Studio 1557 copper shim dimensions/thickness

thanks so much techifan1. did the mod today and very happy with the results!

 

I just wanted to pop in to say thank you as well! I just did the modification to the gpu, video ram and the chipset yesterday with the help of my husband and brother-in-law with huge success! My 1557 was running at about 80 - 85 normally, and would pike to the high 90's when watching a dvd or playing a game, then shutting down completely. It's been running now in the mid 50's after the modification steadily. I jumped into a game and into a dvd and seems to be staying cool!! Thanks for all the tips, instructions, and photos posted here!

 

We have a Dell Studio 1747 that overheats and shuts off if playing flash video or if I run a burn in test without it sitting on a cooling stand.

Does anyone know if this solution would work for the 1747 as well? The computer gets so hot it will burn your finger on the touchpad and scold you if it is on your lap. I am only running the 90w power supply never got the upgrade for the 130w which a lot of people I have read about did.

Here are the specs: Dell Studio 17 (1747) Review

Thank you for your incredibly detail information and the time that you put into this issue to help everyone.

 

Yes, this solution should work for Studio 1747 too. However, I don't know the copper shim thickness & dimensions for Studio 1747. You also might need to change the thermal paste on the South Bridge chipset. It is located below touchpad, near the RAM slot.

 

Ok people, I really need some help, As this site is all about the Studio 1557 I know you guys can help me, I posted on here a few months ago after applying the shim mod, temps were excellent. However im having huge issues with BSOD's like everyday, sometimes 4 or 5 times. I don't wish to clog this thread with these. So can someone contact me that has a working 1557 with no BSOD issues, so I can try and rectify this issue. And then to contribute, I will start a new thread with what I have done to help others in need. Thank you so much. Sorry for posting here, But I need to get to 1557 users directly. Thanks

 

Can no one on here help me? I only need a few minutes of your time, to determine driver versions and what not. I really cant stand this BSOD issue. Losing faith in dell.

 

Sorry to be a little unhelpful, but as this thread is for discussing issues regarding the copper shim mod can I politely suggest that to avoid going off topic you would be better to post in the dedicated Dell Studio 1557 thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-inspiron-dell-studio/420768-dell-studio-1557-a-186.html

Hopefully you will get some help there.

 

I have a Studio 1555. I have a huge overheating problem when playing blurays and all my temps (except for the HDD) start to linger between 60-75 (60s being the CPU cores and mid to high 70s being the GPU and VRAM). Because of this I get massive dropped frames at times and it gets annoying.

I've been reading about the copper shim modification but I'm not sure exactly what to buy and how to apply it precisely. I have AS5 on everything right now but temps only got very slightly better. Thanks.

PS: I removed ALL of the thermal pads a while back and I'm kind of regretting it now but if i can do anything to just install the copper shims in the right way I'll buy whatever I have to buy to fix the heatsink/overheating problem permanently.

 

Hi, dansrfe.
Although this thread refers to the 1557 this mod also apparently works for the 1555 according to whato1986 (see his Post 46)
Therefore, I would recommend you carry out this mod as it should help with your overheating problem.

I know it’s a long thread, but if you take your time you will find all the information you require to carry out the mod.

I am a little confused.
You say that you have removed all of the thermal pads.
Did that include the GPU thermal pad and if so did you replace it with a shim.
If not then this will definitely cause you an overheat problem as there will be a gap between the GPU/heat sink which can not be filled with compound alone.

 

Is it possible to buy brand new and higher quality thermal pads anyway? I'm probably going to swap out my heatsink for a replacement as well.

Yeah, about the gap. I basically messed with the heatsink quite a bit and removed all the spacer beads and then sort of down-angled the cpu/chipset part of the heatsink so that it would touch. Anyways in the end there is a gap that evidently is not being filled by the AS5.

Also, would you recommend I stick with the AS5 or go with IC Diamond?

EDIT: Also the copper shims link seems to be dead. Do you recommend any other place where I can get them?

 

Thermal pads are not the way to go.
They do not transfer heat as efficiently as a shim will.

Thermal compound is a personal choice, see my post 149
Apparently Shin-Etsu G751 thermal compound is very good and I would probably try that if I was doing the mod now.

 

1) So where can I get the copper shims now and 2) you said to leave the thermal pads on the VRAM chips but since i don't have those anymore what do you recommend? Using the thermal compound you suggested in place of the thermal pads on the VRAM?

 

1. It has been quite a while now since I purchased my shims from the ebay trader referred to in that link. (Metal Offcuts)
This is the website address.

