A question about re-pasting and the warranty.

First off, I apologize if this topic has been beaten into the ground, but I'm resorting to asking here after having spent a fair amount of time digging through previous posts and Google.

Okay, so, I know that opening the system and changing out hardware does not void the warranty. I also know that Dell will not support non-Dell-provided hardware that you put into your system. That's fine. But based on that, I have a two-part question:

1: Does re-pasting the CPU and/or GPU void the warranty, insofar as Dell providing coverage for those parts?

2: Is it even really necessary to re-paste the CPU and/or GPU in these systems? Where does Dell's stock CPU/GPU paste in the M18x stack up against something like, say, Prolimatech PK-1?

To note, I tried to look at the R2 warranty on Dell, but it asks me for my Service Tag to view it, and I don't yet have my system, so, there goes that.

Lastly, the reason I'm asking is because -- with two 680Ms and a 3920XM -- I plan to run as many games as I can with ultra settings and AA/AF cranked to the max! That's undoubtedly going to push the hardware to get pretty toasty, I imagine.

Thanks for any help/advice.

 

1. If there is damage because of your actions, costs are on you. In other words, you are welcome to do anything you want as long as you don't damage parts covered by the warranty.

2. Using a high quality thermal compound should give you a few degrees less (e.g. minus 3-5*C using IC Diamond). If you are not comfortable with taking your laptop apart, you can just as well don't repaste anything. M18x's cooling is pretty efficient even on stock paste.

As far as the actual efficiency of notebook cooler is discussable as well (some say they do work, some say they don't), you can always use something to lift up the back of your laptop, e.g. "belkin cooling pad"



I hope this helps.

 

Good answer! You're doing my job man -.- thanks! haha +1

 

side question with new heat sinks what happens if you put thermo paste on top of new gpu heatsink?

and is half a tube too much for each gpu?

 

Yeah, I usually prop up the back of my laptops and that has always worked just fine, but I've never had a laptop even remotely close to the power of this one! I was just mostly curious as to if anything was technically voided warranty-wise as soon as you tampered with the stock paste. I'm quite comfy with everything involved with getting into hardware, re-pasting, etc., but I've been curious as to which particular paste manufacturer Dell sources from, how it stacks up, etc.

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

Huh? The compound goes between the CPU/GPU die and the heatsink. The point is to make the thermal exchange between the CPU's surface and the heatsink as efficient as possible.

IC Diamond recommends applying a pea sized "drop" of the paste on the perfectly cleaned CPU's surface and then press on the heatsink onto that. Do not try to spread the paste manually. Put a drop of the paste in the middle and then press the heatsink on.

Something like this:

 

sorry I was half asleep when I wrote that...

dell tech just changed my gpu's and heatsinks... she was suppose to change out the thermo paste on my cpu too... but she used all the paste that came with it on the 2 gpus... so I am worried now that windows is loaded, she put on too much paste...

 

I believe there really can't be "too much" paste. Don't worry. Any surplus amount of the paste between the die and the heatsink will simply be 'squeezed off' to the sides and that's it.