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    processor thermal paste !

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by prabhu.camry, Apr 12, 2012.

  1. prabhu.camry

    prabhu.camry Newbie

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    Hi guys, I had a problem with my palm rest and the base unit, so i called dell to replace and today a technician came to do it. to remove the base unit he had to remove the heat sink from the processor. when i asked him whether he need s to reapply the thermal paste (just the cpu not the gpu) he told that wouldn't be necessary. Is he correct or should I call them to send a person to reapply the thermal paste ?

    Thank you !
     
    prabhu.camry, Apr 12, 2012
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  2. blink_c

    blink_c Notebook Consultant

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    With Dell's stock thermal paste, Dell has stated that a re-application is not needed if you are using the same CPU/GPU and it's corresponding heatsink.

    I think thermal paste should be re-applied every time a heatsink is removed, but that's just me.
     
    blink_c, Apr 12, 2012
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  3. maxheap

    maxheap caparison horus :)

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    buddy, just do the repaste yourself, buy a good thermal compound (I am using prolimatech pk-1), high percentage rubbing alcohol, and some q-tips, and open the lappy, with a youtube video in front of you (you have another pc right?) and do your business yourself, trust me it is a ton better than handing your precious lappy to a dell tech.. AND it is really easy!!
     
    maxheap, Apr 12, 2012
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  4. prabhu.camry

    prabhu.camry Newbie

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    cool, thanks bro will do it !
     
    prabhu.camry, Apr 12, 2012
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  5. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    I don't care what dell says...once you lift off the heatsink, you've broken the paste seal. Once you put the heatsink back on, there will be air pockets, gaps where there is no contact between the heatsink and processor die, and bad contact where two broken paste fragments meet.

    This is atrocious that they would even suggest you don't need to do a repaste after lifting off the heatsink.

    To OP, you need to do a repaste immediately. Its just laziness on the part of the technician and dell. It would have taken him a few minutes to clean the old paste and 10 seconds to reapply new paste.

    This is just incredible....
     
    SlickDude80, Apr 12, 2012
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  6. kalisto2002

    kalisto2002 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Always always always re-apply thermal compound slick is right that is pure laziness, last time a dell tech came out I made them do it with my Ic-9 diamond I you go to their website as well it shows you why it's needed EVERY time
     
    kalisto2002, Apr 12, 2012
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  7. alucard84

    alucard84 Newbie

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    i buy a new heatsink and its preappleid with a thermal paste,should i repaste it or lave it so?
     
    alucard84, Oct 13, 2012
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  8. mariussx

    mariussx Notebook Evangelist

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    You can leave it on. Just make sure to clean your CPU or GPU with 99% alcohol before putting new heatsink on.

    Dell techs wanted to do the same for me when replacing heatsink on my old XPS M1530 (which is still alive somehow). New heatsink had the thermal paste (all their refurbs come pre-pasted), but he did not bother to clean the CPU, where I stopped him and politely asked if he could clean the old paste first. He also replayed this was not unnecessary, which is not correct.
     
    mariussx, Oct 15, 2012
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