Sheet Metal Store UK, Ireland, Scotland

Send them an email with your requirements.

1 off 10mm X 10mm X 0.9mm Copper Shim. This is used for GPU.
1 off 25mm X 10mm X 0.7mm Copper Shim. Used with the existing thermal pads for VRAM.

2. You will need thermal pads for the VRAM. After the mod the gap between the VRAM and heat sink will be too large for compound alone to fill.
You should be able to source thermal pads on line, try eBay.

 

Are there any differences among the types of thermal pads on eBay? Should I look for a particular type? Also should I look for precut thermal pads that match the size of the VRAM exactly or is it safe to cut the thermal pads a little bit to properly fit the VRAM?

EDIT: I found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Extreme-Per...ponents_Fans_Heatsinks_SR&hash=item20c114daea

Also, which thickness should I buy? This one is 1.0mm I think and they have another one which is 0.5mm. Is this particular type of thermal pad overkill or is it good?

 

That thermal pad is way too expensive.

There are going to be cases were certain brands/types of thermal pad are claimed to be better than others when it comes to their thermal conductivity properties.
This becomes a more important factor to consider for anyone that insists on using a thermal pad for their GPU cooling requirements but as regards VRAM cooling, something like this should be plenty good enough.

GPU Chip Heatsink Compound Thermal Conductive Pad 30pcs(10x10x1mm/pcs) | eBay

BTW, do not go for anything less than 1.0mm thick.

 

Thanks! This helped a lot...

This thread…
+ this guide to take apart my Dell Studio 1557 ( How to disassemble Dell Studio 1555 laptop >> Inside my laptop)
+ some proper cleaning of fan and cooler (take fan out and clean heatsink from the inside!)
+ this guide for near-to-perfect application of shin-etsu g751 thermal paste ( Guide to applying Shin-Etsu G751 - PC Perspective Forums)
+ 8 gigs of RAM
+ an SSD in optical bay
+ my old HDD in main bay with it spinning down after 1 min if not in use… ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-ssd-hdd-storage-using-optical-bay-caddy.html)
…make me feel like I just bought a new laptop. It usually sits on the desk completely quiet now… only at times the fan goes on while before I thought I was constantly standing next to a 747 taking off.

Temps dropped by about 20 degrees (now below 50C in idle) with the fan turning not at all or only at low speed compared to it turning at max speed almost all the time (almost 70C idle). Their air coming out actually feels cool to my hand now instead of hot. And thanks to the SSD it became super fast as well. To figure everything out took me a few days and parts cost about 300 euros but it was totally worth it.

A word to Dell: The cooling system of this model is a complete misconstruction! After about ONE year overheating problems started. I now figured out (after 2 years having this laptop) that the heatsink was completely blocked by dust from the inside where the fan sits, not allowing the hot air to exit. Access to it for a proper cleaning can only be gained by literally taking the whole thing apart, removing the cooler from the CPU + GPU, getting the fan out to remove the dust and then putting the whole thing back together... A somewhat inferior solution would be to blow compressed air through the heatsink from the outside if you don't want to go through that whole process. Probably that dust will eventually find its way back in there but it should help for some time at least...

Built to break and totally impractical for many people! So, perhaps a misconstruction for the user, not so much for Dell. Most probably my last Dell. But now hopefully good to go for another 2 years since performance is great…

Btw: Those shims are still available and they work perfectly for me: Copper Shim 10mm x 10mm x 0.9mm 25mm x 10mm x 0.7 | eBay

 

Thanks derweltbuerger

Appreciate your contribution to this thread and your very useful and informative post.

 

Thanks for the updated information, along with the original modders (techifan1, et al). I've just completed the mod on a Studio 1558, using the same source for the shims. I also purchased a Phobya Thermal Pad XT and a tube of ICD7.

I unscrewed and removed the fan cover to reveal a fairly clean fan, but clumps of fine dust had accumulated in the chamber. These were removed and the components were thoroughly cleaned (blown out).

