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    L502x: Moral dilemma, repaste and spare parts

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by pjcronje, Nov 10, 2011.

  1. pjcronje

    pjcronje Notebook Geek

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    So today I received my Arctic MX-4 paste, and Skyrim. What cruel world do we live in!?

    In the end, I decided to repaste first, in order to better enjoy Skyrim. Just as well - I think the engineer who built my laptop was wasted when he put on the thermal paste: "ooh what's dis shiny bit? Better not put any of this yucky paste there! Better smear it all over this green piece..." Ok I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. I spent about 5 mins getting the paste of the chips (CPU and GPU), and another 15 getting it off the green circuitboard AROUND the chip :( Apply MX-4 and close.

    And... WOW!

    I first thought I must have forgotten to plug in the fan. Only when I opened Lightroom, iTunes, Excel and Outlook all at once did the fan come on for the first time, and only for 1 second.

    Idle temps: used to be mid 50's (53-56), now low 40's.
    CPU with Prime95: 94, now 82.
    GPU with Furmark: 77, now 66.

    That's OVER 10 DEGREES DIFFERENCE!

    Anyway, onto the spare part - I found a tiny little silver clip, of the kind that keeps screw attached to something. The 3 screws that keep the bottom access panel closed each have one of these. It's like a little "u"-shaped thingy. Know what I'm talking about? Well I have one spare. Anyone care to guess where it goes? I would hazard a guess at the display ground cable, can anyone confirm this?

    Ok, I'm off to play Skyrim! Good night all!

    Edit: Ah boo! Steam won't let me install it as it "has not yet been released"!
     
    pjcronje, Nov 10, 2011
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  2. zjacobss

    zjacobss Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah same story here, after a repaste games are playing better and temps are lower. Your game will be unlocked in about 2 hours :)
    I think the little silver thing goes to a cable from the display that has a screw and attaches to the laptop but i'm not sure.
     
    zjacobss, Nov 10, 2011
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  3. toronto

    toronto Notebook Deity

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    How did you remove the excess paste from the other components?
     
    toronto, Nov 10, 2011
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  4. pjcronje

    pjcronje Notebook Geek

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    It wasn't on the other components exactly. It was on the CPU and GPU package, just not on the actual chip itself, on the circuit board that the chip is mounted to.

    Cotton tips/buds, 99.9% alcohol and patience...
     
    pjcronje, Nov 10, 2011
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  5. toronto

    toronto Notebook Deity

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    How easy or difficult is it to remove stuff in order to see if the paste job is acceptable? I thought there was a guide here with photos, but I can't find it.

    I get my new XPS 15 tomorrow, so I wouldn't mind having a look to make sure the processor has a good paste job. (Not that I know what a good job looks like, but if there are photos then maybe they will give me an idea.)
     
    toronto, Nov 10, 2011
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  6. pjcronje

    pjcronje Notebook Geek

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    http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...stallation-cpu-gpu-repasting-56k-warning.html
     
    pjcronje, Nov 11, 2011
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  7. pjcronje

    pjcronje Notebook Geek

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    If anyone's interested, I did a 30min run of Prime95 (8 threads) and Furmark @ 720p simultaneously.

    CPU was at 92, GPU was at 79. I wonder if I should repaste again? Maybe I didn't do a great job... it was my first time! :eek:

    Then again, very few games will have that kind of workload I think. I might try ThrottleStop to get a stable Prime+Furmark under 90, and use that for gaming.

    Next step - overclocking GPU!
     
    pjcronje, Nov 11, 2011
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