Video Guide: Changing thermal paste(AS5) on Studio XPS 1645

I've never seen a pea as small as the opening of a pen, lol. Most people now recommend to use a 'grain of rice' sized drop, as a 'pea' sized one is too big. Uruha, you should be fine, you really only need a little.

 

for my GPU i would say it was about 2 grains of rice and the CPU was like 4. since the opening of my thermal paste was too wide to make rice sizes.
Also the dell dude came in yesterday to change my keyboard and attempted to put his Dell paste on it. I said no ill do it myself. Judging from his thermal compound, Dell uses these little square pads instead of putting paste on. that takes the paranoia of "did i apply it right?" out because it fits perfectly onto the processors.

 

Yeah, seriously! The ball of a ballpoint pen is not enough paste. Grain of rice is the best measurement.

 

seem to do a good enough job for me -7c temp drop. perhaps i should have chosen a different reference point. w/e

 

The pads are easy to apply, so they're good for mass production, but they're way to thick, and their thermal conductivity sucks compared to a good paste.

 

Did anyone try removing all those little pads and putting paste there?

Just to clarify in case the Dell procedure ever changed, on my i7 720QM / 4670 config there were about 5-6 pads on little square things around the main GPU area, and another pad on the Southbridge. There were no pads on the 2 main (big) CPU/GPU areas.

 

The little sticky pads on the video ram and southbridge aren't that great, but should probably left in place, as thermal paste isn't thick enough to bridge the gap. If they use a pad on the CPU/GPU, then you should replace it with paste.

 

my 3rd core is ALWAYS hotter than the rest. coolest vs hottest is 5-6C. does this mean i missed it when applying the paste? I dont like this grain of rice and squishing thing, i dont know where is covered
I put about double of what he does in the video.

 

It could just be that your 3rd core is the one with the most load, and therefore is the hottest. You can use ThrottleStop to determine the load on each of your cores, then compare it with the temps. If the temps are higher even though it's not under load, either you messed up the paste job or your 3rd core is defective. Both possibilities are equally unlikely.

 

Its always 5-6 hotter than the coolest
I dont know how to read throttleStop

 

wow, i m reaaly surprised, it's compeletly silent when it s idle. difference is about 6-8 C . I used arctic mx 3 btw.

Great video thanks mate

 

Ok I've just done the AS5 "mod"

Although it should be noted that before I did this my laptop would get over 86°C and my Bad Company 2 games would hang. This only started happening over the last couple of days. I had already planned on doing this before so I had everything ready but was too lazy to actually do it.

Here are the results:
Web browsing before changing the thermal paste:


Idling immediately after changing:


During and after Bad Company 2 after changing to AS5:


For all three:
Room temp: 18°C
Relative humidity: 80%

One other thing to note. In the process of changing the paste I also cleaned out the dust from the fan and vents. So this would also be a factor.

 

HI,

I am about to buy dell xps 1340 from Dell outlet.

I was wondering what thermal compound do Dell use.

Also if I try to change that compound with artic silver, will that process void my warranty?

Isnt there a way I can ask dell to do it, when I am buying the Laptop?

 

Just one question. I just reapplied the termal paste (Revoltec Thermal Freeze) and it seems I did good since the laptop seems to be really cooler.

But: while removing the heatsink, i accidentally ripped the sticky pad over the southbridge. It's not torn apart, but it lost its integrity. I was wondering, those pads were there just to fill a gap, or maybe protecting the southbridge from scratches (by the heatsink?), or is their integrity vital? I managed to put it back in place, but now I was wondering if I should worry about this.

 

The pads are to conduct heat away from the southbridge. Just put the pad back on top, and don't worry about it. The southbridge doesn't get hot enough to really worry about.

 

Ok, so the tear in it won't matter? That's what I thought, the Southbridge shouldn't really get that hot...

 

I'm planning to reapply the thermal paste alone with swapping in a backlit keyboard.

What is the difference between these two arctic silver 5 and which one should I buy?

Amazon.com: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound: Electronics

Amazon.com: Arctic Silver 5 3.5G Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Grease CPU Heat Sink Compound: Electronics

 

All I can see is the price, get the cheaper one.

 

Yeah, if you check out the artic silver site, it suggests that for mobile Core i7 processors that you use the spread method.
I'm guessing that the core size is larger, or perhaps the fact that there are 4 separate cores would mean the dab method has a chance of not covering them all sufficiently?

