Motherboard replacement without CPU repaste?

I just had a Dell technician perform a Mobo replacement on my M18x without a repaste of the CPU.

I found this worrying and mentioned it to the tech guy. He claims that Dell do not provide the repaste tubes any longer (ie wasn't in the box that held the new mobo).

Through a different thread I've had Mr. Fox confirm that this is isn't a good solution. Before I get back in touch with Dell support I thought however I'd check if others have experienced the same, or have had repaste supplied with a recent mobo replacement - this so I can act more secure on the phone with support

 

Thermal paste MUST be applied/replaced when reseating the heatsink after removal.
No doubt you'll experience high temperatures for your CPU or even thermal shutdowns if you leave it like this

Now i don't know if recently Dell doesn't provide thermal paste with interventions such as motherboard replacement but if he didn't, either do it yourself or call Dell just to check if he was supposed to do it or not.
But i find it in their interest to have the tech they send do it, instead of getting a new phone call from unexperienced owners that their system is shutting down, lagging etc.

I would do it myself as nobody cares for my equipment more than i do

 

Seems odd to me, i doubt many of us would do the same. Any change of heatsink or cpu would be a reason to clean off the old stuff to add some new.

 

I know, but for better performance this is a must.

Let me explain: When you remove the heatsink from your CPU (it can be a GPU etc..) and reseat it the thermal transfer is crippled because the paste is no longer even on the surface (This leads to thermal shutdowns or hardware failures/malfunctions) compared to a newly even applied paste with a clean flat heatsink!

It's actually not hard to do, i bet you can do it.
Here's a teardown video of the M18x:
Alienware M18x complete teardown / review - Hidevolution.com - YouTube

Just go slowly and be patient. Grab a tube of thermal paste of whatever brand as it makes little to no difference (i.e. MX-4, IC Diamond etc..)
These thermal compounds are usually thick and what i do is put the tube (syringe) next to a (turned on) light bulb while i disassemble the system so it will be easier to spread.

When you remove your heatsink, clean the old thermal paste with alcohol (70°-90°) and cotton buds.

Now that both the CPU die and heatsink contact surface are clean, apply a small grain of paste on your CPU and spread it evenly. I use a plastic phone card, flat plastic prying tool or whatever similar i have on hand.

Seat your heatsink and tighten the screws, not too much, they will stop turning at a moment, don't go further.
You can continue putting it back together and check the temperatures while running a stress test, benchmark tool or even a game.

Come back and let us know how it went

 

i had the exact same concern when i had my mobo replaced on my m17r2... i called dell and they said the paste/pads is on the heatsync already from the factory... i was pissed..

 

Thank you very much for an excellent reply!

I got in touch with Alienware support and although they at first confirmed what the repair tech said (paste isn't necessarily supplied with new mobo's any more) they are going to either do a repaste or (from what I gathered) fit thermal pads.

Had the system been a little older, or even out of warranty I'd have done it myself however I have an open case regarding my 6990 GPU cards so I'm not touching it at the moment.

Cheers everyone and also warez420 for confirming this very odd new way that Dell is trying to save money

 

You are right on that, you paid premium, you should get what you paid for.

Just in case: don't let them put pads instead of paste and vice versa.

 

Make sure they don't put a pad on the CPU, that would be a large point of concern. But, they do need to put pads on everything besides the GPU cores.

Also, since it sounds like you don't want to touch it, then make sure they use a rice grain size drop on the center of the chip. Most likely, for the paste that Dell uses, this is the best solution.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

GTI, have you read the thread? You're pretty much repeating what was already said :/

 

Exactly the same story here aswell......I mentioned it as I watched him put my rig back together.....said it wasn't part of the replacement process basically.....god help people that have this done and then don't know how to do something like a re paste themselves later.

Imagine how pissed off someone would be if they then burnt out their dearer, hotter running 940xm due to something like this. I know I would be anyways.

 

Had the repaste performed today. Meant a new CPU heat sink as well. Interestingly enough this tech commented on how dry the paste was on the old (1 week since unboxed) heat sink. I'm not surprised but it does go to show that all those people out there that just use a computer and don't necessarily understand it are easy target

@hijackd not sure from ur story if you got stuck without the repaste or not. If not: get back in touch. I could very quickly notice higher CPU temps with monitoring software.

 

They did the same thing on my r1.I just waited until he left and did it myself.

 

A point of clarification about paste, pads and heat sinks. A brand new replacement heat sink from Dell/Alienware generally includes a thermal interface material (TIM) that requires no paste. It cannot and should not be re-used when taken apart later on. The solid gray colored "pad" material is attached to the new Dell heat sink where it mates with the CPU or GPU die. It will soften and melt into form with normal processor heat and it is actually superior to aftermarket pastes. This material is totally different from thermal thermal pads on heat sinks that mate with memory and other components to keep them cool. Those pads are re-usable and do not melt into place. They simply wick the heat away from the parts they contact and transfer it to the heat sink for dissipation.

I am only offering this information because if a tech installs a new heat sink provided by Dell, there should be no cause for alarm in the tech does not whip out a tube of paste. Just ask to look at the heat sink before it is installed. If you see the square gray patch at the die mating surface, you're good to go.

 

I dont think this applies, when they change a mobo they use the same heat sink with the old paste on it and they dont clean it of or anything they just put it right back on the cpu. When the tech did mine half the paste was on the cpu and the other half was still stuck to the heat sink.

 

^^^ this is exactly what happened when my mobo was replaced. The tech reused the heat sync. No cleaning and no paste. Im sorted now though, they fitted a new heat sync. Would've thought it cheaper to repaste but I'm happy either way now

 

I think you missed the point that was being made. It applies whenever they replace a heat sink with a new one. I have seen mobos, GPU and heatsink replacements occur all at once. My point was if you are having a heat sink replaced with a new one you don't need to use paste because the new heat sink has the TIM in place.

I'm not saying there is a legitimate reason for replacing a heat sink, LOL. They don't generally wear out... but, I've seen it posted numerous times that it was gone.

They frequently send new heat sinks when sending replacement GPUs as well.