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    Use thermal paste on chipset above processor? L502X

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by mystycs, Jul 17, 2012.

  1. mystycs

    mystycs Notebook Evangelist

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    It seems the little thermal pad i had was damaged when i took off my heatsink to reapply paste. Can i apply paste to that chip above there above the cpu? Or should i get a thermal pad?

    This is for the L502x XPS 15

    Just curious cause the heatsink doesnt have copper for that part and there was a detatcable thermal pad not paste that was there that was ripped.
     
    mystycs, Jul 17, 2012
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  2. conscriptvirus

    conscriptvirus Notebook Evangelist

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    I think you should get a thermal pad since that's what was there before. I'm guessing that because the thermal pad is so thick already, just applying paste wont let it even touch the heat sink.
     
    conscriptvirus, Jul 17, 2012
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  3. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    Use a pad, thermal paste isn't thick enough to bridge the gap between heatsink and chipset, which is why they used a pad in the first place. You can get them cheap on Ebay. You could probably get away with just re-using the torn pad, but that's at your own risk.
     
    seeker_moc, Jul 17, 2012
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  4. mystycs

    mystycs Notebook Evangelist

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    Yeah I was thinking the same exact thing i dont want to mess anything up, and i did realize there was no copper part on the heatsink for it, so i went to the nearest computer shop and got a thermal pad that size for 25 cents :) Just dont have time to order online since im leaving for vacation tomorrow! And my computer started hitting 80+ on idle. I realized the paste was starting to get ty and much dust accumulated in my fan.
     
    mystycs, Jul 17, 2012
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  5. mystycs

    mystycs Notebook Evangelist

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    Went ahead cleaned fan out, changed paste and thermal pad went down 15 degrees :)

    Strange cause i changed it a few months ago. Using artic silver 5. But the thermal pad did shrivel up.
     
    mystycs, Jul 17, 2012
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  6. gabi85ro

    gabi85ro Newbie

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    I've messed up the thermal pad I had on the GPU also when i first cleaned the laptop.
    Does anyone know what thickness the thermal pad should have for the l502x model?
    I've found online from 0.3 mm to 2 mm and don't know what kind to get.
    Thanks
     
    gabi85ro, Nov 7, 2012
    #6