 

It's because with a mobile chip, you're putting the paste directly on the core, the surface needs to be completely covered, and it's smooth enough that you don't have to worry about air bubbles that much. The process is different for a desktop CPU, where the cores are covered by an integrated heat spreader (IHS).

 

So the pad by the Southbridge and 4 pads around the GPU area don't have a similar effect to thermal paste, but rather act as "heat blockers"?

 

I've changed the thermal past in XPS 1645 (for Arctic Silver 5) and I'm not sure if I've done it right (especially for GPU - I've used the dot (for GPU) and line (CPU) method).

What should be the average temperatures (for Internet browsing, Office work) in XPS with i7-720QM, Ati 5730, standard FullHD screen for CPU and GPU?

 

~48-54C for both.

 

Thank you.

Then it's seems to be fine. Do you know what is the temperature after which coller starts working? This sound of starting and stopping cooler is quite annonying (and I suppose temperatures are some place aroung this level after which cooler starts working), especially when it does that every few seconds (it happens..).

And with cooling pad - is there a chance that these temperatures would drop even lower?

 

Fan low is 55C fan high is 75C. Yes, a cooler will drop your idle temperatures slightly, but it will drop your load temps more. I personally don't use a cooling pad (though I do have a fanless lapdesk).

 

Sorry, I missed this question. No, they do act as thermal conductors, it's just that the pieces they cover don't really get that hot, so small imperfections in the pads aren't critical.

 

I don't use those methods, I just can't get the results I see when I spread it myself (which in theory leaves bubbles and I guess is the reason people don't recommend this method).

The idle temps don't really tell you if you've applied it right.. just use furmark and prime to check the temps are in control when pushed. CPU is easy to get right but for me the GPU is harder and I've had to re-apply few times to get it right (idle was fine but push it and temps went up way too fast and high).

 

They seem to be fine under load. I think they don't reach 75 degrees. I will check this later to be sure.

Right after I've changed the past I wasn't sure if I did it right because temp of GPU vent down a little but after that went higher (noticable). However this seemed easier then aplying it on CPU because GPU is small and I just put a little drop on it.

I still have some past left (together with Arctic Clean for cleaning) so I can do this again. But if the temps are all right it may be useless.



I have another question. I've had a really nice program for my old laptop - Inspiron 6000. It's called I8kfanGUI and it allows to change the setting of fan in computer. For example I can set it to start after reaching specific temperature.

It would be really helpfull in XPS 1645 (to make this temperature a little higher so the fan wouldn't start and stop so often) but I can't make this program works in Win 7 64 bit.

Is there any other program that would allow to change such a settings of internal fan in XPS 16?

 

i changed to Artic silver 5 when i replaced my mobo and got a hugh reduction on the temp.......

 

Anyone try Arctic MX-4 yet? I just ordered it and am curious to see what your thoughts on it are.

 

never tried it...only use AS 5.

by the way........a friend of my he also put on AS 5 on the CHIP as well. (with other words 3 points: GPU, CPU and Chip). i only replaced GPU & CPU (became great anyway)

as you see on the heatsink ( HPT6P (SXPS 16)) you are able to change the middle paste as well......it have another type of (cheap dog) paste.

 

And does it change anything? (are the temps lower?)

 

of course................under heavy load (games, etc) the temp was reduced from 70C to 55C......

made a short image of it:

 

Whoa... what is your ambient (room) temperature? I'm idling at around 60 and hitting 80 under load (about 23 room temperature) so I'm considering changing my thermal paste as per the guide.

 

As I understand - these are the temps that you have in your laptop (specification in signature)? They are very low but I suppose it's because of the slower CPU.

By the way - what program are you using to show temperatures in tray?

 

I changed my paste this weekend (have done it previously on desktops, but this is the biggest thing I've done to my S-XPS). Made a HUGE difference (~10C) for the video card temps, though CPU temps are about the same. Still, pretty awesome and I've thrilled about this. Time to play with overclocking!

1st edit: Used Arctic Silver 5 with the cleaning kit before application. Since the die is rectangular on the i7 CPUs, I used the spread method (as recommended by the manufacturer). Also, since there isn't much wiggle room once the heatpipe/heatsink is pressed against the CPU/GPU to heat spread the paste, it makes sense to me to use the spread method.

I tinted the heatpipe with the compound (again part of the instructions) as it didn't look very polished/shiny/smooth, as this is supposed to help fill in microscopic gaps.

All in all, a very fun, easy, and actually useful project!

