Studio 1558, will repasting require a shim?

Thinking about re-doing the paste on my cooler to put in AS5 or ICD7 instead of the pads that are there now, but I don't know what the gap is and I don't really want to pull off the cooler since that'll likely damage the pads if there is a gap that I can't avoid.

Does anyone know whether it will need to be shimmed on the CPU and/or GPU to close gaps, or will it sit flush and tight with paste alone?

 

I repasted my dad's Studio 1558, I did not require a shim, nor do I recommend shims. If improperly installed, you can ruin GPU die, crush it, lots of bad things.

 

Thanks. I've never liked the idea of a free-floating shim, but seeing as how there was an entire thread on it for the 1557 and the components are roughly similar, I thought there might be a chance that it would end up being too gapped.

Did you dad's have an integrated or discrete GPU? I can't recall the how the heatsink attached from when I had it open last week. I guess I'll wait until Dell's tech support site is back up to check the service manual later.

 

His has the Intel HD Graphics, different heatsink but nonetheless don't recommend.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I'll probably just tear it down over the weekend and eyeball it to see just what's going on in there.

 

If you look at the last 3 to 4 pages at 1557 copper shim mod thread, you'll find one 1558 has been successfully done the shim mods. The copper shim dimensions are actually identical with 1557 use. It perfectly thin & did not introduced any unnecessary pressure to the GPU. The heatsink pressure & also the sticky characteristic of the thermal paste will hold the copper shim in place. Instead ICD7 & AS5, I recommend Arctic MX-4. It's easy to apply than the other two. BTW, you don't need to do copper shim mod on the CPU, only GPU & video ram. You can find copper shims with correct dimension on ebay & they already lapped, so you don't need to cut & lap it yourself. This kind of mod required a lot of patience.

 

Hmm. I'm not at all concerned by the paste part. I've been using Arctic Silver since before it had a number, so that's not an issue. The pair of shims is the annoying part. Seems like they might be annoyingly expensive for pieces of cut and lapped metal and slow to ship. Maybe if I start having heat issues that a teardown and cleaning can't take care of. Thanks for the heads up on the shims.