All thermal contact surfaces were cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. Ensure that the plastic covers are removed from both sides of the shims, as one side was covered with black plastic film whilst the other was clear plastic film. I cut the new thermal pad into smaller sizes, one piece large enough to cover both graphics memory chips and another to cover the chipset die. Once the chipset heatsink was re-installed with the new pad, attention was then turned to the main HSF assembly. A newly cut pad was laid across the graphics memory chips. Thermal paste was then evenly spread over one side of the long shim, before it was placed paste side down on the heatsink (so that the shim sticks to the heatsink), using the embossed markers for correct positioning. I then carefully spread paste on top of the CPU and GPU dies. It is quite thick and I found that the best method for an even covering was to spread it fairly firmly using a plastic applicator, being careful not to apply too much. Paste was then applied to one side of the smaller shim before it was placed paste side up (so that the paste coated side is visible after placement) onto the already pasted GPU die.

Before replacing the HSF assembly, I noticed that there is a piece of metal attached to the laptop casing near the rear vent, under the main heatsink. As there was leftover thermal pad, I cut a piece large enough to make contact with one side of the heatsink (not covering the fins themselves, see yellow highlighted block in this photo). This was used to thermally mate the casing metal to the heatsink, as I figured it would block the space between the air intake and exhaust systems to minimize hot air recirculation and extra metal for heat dissipation probably wouldn't hurt (even if it's of the tin can variety).

The HSF assembly was carefully placed in position, ensuring that thermal pads and shims did not become misaligned. Screws were tightened as much as possible without risking threading them. I did not attempt to generate extra pressure between the heatsinks and components by bending retentioning arms or removing washers.

Prior to the mod the laptop ran excessively hot (since it was purchased, in fact), crashing during any CPU / GPU intensive activity. After preliminary testing, it appears that the mod has been a complete success. At idle, the fan spins infrequently (every few minutes) for a few seconds, whereas it was running permanently before. Using CPUID's HWMonitor to monitor temperatures, I ran four instances of CPU Burn-in (one for each core), each with their affinity set to a different core to fully load the CPU. Simultaneously, I also ran FurMark to load the GPU. After around 30mins, CPU temp maxed out in the low 70C's, while GPU temps maxed out at 95C. Right now I am sitting in quite a warm environment, with the laptop on my lap, just web browsing: CPU is at 40C whilst GPU is at 50C.

Overall, I'm very happy with the mod. Great work, to everyone who contributed!

 

techifan1 et al. You rock.

-Studio 1555-

Before Mod:

CPU: 40-50C
GPU: 60-70C
VRAM: 55-65C

After Mod:

CPU: 25-35C
GPU: 45-55C
VRAM: 40-50C

Looks like my GPU/VRAM were really suffering before.

 

How much thermal paste should I buy? I have 1.5 grams of the IC Diamond compound, will this be enough for the mod including applying it to the CPU? (Yes, I'm also applying the copper shims.) I don't want to tear this apart and not have enough. Thanks in advance for your reply. This thread is great!

 

Appreciate your comments.

Those results are very good and confirm that the Mod is doing its job very well.

 

You may get away with that amount but it’s not that expensive so I would purchase another 1 or 1.5 grams just to be on the safe side.

Best of luck with the mod.

 

Didn't do the mod, but replaced my thermal paste with arctic silver.

Its amazing, but in the UK it is impossible to by Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) over the counter. I removed the old paste with surgical spirit which is mostly alcohol, and I'm hoping I get a good temp improvement.

 

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Remember that the GPU mainly benefits from this mod as you remove its inefficient thermal pad replacing it with a much more efficient copper shim.

However, you should notice an improvement to your CPU temps by using a decent thermal paste.

BTW, you can purchase isopropyl alcohol from eBay.

 

Hi!

I am about to make a mod on my 1557 i7 Got everything I need, shims and IC Diamond 7. Before I start I have one question: between which elements paste should be applied? I know it was mentioned before in some posts, but I wanted to be 100% shure!There are several spots:

VRAM
1) Between VRAMs and thermopads
2) Between thermopads and shims
3) Between shims and heatsink

GPU
4) Between GPU and shim
5) Between shim and heatsink

Just tell me which numbers are correct to put the paste

And second question: what temperatures should I expect after modification? I saw a lot of answers with some great results, but there was no setup information (as far as I know there are 1557 with i7 and i5 too). Mine is i7. Thx!

 

Reading through a bit of this thread here is my Q:

Upgraded my studio 1555 to a T9800 CPU and also noticed slightly higher cpu tems(~70C), quite high gpu temps (~90C) and my mobo temp is also higher at (~80C) under heavy but not 100% load.

But my Q is, can use the same method(s) described before replacing thermal pads with copper shims and AS5 to cool down both the gpu and the motherboard???

Any advice is appreciated.

 

VRAM.
3) Paste Between shim and heatsink.

GPU
4) Paste Between GPU and shim, also 5) paste between shim and heatsink.