2nd edit: also, the fan is attached to the heatpipe/sink assembly with some black tape, which allows the fan to be angled away from the heatsink fins when not installed in the computer. Anyways, when opened up, this contact is full of dust/hair/other junk, which would definitely have been restricting airflow. I took a photo or two of what I'm talking about, but won't have the photos until I get home.

 

Sounds great! I would like to do the same with my SXPS but I don't do much hardware stuff so the process is a bit unnerving for me. I've watched the video in the OP though and it seems relatively simple. Any things not mentioned in the video that you would suggest someone watch out for?

 

Hmm a few things I suppose:

The little wires on the wireless card were fairly difficult to pull off, but I've been bad to my nails this last week, so that might have contributed

I followed Arctic Silver's instructions for applying the paste: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v1.1.pdf instead of the bead method shown in the video.

Everything was definitely straight-forward, so I wouldn't be too worried. Don't over tighten any of the screws when putting stuff back together, just a nice snug tightness if enough. Small screws are easy to strip.

 

And what temps are you getting right now? (for CPU and GPU - IDLE and maybe under stress)

 

Idle is between 45 and 50 C.

Two threads of Prime95 + Furmark = 65 C on the GPU and between 65-70C on the different CPU cores.

Before repaste this would get me around 75-80 on the CPU and low 80's on the GPU.

Also, here's the image of the area between the fan and the heatsink that I talked about. It was even dirtier, because I wiped it once with my finger before taking the photo.

 

I think there's some matter of luck with the dust/hairy bits.

Mine barely caught any, and I just do a light cleaning with compressed air every month or 2.

And for the wireless wires, I just used a screwdriver to pry them off (lightly). Works pretty well.

 

I did the same thing with the wires, just pried them gently with a screw driver (didn't want to pull hard on the wire itself for fear of breaking it off from the connector).

I do have cats in my apartment, so it does tend to be a little more hairy Just thought I'd point out that joint between the heatsink and the fan, as it is easy to overlook.

 

And what about vent with these temps. When you just browse Internet or watch a movie does it start?

I've already changed paste two times (and got better results with second time) but I used dot method and my temps are higher (and sometimes when I just browse the Internet vent can start and stop every minutes, sometimes seconds, sometimes even go directly to 'second gear' which is very annoying for me). I still have some past left so maybe I will try again.

Did you use spread method for GPU as well?

(also I still haven't check Prime + Furmark after second repasting but before that CPU would surelly go around 80 degrees)

 

I used the spread method for both the CPU and GPU.

Concerning the fan turning on and off... it occasionally turns on to the lowest speed while browsing the internet and such, very very rarely goes higher than that with anything less than gaming.

 

Thanks.

So it means that temperatures must be higher (fan starts at 55 degrees). Does it do that often? (like every few minutes or so). And does notebook get warm below the keyboard?

 

Right now I'm streaming some fairly high resolution video and the fan is on at it's lowest speed. Currently, the wrist pad area is luke warm on the left hand side and cold everywhere else.

 

Thanks.

Well.. Days are getting warmer and I have bigger and bigger problem with laptop noise and tempreature. Few days ago McAfee started to scan the harddrive. It lastes about an hour during which processor load was about 10-12%. During that time the fan would start and stop, change speed even 30-40 times/minute. It was impossible to do anything on the computer (except getting nervous), but even 2-3 meters away, when I try to read it was really hard.

I've changed the past twice, but I will try again with this spread method. I would like it to stay quiet as long as possible (so probably under 55 degrees) or (ever better) start in the lowest speed and stay there. This way it probably would start, and stop, and sometimges (lately more and more often ) go directly to higher speeds (which is very annoying).


One more question. This area marked on the picture - what is it? I didn't put any past on that because the part that goes on top of it is made of plastic or something but surelly doesn't look like part of the cooling system. Would it help trying to put past here as well?

 

That is the chipset/southbridge, it contains the USB and SATA controllers and a few other things. It doesn't require paste as long as you leave that rubber-looking thermal pad in place.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Please help me guys:
I have recently removed stock thermal paste on my xps 1645 - it was a mess btw, and applied coollaboratory liquid pro with a thinnest layer as possible, removed the dust filter as well..
first hours my temps were like 10 degrees higher than stock (60-70 idle) and now there are same even a few degrees higher than stock 55 - stock...
What did I do wrong? Did I apply a too thin layer? what should I do?..
Please assist me, I am very frustrated about all this..


The left HWmonitor window are my current temps from a cold boot.
The right one are the temps before thermal interface upgrade (from a screenshot)