Applying Arctic Silver 5 on G50

I have read the guide in the forums and know how to take it apart.
What I'm wondering now is where I should apply my Arctic Silver. I have ordered some online and will be expecting them to come on Tuesdayish.

Should I take the CPU off and apply it there? Or would I be able to put it on while it is inside the laptop? Same questions for the GPU.
Where on the CPU or GPU shall I apply it on? Is there anything else I can put it on?

Attached is where I think I should apply it.
Aswell, can I turn my laptop on immediately after applying? What kind of differences would I get? I know it takes a while to get the most difference.

Sorry for so many questions, I'm new at this.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

 

Wow, I can't believe nobody responded to this. Leave the CPU in the socket, there is no need to take it out. You will want to scrape off the remains of the thermal pads from the heatsinks with a piece of plastic. Make sure to scrape the old thermal pads into a trash bin or a newspaper or something because it is messy stuff. Your pics are correct, the thing you are pointing to is called the IHS (integrated heatsink), and it is where you want to place the paste. Use a small amount, a glob about the size of the eraser on a pencil, maybe a little more. Don't put too much on, but you don't want to put too little. You should let it sit for a little while, but it's not entirely necessary. You should leave it on for a while afterwards, watching the temps. Then leave it off for a good long time, long enough for it to cool down completely. After a few warm/cold cycles it'll bind completely, there is no real method to it besides that. The most important part is to NOT move the heatsink once you have placed it back on, since it will smear the paste all over the place. You might want to practice placing the heatsink back on a few times (before putting any paste on) to get the hang of it since you have to do it right the first time.

Hope this helps

 

NO! You should never scrap off the thermal paste with a piece of plastic! This can scratch the CPU core. Instead, it's best to use a thermal paste remover and a lint-free microcloth. I've been using THIS for years, and it works great.

Also, depending on the type of thermal grease, there are different ways to apply it on the CPU. But for AS5, you apply the new thermal paste in a line like this:



Word of warning: One common rookie mistake is applying too much thermal paste. Doing so may cause temps to increase instead.

 

Er, no. I am not talking about the IHS here (from the pics they look relatively clean), I'm talking about the regular heatsinks. Sorry if that was not clear. I always use a tissue on the IHS, a microfiber cloth is even better.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

On the first picture then, I would just put some rubbing alcohol (70% is the best I could find ) on a micro fiber cloth, rub the existing stuff off, put a thin line of thermal paste on, then put the heatsink on?
How would the paste spread when its only in a line?

On the 2nd picture, the GPU thing I'm pointing to doesn't seem to be metal. Do I still do the same thing which is alcohol, clean, apply?

Do the thermal pads look like normal 'cushions' or are they like that thing surrounding the CPU core?

Once again, thank you all. (Sorry if it's a bit hard to read with all the question marks )

 

The thermal pads should be gray and sort of sticky.

I'm not sure what the whole idea is with using a line, I've never ever seen that before, I would very strongly recommend that you use a single blob.

You probably don't need to use alcohol, but you can. A microfiber cloth is good but not necessary, a tissue or ball of cotton will get the job done safely

 

Okay, what about the 2nd picture? Do I apply thermal paste there? It's not metal and I'm not sure if I should...

 

On the GPU there is a different kind of pad than on the CPU, it is much thicker, you may want to keep it if it is intact. I think that is why you aren't seeing metal on the IHS of the GPU. If you replace it with paste you'll want to use a good amount, I didn't replace mine (since it was intact when I swapped out my CPU) though so I can't tell you which is better.

 

My laptop would only be a bit older than a week old, so everything inside is still normal. Would replacing it with AS5 be beneficial to the GPU?

 

It depends on if the pad breaks or tears much while the heatsink above it is taken off, if it's mostly intact I'd stay with the pad. Maybe someone else can tell you if it'd run cooler, I don't know first hand, it might.

 

In all honesty, applying AS5 to your G50 would probably yield just a couple of degrees cooler. The thermal paste that Asus uses are not as cheap as the ones you find on other brand notebooks. If you do decide to use AS5, be aware that there is a "break-in" period of ~200 hours before you can see the optimal results. Also be aware that applying AS5 will void your manufacture warranty.

