Do Heatsinks Need to be Replaced?

I apologize if this is a dumb question or if this has already been discussed and I just can't find the thread.

I've been running my M15x with a 920xm and a 680m for quite some time now. Since I've had them, I've never been able to run them at temperatures that I'm 100% comfortable with. There have been several occasions where the laptop has shutdown mid game because there is too much heat on the processor (which is only very mildly overclocked). I've tried everything I can think of doing to reduce the heat without modding the laptop itself; different pasting methods, different thermal paste brands, replacing thermal pads with K5 Pro, etc.

My question is, do heatsinks get worn out from high levels of heat over time? I noticed that the heatpipes on both sides seem less shiny on top compared to the bottom (see link below).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-XUjVBWYJ2a0J0OEFYc19lN0U/view?usp=sharing

I'm sure it's entirely possible that this is just a cosmetic problem and that it has no bearing on the performance of the heatsink. But I just thought I'd get some feedback from you guys on whether or not it'd be beneficial at all for me to try getting new heatsinks/fans for both the CPU and GPU.

 

I run both my 940xm and 680m heavily overclocked to game and I would say temperatures are comfortable. I have a cooling mod however which definitely helps. Maybe its time to consider doing one yourself?

Heatsinks might lose negligible amounts of capacity but nothing worth bothering about.

Sent from my m8 using Tapatalk

 

My heatsink's copper pipes also have lost their luster. I think it's just the effect of heat and oxidation on the copper. I don't think that the material itself has degraded in efficiency.

What are your temps anyway?

If you already tried different paste/pads, confirmed that your fans are working, and your heatsink fins are clean, I would suggest a cooling mod of some kind. The best mod is easy: remove the bottom tray and get the laptop sitting on a good cooler with powerful fans.

I posted about a Coolermaster Notepal U3 mod that I did. This is probably the simplest mod you can do, and from my results, it's worth it.

 

Thanks for the quick responses!

Here are some of the temps I documented a couple weeks ago:

Idle:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-XUjVBWYJ2c3JuZDh4TVdGdUU/view?usp=sharing

Load:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-XUjVBWYJ2a3pFTHFVWFEzbGc/view?usp=sharing

CPU Turbo Ratios:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-XUjVBWYJ2REd4czktNDFOTDQ/view?usp=sharing


However, I noticed that idle temps seemed better last night. I booted my laptop and let it sit while I installed BF4. Temperatures stuck around low 30's to low 40's.

Kosti, I did see your cooling mod and was rather impressed. It has a very slick look to it! I've always been against the idea of ever modding my M15x because I wanted to keep the outside as original as possible (besides the duracoat job I did on the lid). However, I think it'd probably be in my best interest to buy a spare bottom cover so that I can mod it similarly.

 

Yeah, CPU temps are getting pretty high. Even with a slight OC, they should not be that high. What's your room temperature?

What kind of paste are you using? I've been using MX4 for a while and it performs well. I got some Gelid GC Extreme recently and it performs slightly better on the CPU, but oddly the MX4 performs better on my GPU.

Yeah, a spare used bottom tray will be better for modding. You can get one pretty cheap nowadays on ebay.

That lid looks awesome btw. I remember seeing your post on this. Very impressive. I'm getting bored with my stock paint.

 

I'm not exactly sure what the ambient temperature is of my apartment. However, I'm not too concerned about it considering my girlfriend and I find ourselves shivering in it more often than not.

For paste, I use 7 carat IC Diamond on both the CPU and GPU, and just recently switched to K5 Pro from the phobya pads I was using a couple weeks ago after seeing your thread about it.

I do have a cooling pad, but it's an overpriced Targus that I picked up at Walmart. I doubt it's outputting enough air to positively affect the cooling, but I may just do what both you and King of Interns mentioned and take off the bottom cover altogether to see if that helps.

And thanks very much! Repainting the lid is easily the best way to make your M15x unique, and it's not even difficult to do. I ended up buying a spare lid to spray in case we messed something up, but it really turned out to be a much easier process than I thought it'd be.

 

IC Diamond is known to be a good paste, just make sure it's not applied too thick. I just ordered some more K5 pro. I recently ran out and decided to repaste my 7970m. For the pads I used some cheap Chinese pads and started getting artifacts. I picked up some Arctic thermal pads locally and the artifacts went away but they break apart sometimes when removing the heatsink. I should have just ordered some more K5 sooner. That stuff worked fine on my 7970m, but the problem is it has to be removed and reapplied every time you repaste your GPU (which I do quite often). The best part of the K5 is that it will take the shape of any components and fill gaps on uneven surfaces. I wish we had some way of actually seeing how good this stuff transfers heat though.

Stock coolers at 5V will not push out enough air to really make a difference from my experience. 12V fans can, but at the expense of some noise.