replacing thermal paste on gl502vm

Will replacing stock thermal paste with an aftermarket paste void the warranty? Or, will doing this void the warranty the moment I open the back?

 

yes, it will void the warranty.

Generally they put a tamper sticker over the heatsink screws.

Opening the back cover usually doesn't void warranty. Only very few manufacturers put a void sticker on the back panel.

 

Ok, so onto the second question. Is it worth replacing the thermal paste, and potentially voiding the warranty, or should i buy from a reseller that does that for me?

 

If you do it yourself, you would have more options available to which thermal paste you buy, if you have a preference on that. Most resellers only offer one or two different type of pastes. Temperature drops can vary a bit depending on the brand.

If you do it through a reseller, you shouldn't have to worry about voiding warranty (at least, I know we are an authorized seller for Asus and it won't, you may want to check with your preferred seller). You don't have to worry about doing the work yourself, if you aren't totally comfortable doing it at home.

 

Yes, If you've had your system awhile and are having higher than normal temps on your CPU and GPU. However, if it's a new system doing this would not be necessary.

 

It might depend on the country you live in, but at least in the US a manufacturer cannot void your warranty just for doing your own maintenance (whether you're talking about repasting a laptop or changing your own oil for your vehicle, etc), unless they can show that what you did directly caused the damage. So if you repaste and but the HDD or screen die, you're still fine. If you repaste and your GPU fries, you might be screwed. It may also make your laptop non-returnable depending on where you bought it from.

That said, based on the internal pics others' have posted, it doesn't look like there are any tamper-proof stickers on the heatsinks (nor have I ever seen this in any laptop I've ever taken apart, and I've taken apart plenty).