I don't quite remember what the contact is between the GPU core and the heatsink, but if it's a thermal pad, then, then you shouldn't apply AS5 to it unless you remove it first and insert a modded copper shim to fill in the gap. Thermal paste will provide much better conductivity, but you can not mix a thermal pad with thermal paste.

 

I'm aware that applying thermal paste will void my warranty.

Seems like applying it to the GPU will take too much. What kind of differences would I expect from AS5? Right after, and after the break in period?

 

I sorta read through all this.

On myne the gpu is direct contact between the heatpipe and the cpu except for the paste. Once the paste is off you can see the writing on the gpu. PADS are only on the northbridge and the other components of the gpu. I first applied to the cpu and gpu but on my second go around (1 day later) i decided todo it how asus did it. I applied it directly to the heatpipes thermal interface in the marked square.

Unfortunately I never tested the old processor and gpu temps with AS5 i swapped in a hotter processor that idles much cooler but during gaming its heat causes the GPU to not be cooled as effectivley. Alot of people swear by one paste or another, those who feel ocz freeze is better should check out several reviews showing the OCZ Freeze not really any better then off the shelf crap. The AS5 uses silver in the paste which should do better then pastes that do not but dont expect great differences between silver pastes themselves.

Its all easy todo i recommend a razer blade for the thinning and not a credit card as youll never get it proper that way. Lint free disposable cloths when using the surface purifier (if your using articlean or another cleaner kit).

The GPU probably idles a couple degrees lower with a few more on the cooler (I idle 42C compared to around 50C before the cooler and AS5). As i said with the new cpu its hard to tell how much benifit.

 

Okay thanks. Since I own the same laptop as you (but your is modified), was there thermal pads on the GPU? If not, all you had to do was take off the existing paste and put on AS5?

 

No pads on gpu core and yes just replaced the paste. As i said only on the northbridge and then the rest of the gpu in locations such as the ram and what not.

6 screws to get the cpu heatpipe up, it is seperate but connected by the fins with rubber thats glued. 2 Screws on the gpu it might not act like its going to come up as easy. Its more of the fins being locked down then it being stuck to the gpu.

I used the articlean kit, One is to remove the paste works very well then a surface purifier dry off with the lint free cloths. Applied the as5 very thin no thicker then rice as they say but as I am trying to cover the whole marked section of the plate rather then just the core it was a bit longer.

Used a clean razer blade to spread it square, once square i went over it about 10 times to thin it out. Remember the paste is just there to make good contact between two imperfect surfaces and the heatpipe aligns very well so where not going for very thick. No thicker then a sheet of paper just thin enough to not be transparent. The paste does not conduct heat was well as aluminum and copper so the thicker it is the higher the temps will be, too thin you might not make good contact and fill in the imperections.

Putting it back together i had the cpu pipe half folded back (rubber held the two parts together), placing the heatpipe fins in exactly where they go. I used the two screws to align the thermal interface though you can eyeball it, once aligned put it straight down. You dont want to smear anymore the needed making it uneven. Once thats done swing the cpu pipe pushing the fins into their place, line it up drop it in and stock in a screw to hold it.

Once youve done it its easy, ive done it three times before i became satisfied really only needed 2 but i forgot to plug the fan in the second time and didnt realize that was the issue before i took it off again.

PLUG THE FAN BACK IN Idle temps will look normal with the fan un plugged, wont realize it until the gpu starts downclocking in a game unless ur looking for the air flow.

 

Lol... i forgot to do this once when i replaced my CPU with a X9100. Idle CPU temps were 95+C!

 

Okay, and just to double check. The GPU core is the little black thing that isn't metal? Which is what you applied it to?

This will hopefully be my last question. Thanks for all the great help.

 

What would be the point exactly? This machine doesn't even get hot.

 

Get's quite hot over here (yes yes, Canada is supposed to be cold), sometimes gets to 30c. Makes the GPU go up to 90c which really feels unsafe. CPU temps are quite safe (60c max), although if I get the CPU cooler, hopefully the GPU gets colder aswell.

 

90C GPU for G50 feels safe enough for me though, I wouldn't break the warranty for that if I was you.

 

After a while (couple hours gaming) it would underclock. And anyways, I've voided the warranty on all my previous computers and laptops. They have never helped me at all as I've tried and they just sent me back a computer that was still broken.