 

This mod also works for the 1555 as confirmed in post 46.

 

Thank you! Helpful as always. Do you also know the answear to my second question about the temps?

 

See Post 42.

Those temperatures are typical of what you should expect to get after the mod.

 

hello guys, im new here and also modded my 1557 as per instructions by techifan1. My question is this, after modding i started to notice an abrupt drop of temperature which is ok but as i play nba2k12 or sc2 for about 10-15 mins my GPU temp reached almost 100C.. But since it reached 100 the game should be throttle but in my case its still smooth and playable (reaches 70fps max) where in fact if i stop the game it cools down way way fast. Is it normal?

 

by the way my room temp was 27C-30C since im here in philippines. The game used to reach 70fps at 90+ degrees was nba2k12 and 40fps of medium settings for SC2

 

Just completed the mod. Temps in SC2 have gone from 80-85 to 70ish.

Thanks techifan1!

 

Thx techifan and all for the info here. Did the upgrade with AS5 and the 2 shims dimensions as techifan posted some time ago, and it all went rather well

Took the studio 1555 apart. Cleaned all the processors surfaces (with the articlean supplied), also cleaned the heat sink surfaces. Applied some AS5 on the cpu's 1st, then put the copper shims into place, and then some more compound on top of the shims. Removed the plastic spacer from screws Nr. 5 and 6 only, and I screwed it up

Right.
So I took it apart again, just to see how is the compound doing Applied a little more and then screwed it up for good

I also left the "palmrest" out, exposing the speakers and the back of the cooling assembly, and it looks that there is more space for the hot air to escape. But on the other hand, the air heats up the bottom left side of the screen pretty much. It still cooled down my temps by cca 2-3C before the mod.

After the mod I dont think it makes such a difference. Will have to experiment a bit

My idle tems went down only by 2-3C (CPU-~36, GPU-~50, Mobo-~45). But my load tems are down a lot!!! CPU~70, GPU- did not got higher than 82C!!! MoBo~82. A decrease by 6-10C.
The fan is kicking in a bit later and also the air coming out at the back is not that hot. Overall it is so worth it, and cost under £20

 

Hi all, first i want to congratulate you guys about the thread, now i have one question, why use the termal pad that is known to suck instead of termal paste on the VRAM? techifan said it was because of the height diferences, then why not put a thicker shim like on gpu? The termal pad is enough? But for sure it would be better without it, and you have the same effort for putting there a thicker shim plus termal paste, so why not?
A similar question applies for the cpu, why not put a shim there if improves temps?

 

HI, Jk_Alentejano

Good question, I will try to explain.

One of the problems with putting a thicker solid copper shim between the VRAM and the VRAM heatsink is that unless the thickness is spot on there may be a risk of slightly lifting the GPU heatsink away from the GPU die. At the very least there is a risk of reducing the downward pressure being applied to the GPU die.

Think of it like this, the VRAM and GPU heatsink is effectively one piece of solid metal and will move as one. Therefore if you slightly raise the height of the VRAM heatsink by using a solid copper shim you will also raise the height of the GPU heatsink and this could cause problems. In effect you could reduce the GPU/heatsink thermal conductivity characteristics which rely on pressure.

The important thing is that you apply sufficient downward pressure onto the GPU die and let the soft thermal pad squash down between the surface of the VRAM and the VRAM heatsink.

As regards shimming the CPU, there is no thermal pad used on the CPU. Therefore a shim is not required.

See previous post 28 for more detailed explanation.

 

Thank you for your answer, so the potencial problem is not having enough pressure on the gpu, i guess that's a reasonable assumption, but my pc is an lg S510 and the layout is of course diferent, so i have to put shims on the vram beacuse they are lower than the gpu and the "heat sink metal thing" barelly covers some of the vram chips.
The reason i found to not apply a shim on the cpu was because my heat pipe sits directly on it, the same doesn't happen in the other chips.
And from other places i read the shim doesn't is better just to replace the thermal pad but improve overall heat transfer because of having a larger area than the chip so extra beneficts may came from there.


I liked this theme so i read the intire thread today

 

Quote: I liked this theme so i read the intire thread today

Well done, you deserve a prize for endurance.

 

Hi!

Just wanted to share my Dell Studio 1557 i7 temps after modifications (all the instructions written by techifan1):

Laptop is on power supply, highest performance settings. FULL HD video is playing full screen for 15 minutes. Temps are GPU 63C, and CPU 57C.

