Thermal Paste in ASUS Laptops (F8Va-C1)

Hey Guys,

I have recently purchased an ASUS F8Va-C1 and run a few stress tests to measure the temperatures and the stability. The CPU temperature was around 55 C (celsius) when idling and around 81 C under full load. This seemed a bit on the high side for me and decided to replace the thermal paste...


After gently removing one edge of the "warranty void if removed" sticker on the CPU heatsink I noticed that the thermal paste on the CPU was totally hardened and unevenly distributed. There were some sections of the CPU which did not have any paste on it. For the GPU it was much worse since there was NO thermal paste there. A bare metal was touching the HD3650 graphics chip. I applied AS5 to both and re-assembled them. Of course, the warranty sticker is still there on one of the screws.

Now the CPU temperature is 48 C in the idle mode and 72 C under full load.

 

Yeah, I suppose it's careless assembly... not good at all

 

What about the GPU temperatures?

 

You know, I'm really glad you brought this up. I'm trying to order a G50V-A1 or A2 whatever gets in stock first. Both of which have an option for the Arctic Silver 5 compound on them. I'm not concerned about the $37 they are charging to put it on there, I just want to know if it's a smart idea or not. But wouldn't that cause it to ship at a later date as well as possible troubles when they reassemble, how does this work?

 

Maybe a day at most ? As far as reassemble problems I think that's a bit of *over-worry*.

 

Your warranty with Asus is *VOID* as soon as the AS5 is applied - any warranty work will have to be provided by the reseller if something happens, so you lose the 2yr prepaid Asus overnight shipping, and probably lose the 1yr ADP. $37 might be the wrong price to pay, perhaps, for that little piece of performance....

 

Yeah, if you're doing any customizations to the notebook, make sure it's from a very reputable reseller, because it is the reseller who will have to support the warranty.

 

It's hard to think someone would not go through that with whomever he/she is buying their notebook from but , just in case they did not , good point.

 

I think he is talking about xoticpc - they were offering AS5 on the G50 for 37 bucks.

They don't mention anything about the warranty being void if it is applied though.

Personally I am worried about ordering it with AS5 because don't they have to disassemble everything in order to apply it? Or does xoticpc build the thing themselves from parts?

 

They take a stock F8 unit out of the box, pull the bottom panel and take the gpu heatsink off (along with the warranty void warning sticker), apply the as5, and reassemble. That sticker removal is why the Asus warranty is void - I'm sure Xotic mentions that somewhere in their fine print, they have to.

 

As Authorized ASUS Resellers, they can do minor maintenance (like cleaning) and part replacements that would not void the Asus warranty. Xoticpc resells Asus stock, and no they don't build it or configure them(unless it's ASUS barebones).

 

Hmm I think I will make sure to talk to them before I order it. I mean AS5 is definitely a good investment, but not at the cost of Asus' awesome warranty.

 

Well here's the thing, but don't quote me on it. Asus is pretty lax about their warranty policies, as long as their isn't blatant physical damage to the unit (unless it's accidental warranty) or misuse they will often replace it. For example when the EEEPC first came out there were void stickers on the expansion panel, and it was on a press release that they are allowing people to upgrade it and still honor the warranty even if the void sticker was removed or broken. Stuff like AS5 is not misuse, infact, I would say it's complete opposite, and I think they will accept it as RMA if the problem doesn't relate with the CPU itself, which is highly unlikely a problem.

Again, I don't represent ASUS and I could be completely wrong here as it's a "grey" area.

Personally I've used AS5 on my F8Sn, and I try not to worry about warranty. But I did what the OP did, carefully removed the Void sticker. It know it's a "NO-NO', but it's not like I am tricking ASUS in anyway if indeed I would need to get something repaired.

 

Hey thanks a lot for clearing that up guys!