 

The highest I've seen on mine is 89c. You're ok upto 110c I believe, but the safety downclocking kicks in at 96c.

 

Normal games only take me up to around 80c, but ATITool takes it up to 92c which is why I'm asking about AS5.

 

Racing games are the absolute most demanding because of how fast the drawing has to be. Those are the only games I see that high on. That, and shooters with lots of special effects. Otherwise, 86c.

 

Yeah if I had G50 I would definitely replace thermal paste, I just give as an advice not to try repairing a laptop that's fully operational and working in the safe range temperature. All you could get is couple of degrees lower in the very best case, that would not make big difference for overall performance...but you will loose your warranty

 

90+C doesn't seem very safe to me when the underclock temperature is 95C, but anyways. I sometimes travel to warmer places so I don't want this to run at a extremely hot temp when I'm there.

My warranty is already void since I overclocked the CPU and GPU.

 

You would think that they are more demanding but they really arent. FPS have alot more objects and in cases of say far cry 2 have alot of stuff to draw in the distance.

Remember racing games don't have as much to draw they just have to draw it at what seems to you like fast. Alot more is changing visually, remember that even if something is sitting still the graphics card is still doing the same amount of work to draw it at 60 frames per second as it would simulating it at 100 mph. When the scene is perfectly still to you it looks like the card has no real work todo, the graphics card has an entirley different opinion of that as it draws and redraws the same scene over and over again from scratch each time.

What changes at speed is the complexity, as the scene changes more cars show up or the scene opens into a long straight away and it has to draw further into the distance, that require more power and why FPS are very demanding as you have to draw enemys and complex environments with grass and tree's and water.

I run GRiD @ 1366x768 @ 16xQSCAA with all settings to high ultra whatever their max is, I get around 50 frames per second. I then turn around and try to run a year older FPS with lower res no AA settings to medium or high and dont get that kind of frame rate. Racing games use less actual power but require a higher priority.

 

True. Most of the "road" is actually repeating pattern of meshes and textures that are already loaded in the video RAM. Still, GRID is very graphics demanding game, my GPU goes 92C by just staying 10 minutes in the menu

 

Turn on the VSYNC, thats because its actuall rendered. But lets take your thought a bit further. Most of GTA4's menu's are 2D and and rendered via D3D at like 2000 FPS on my card lol.

I dunno why people call vsync bad, omg im not getting over 60 fps lol. My laptop has tearing issues over 60 fps anyways, but I also do it to take aload of the gpu in older games and in applications that should frame limit or atleast parts of it.

I can live with 60 FPS cap lol, I tested Far Cry 2 with VSync on and off and the results where the same within 1/10th of a fps, since it was under 60 fps it had no ill effect.

 

Yeah I got the VSYNC on, it's the only thing stopping this game to kill my GPU lol. Before that I got inconsistent FPS on races which can be really annoying when leading LeMans in the dark xD

Btw, although the GPU says 60Hz, it's actually running at 50 and the framerate is locking at 50 when playing on the internal LCD

 

Interesting, anything todo with it being a european model/power system @ 50hz?

 

I have just received my AS5 in the mail today, will try to apply it in a few min. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

well arctic silver is not that great i suggest u apply ICD7(IC DIAMOND 7) does a better job in cooling at least -6c on load or more and takes 2 hours to reach peek performance..........

 

Yes, but gram for gram, ICD7 is 3-4x more expensive!

 

It's from newegg...not european I thing the matrix is just holding up to 50Hz and since it's a non-standard refresh rate, windows sees it as 60Hz, the other 10 frames are just skipped...probably just skipping one frame in every 10 cuz I don't have any visible glitches or smt. On external monitor I have full functionality tho, all refresh rates are working as expected

 

Sounds like it could be an EDID problem, that's something the driver tends to handle on the backend, in Linux it is a fairly common issue with the NVIDIA drivers. I'm not sure how you tweak the EDID in windows ... maybe try uninstalling your monitor from device manager and detecting hardware again to let it reinstall... but that won't have much to do with the EDID, just may be a quick way around having to get into that.