IC7 paste made a huge difference. Before I made the mods with different paste, a standard one. The CPU temps were similar, but GPU was reaching 100C!!! Amazing.

Second test I made with PRIME95 - started the stress Blend test for few minutes. CPU is around 80C.


Are those temps ok? If anyone would share the same setup temps I would be greatful

 

Well,

Having lingered on this thread for some while I am preparing to do the Copper Shim Mod on my 1557. I am always nervous of doing this because of the ridiculous complexity of taking these things apart.

Having bought my laptop 2 yrs ago, it started to heat up just after the one-year warranty ran out and I am still angry at Dell for selling this item without a warning label (my laptop has scalded my lap). I will never purchase a Dell item again and I will always recommend my family, friends and colleagues to do the same.

I am confused in regard to the thermal pads - should new ones be purchased or is ok to stick the old ones back on

??Anyway, before I go ahead with the Mod I want to thank techifan1 for this thread and the advice provided.

Thanks

 

This thread inspired me to mod my 1558 despite the temperatures being in safe limits. After an hour of Furmark my GPU (HD5470) didn't go above 74°C with approx. 20°C ambient temperatures, and no cooling pad. Before I started tearing my laptop apart the temps would hit the very high 90s.

I used AS5 for the shims and have three - one for the GPU and one per RAM chip respectively.

 

Many Thanks for this.
I hate, I HATE, I REALLY HATE MY DELL 1557.... It shuts down like every hour at least due to this heating problem. I hope that doing this mod will help it running a bit better as it was quite an expensive kit to buy.

Anyway, a quick question guys...how many ICD7 tube will I need doing this mod?

Thanks

 

Quick question, I have looked everywhere for the copper shims. The eBay guy is not responding and I cannot find anybody that sells rectangular shims here in the US, any suggestions?

 

Hello guys,
I NEED YOUR HELP URGENTLY ....

I have done the mod successfully and the laptop was running smoothly with no problems for the last 2 days ....with very nice temps ....and no shut downs at all....
Then today, I tried to start it up, I had a black screen and 6 beeps...
I searched the manual and found that 6 beeps means Video BIOS Test Failure due to Video card failure...

Dell Studio 1555/15 Manual - Hot Topic - 361601 | Dell


Please HELP and tell me what went wrong..
I followed the mod exactly and it was successful (i guess)..

THANKS,

 

Im very sorry that I have to try and dredge this up again and I have read through this entire thread multiple times, but I still have a couple fo questions:

I have already ordered the shims and the ICD7 paste.

From post #22 I can see that the 2 thermal pads are removed and the ICD7 applied before putting the .7mm shim on to assist with video RAM cooling ... my question here is, do I need to apply more ICD7 on the other side of the shim before putting back onto board?

I can also see that the GPU shim isnt exactly rectangle and I cant see from the pictures supplied, if the shim I have bought goes on top of the existing shim (after the thermal pad has been removed) or not? Also, the same question applies: do I apply the ICD7 between the .9 copper shim and the existing copper piece, and then again on the other side before putting back onto the board?

Thanks for your patience, and sorry for clearly not getting this where so many others have!!

 

Hey guys, thought I'd post my experience with this.

After my fan broke i decided to replace it with a new one and heatsink. I ordered the shims and used AS5. I stupidly threw away the thermal pads that go inbetween the video rams and copper shim but the laptop seems to work fine so long as I dont move it or anything, and even then the video drivers just reset (no crashes). The temps are roughly mid40s for both GPU and CPU.

Here's the thing that I found interesting: I ordered new thermal pads and once i put them in, the computer crashed A LOT! the temps were the same but it seems the video rams did not like the thermal pads, preferring to have a loose, almost open connection to the heat sink and shim. I looked some more into the thermal connectivity of the thermal pads compared to copper and it is like 400x difference. So to make a long story short, I removed the thermal pads and regained my previous stability but have ordered additional shims to place inbtween the video rams and the 25mmx10mmx0.7mm shim. I do not anticipate a danger of heat travelling from the GPU to the video rams because the thermal conductivity of the copper sink as a whole should keep it distributed enough as well as the fan working to dissipate the heat. Additionally, the additional downward pressure from the copper rather than thermal pad is not a worry to me. The new shims should arrive in a week or two, they are coming in from Hong Kong.

 

Interesting, are you modding a 1557 if so something doesn’t add up.

In my opinion the crashing is not down to the video ram chips overheating.

