StudioXPS 16 "Ways to Apply Thermal Compound"

Hi Friends,

Heat issue has been a major issue to most of the SXPS 16 owners. Most users have replaced their Thermal Compounds but when some didn't get the expected results they tried different ways to apply the Paste. I welcome all the owners of StudioXPS 16(1640,1645,1647) to gather together in this thread and tell the experience y'all had and which way of applying the paste on individual GPU and CPU worked for y'all and which Thermal Compound y'all used. Also provide the CPU and GPU temp before and after the thermal compound replacement.

Thank you

 

**Space Reserved**

Edit: Here are the pix of the stock thermal paste that was on my CPU and GPU.

 

Well, I have a XPS Studio 1640. Which has had no end of heat/cooling issues. I've just replaced the HD with one of the Samsung 640gb drives (the largest that can be currently fitted in the 9mm bay).
While I had the bottom cover off, I thought I'd unscrew the two heatsinks and take a quick look. To my surprise, there was hardly any compound on two chips but the CPU had none what so ever.....So I applied a small blob of artic silver. I've ahd no opportunity to see if this as helped my heat issue, but I'm sure it must make some difference.

 

I just finished reapplying as5 on my cpu and gpu. Before I had done this the cpu temp was pretty high. It would idle around 53c-60c and under some gaming it would get to excess of 85c. This is even with a cheap laptop cooler underneath it. I am now very happy. The compound they put on there was everywhere. Alot of excess around the side. Cleaned it off put on as5 and much better. Now it idles around 44c-52c and gaming I have seen it spike to about 65c. With no cheap laptop cooler. This is even before the breaking in period. I recommend everyone to get this done. Its a breeze to do.

 

I applied my GC-extreme compound on both my cpu and gpu both the spreading method and the heatsink method but it still goes over 84c under heavy load. Overall i retried over 5 times and still had the same results. I Don't think im doing anything wrong. I idle around 48-52c

 

Hi all,

Really sorry to bring alive an old thread (5 months!)...

I've just ordered my 1645, and am trying to be prepared to battle any throttling that may occur with my unit-to-be. I build lots of desktops so I always have a supply of Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste on hand. I am accustomed to the "line" method of applying thermal paste on CPUs. But mind you, this is on desktop processors.

My question to you is: are methods of applying paste any different between notebook and desktop processors? I know that there is debate between the "pea" method and "line" method, but I'm wondering if methods for desktops are transferable to notebooks. I've never really done any internal changes on notebooks before (only upgraded RAM, HDD, optical drives) so I'm not too familiar with the insides of notebooks, and want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

If it matters any, my quick specs are
i7-720qm
8GB
ATi 5730
**i also have a notebook cooler

Thanks!

 

Wow, if those are stock then whoever working at Dell did that needs a lesson in thermal compound 101.

 

Will doing this void my warranty? My XPS16 is running perfect, a bit cooler than most people's even, so I don't really need to... but I kinda want to.

 

Daver,

See this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ging-thermal-paste-as5-studio-xps-1645-a.html

Gloomy,

See this answer from Bill at Dell:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...-throttling-info-updates-337.html#post5912948

 

What is the best paste from experience? Also when I asked someone from dell if itll void my warranty they said it will... Will they even know I opened it up if I dont break anything?

 

given the way the thermal paste is applied from the factory, i dont think they'd notice if you re-applied the paste unless you made an even bigger mess. as well, this post from Bill says that you can go ahead without worry (provided you dont do any damage)

 

Anyone have any more before and after results?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ctic-silver-5-temperature-reduction-poll.html

 

If you can get IC Diamond 7 instead, I would.