get your machine and check out the temps. Repasting will always lower your temps vs the factory paste job. This is true 100% of the time, however, if your temps are decent stock, you could get away with just letting it be

I agree that IC diamond is a very abrasive paste and will scratch or stain the dies. My personal favs are PK-1 and MX-4