Maybe the new replacement thermal pads that you fitted between the video ram and copper shim are thicker and more solid than the originals. If this is the case it would cause the heatsink to slightly lift away from the top of the gpu reducing the thermal conductivity/compression between the face of the gpu, its shim and copper heatsink.
The reasoning behind this is that the gpu and video ram heatsink is effectively cast from one piece of solid metal. Therefore, if the height of the video ram heatsink increases beyond its designed height this would result in the distance between the top of the GPU and its heatsinkto increase.

Also, see my previous post 186 on this subject.

There should not be a need to fully copper shim the video ram because the heat generated by the ram chips is far less than the GPU. Therefore the use of thermal pads on the video ram should be more than sufficient and normally does not cause a problem.

 

Yes, well a studio 1558, but they are similar enough.

I have done this mod in several phases. I run the ATI GPU monitor to keep track of temps.
First attempt: The first was when I got the new fan and heat sink and just had the thermal pads on the video ram and only the AS5 on the GPU. This definitely had a gap, albeit a very small one on the GPU. Temps would be 50-60c at idle and would spike very fast to 80C and there would be a crash. That is when I found this thread and I didnt power on the laptop until my parts came from the Scottish? company.

Second Attempt: with copper shims in and with me accidentally throwing away the thermal pads, the GPU temps are in the 40s and the system is relatively stable except now and then it does crash, especially if i shake it or move the laptop (i like to hold the laptop and read it while i'm in bed). Mostly though the system does a lot of resetting the video driver. This attribute to the rams over heating because over heating rams could indicate errant data on a few bits in various locations rather than a hard GPU instruction based crash.
At this point I read the thread again and realize I was not suppoed to throw away the thermal pads. So I order new ones, from here: Amazon.com: Gino 202mm x 202mm x 2mm Silicone Thermal Pad for CPU GPU Heatsink: Computers & Accessories
Notice that these are 2mm thermal pads.

Third Attempt: I use the 2mm thermal pads and push down on them extra hard so they compress. GPU shows even lower temps, high 30s C at idle. But after several minutes of use, the system hard crashes, not like the earlier crash. I do not notice the GPU temps changing too fast or anything just a sudden crash after several minutes of use. this is what made me think the thermal pads are faulty or at least trapping the heat in rather than conducting it away.

Fourth Attempt: Thinking it was because the thermal pads were too thick, I used an exacto knife and thin out new thermal pads, these are about ~1mm which I *think* are what the originals were. Same crash behavior as in third attempt and GPU temps seems pretty low still (same as previous attempt). I notice there is no gap between the GPU and heat sink but it is hard to see for sure.

Fifth Attempt: Back to the no thermal pads on video rams method. and I notice there is indeed a gap between the video rams and the heatsink. There is a bit of AS5 inbetween but I suspect that when I hold the laptop at various angles or shake it, the AS5 does not hold stable and this causes heat to build up and the system to crash. I do not know for sure.

I agree. I suspect that the thermal pads that I used were not very good and acted more like a blanket than a conductor. The behavior was the laptop would boot up and be fine and then unrecoverably crash (would have to leave it shut off for several minutes). I think I am forced to try various copper shim sizes on this because it is difficult to order the same thermal pads as a replacement and my experience with the thermal pads was not positive. Dell does not sell them and very many places do not sell them to be honest. I strongly suspect copper will work if it is sized correctly, and I think the springs that are attached to the GPU heatsink screws act to not only create downward pressure but to relieve pressure if needed in case the video rams to heatsink connection is not exact.

I will keep you posted when I get the next batch of parts in and try it. I am, of course, open to opinions and analysis

 

Hi gophins,

Sorry that the mod is not working for you at the moment.

I have looked at my original notes and the thickness of the original Dell thermal pads are only 0.5mm thick.
Obviously, if using the recommended 0.7mm thick copper shim, the 2mm pads would be way too thick, although you say that you cut them thinner and still had problems.
It could be that the thermal conductivity or quality of the thermal pads is poor.

You could try this.
Remove the 25mm X 10mm X 0.7mm copper shim and use your 2mm thick thermal pads to fill the resulting wider gap between the video ram and heat sink.

Although, the above assumes that the thermal conductivity or quality of the thermal pads is sound.

Hopefully you will get the mod to work for you eventually.

Keep us informed on how you get on.

 

I think this has been mentioned somewhere in this thread but just a reminder that the copper shims may be shipped with a thin transparent protective cover which is sometimes difficult to see.
Obviously this film has to be removed before use.