 

It's not the EDID, the display is recognized as 60Hz, Direct3D says 60Hz, but when VSYNC is on (running internal monitor), framerate is locking 50fps...I tried many things with fliping the backbuffer in my 3D engine, but it's not program nor driver based it seems. Anyway, that's offtopic

 

Well, I'm finished applying the paste. Decided not to apply it on the GPU yet since it seems too much of a hassle, I may apply it later though.

I'm stress testing the CPU right now and checking out the temps.

*edit*
After stress testing for a while, temperatures seem 1c-2c lower. Hopefully this will improve by 1c or so after a couple heat cycles and the breakin time.

 

The GPU isnt any harder then the CPU but if your willing to go throught his again later. Its better to have an idea of how the cpu is responding to it first.

I was so upset that my gpu was running hotter until i realized the CPU was 10C hotter at load in game and was causing the GPU to be hotter as the gpu is cooled by the air cooling the cpu.

I should have AS5'd them both on the stock cpu tested and then changed the cpu so i would know i did the gpu right.

 

Would I have to reapply it onto the CPU again if I apply it to the GPU? I would have to take of the heatsink that's on the CPU to get to the one on the GPU. Or atleast what I think.

 

To get the GPU heat sink up you have to get the CPU section up and id recommend not removing the thermal rubber as it helps connect the fins. You should always re apply if you break the paste, ones its down its down. There is actually enough adhesive effect i the cpu wasnt held in place it would come out stuck to it, I know i forgot to lock the cpu down the second time had to redo it.

Ive done 7 applications out of the tube with a bit of waste and theirs still some left.

 

Not really sure what you meant.

Saying replacing the GPU's paste is a bad idea and that if I remove the heatsink, I should reapply?

 

The paste currently on the GPU is hard as a rock, pulling up the heat sink will physically break the paste, it will no longer be bonded and unlike AS5 the rock solid paste has a 0% chance of rebonding, your about as good as no paste at all. Dont get me wrong i broke the paste on my processor and ran it a week and only saw a 5C increase at load but still.

 

Sorry, but I really am not sure what you are saying.

Is the paste on the GPU the same as what's on the CPU? If its, wouldn't that mean since I put it on the CPU, that I could put it on the GPU the exact same way?

 

How about a picture:
EDIT - Heres 3, Original Paste, Cleaned, And the 9800M GS


The light gray areas are the thermal pads that u wont be touching. You should be able to pick out where the paste is.

 

I'm guessing the gpu paste is the diamond in the top right. Is that replacable by AS5 with a benefit or will it be the same? Aswell, I have already applied AS5 on my CPU, will I have to reapply it since I'm taking the heatsink off?

Sorry if this is starting to bug you.

 

Nah lol not bugging me and i reposted with three pics for you. Its the same procedure as the CPU especially if your applying it to the heat sink like asus and i did. You should redo the CPU if you remove the heatsink.

Are you cleaning the processor's when you do your paste? I didnt know if u ever got proper cleaner or not. The articlean is nice works very well paste comes right up. Though I never used anything else.

The GPU chipset has a peice of plastic over the rest of the chip u can see in the third pic helps keep the AS5 which is slightly conductive, off the rest of the GPU.

 

Ah okay, will do the GPU tommorow afterschool.

I am not using a dedicAted cleaner, instead I used rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs and double checked to see that it is nice and shiny.

Will it be harder to remove the AS5? It's more gooey than the factory stuff.

 

Trying to clean it up with nothing its a mess lol, I got some on the cpu and the plastic for the GPU because my first attempt was directly on the cpu and gpu.

The articlean takes them both up the same, if your method worked well for the old stuff it should work okay for getting the AS5 up. The AS5 stays a gel it never hardens entirely.

The AS5 will do as much good for the GPU as it does the CPU when properly applied, and while some say paste is paste and some comparisons have this paste and that paste so close. The factory stuff is hard and unless its a cermaique thats usually a sign that its old.

Not telling what the paste they used is and how long its been sitting.

 

I don't really see the point of voiding the warranty on your laptop in order to lose a couple of degrees on your cpu/gpu UNLESS there is an obvious problem. You can achieve a similar temperature decrease by undervolting the CPU and you'll get a touch extra battery life too. Oh, and no voided warranty.

_sP_