Where to get new thermal pads for 980M?

Okay so my heat issues with my system are pretty well known at this point. I'm starting to wonder if the thermal pads are the culprit so I'm looking to replace them, specifically the ones on the inductors that seem to get so hot. It's the only thing I haven't tried to get my temps under control and thinking back, I have removed and reattached them without wearing gloves so there's a good chance I got oil on them which could be causing the heat to not transfer to the heatsink and instead be transferred to the core causing the ridiculous temperatures that I have.

So my question is - what are the ones comparable to or better than stock Clevo green pads, what sizes do I need, and where do I get them from?

 

Still one of the best pads in the market are fujipoly pads. There are Phobya pad too, but they don`t have enough thermal conductivity for very hot applications. There are pads made by Arctic (the manufacturer, that produce AS5) in addition, but their performance is far from average for hot application, such as yours. So I would recommend Fujipoly.

 

Do you know the sizes I would need? I highly doubt that the pads are the issue but it's the only thing I haven't checked into replacing. In games that run over 60FPS, I can run 1226MHz and go no higher than 81C without even kicking the fans up but if it's a game that struggles to maintain 60 or I don't use vsync since I have 120hz LCD, the cards will hit 87C and throttle to base 1038MHz clock and max fans will run the hotter of the two at 83C max. That's a lot hotter than 980M should be.

 

You can experiment in sizes. Just cut the thermal pads in different sizes, apply them on cooled modules and than test them. You should start from cutting minimum the same size, as cooled chips are. Thickness should be measured too. The easiest way - take plasticine, apply it to cooled chips, screw up all the screws, than de-attach cooling module and measure the thickness of streamrolled plasticine.

I hope you understood my description. Don`t know how to say it in other way.

 

Cut them to the same size and shape as your current pads. I find a razer blade/box cutter/Xacto knife works well on Fujipoly pads which tend to be a bit hard and crumbly.

If you don't know what thickness you need, get 0.5 mm since you can stack them as required. No need to overspend on pads with some ridiculously high listed thermal conductivity. The Fujipoly 6 W/mK is good enough.

 

Problem is Clevo uses cheap screws. They strip really easy so I can't put on, take off, etc. I know there was a diagram somewhere that showed what sizes go where, I just can't seem to find it.

That's a good idea. I'm pretty sure I just need to replace the inductor pads, not the VRM strip. When I took the heatsink off the first time, Sager had done a crap job with the pads on the dual inductors on both cards... One was folded and the other wasn't seated properly so I removed them and replaced them but it's quite likely that I stretched them and/or got oil from my fingers all over them in doing so.

 

What do you mean they strip?

 

Cheap screws... The head starts to get destroyed until you have to replace them and if you aren't careful you can get them stuck. Happened to me with my CPU heatsink - I have to use needle nose pliers to turn one of the screws.

 

Don't buy from ebay

ppc has a nice selection of fujipoly pads, this is the 17w/mk one if you're willing to shell 36usd: http://www.performance-pcs.com/fuji...padding-quarter-sheet-150-x-100-x-1-0-mm.html

 

Oh, that`s bad. I thought that brands such as Clevo/Sager/Alienware use good equipment in any aspect of their production.

Than yes, you really have to cut minimum the size of cooled chips or the same size, as the old pads are.

 

*11 W/mK. And here is the 6 W/mK one--half the price. Having used both I'm pretty sure one of them is wasting money.

 

11w/mk overkill?

 

Do you trust that number? FYI ICD (one of the best performing TIMs) is rated at 4.5 W/mK. Moral of the story it's a meaningless fluff number AKA marketing.

 

Hmmm, haven't had that issue yet, as much as I've removed/replaced screws on Clevo notebooks, especially heatsink screws. Just make sure you have right size philips head, and enough down pressure and they shouldn't strip the head. I have had some that were a bugger to remove, but added down pressure usually fixes the issue (of course try not to crack your motherboard ). or pick up a right angle screwdriver. I had one but can't find it now. May buy another, because it is really helpful in getting out those stubborn hard to turn screws.

 

Yeah I wanna add to this; the screwdriver makes a BIG difference. I have a pretty decent set now that a good friend gave to me. I was finally able to remove my old laptop's heatsink and all sorts of stuff; no issue. Same with my master GPU heatsink and my CPU heatsink a couple times here. Never had a problem with the screws or felt they were flimsy etc.

But my OLD screwdriver set? LOLNO. That used to ruin screws all the time. It was terrible. I got it free when I signed up for an A+ course in ancient times (read: 2009) and it wasn't even worth the free to be honest >_>. (The course was also crap; they had us working on Pentium III machines and the original Celeron CPUs... in 2009... for a current-year A+ course...)

 

Yeah, I remember trying to take apart my old laptop with a set of crappy screwdrivers, and it was sooo frustrating trying to avoid stripping screws. When I purchased my new laptop, I also got this screwdriver set, and it makes things much, much easier. Was really shocked at the quality of the bits considering a 45 piece set only cost $12.

 

For those of you with stripped screws, try a rubberband.

 

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g8/Thermal_Interface.html

Try here. Wide variety to choose from at reasonable prices (Fujipoly 17W/mK for as little as $16).

 

Is Frozen CPU back in business now?

 

Yep. They don't have to be expensive, just right size and not cheap quality is all. My set I've had for probably ten years or more, and who knows what it cost, but I think it was like $5 for my mini jeweler set. I use two of the screwdrivers all the time, so far no issues. Sure screws can be made cheaply too, but usually these laptop screws come from the same sources.

 

Can you please demonstrate or explain what you mean?

 

or a pair of needle nose pliers.

 

Yes like this. Havent had the need for it myself but supposedly it works really well.

 

I've also heard of people super-gluing the screwdriver to the nail, lol. Not sure if that works. But hey, worth a shot.

 

When I was desperate I did that once. I bought a cheap screwdriver set and used some gorilla glue or some other high strength bonding agent. It worked but the screwdriver was throwaway after that. Just make sure it only gets on the head of the screw and tip of screwdriver, otherwise you're screwed literally, because then the screw will be glued to the plastic or PCB...

 

so super glue can't be removed? i thought there's a solvent or some agent that will dissolve the glue.

 

It can. It's just messy and not worth doing to save a $1 screwdriver.

 

fair enough, i had an issue with one of my GPU heatsink screws not coming out so i used needle nosed pliers to unscrew it....it took a while but i got there and i now use different screws to hold it in place.

 

Do I need 1mm pads or 0.5mm? I'm having a tough time finding what sizes Clevo uses.

 

I don't have your laptop so I have no idea. You can measure them yourself, ask other owners/research, or like I said buy 0.5mm and stack them as needed.

 

That's what I would do but it would be handy to have some 1mm pads just on the safe side...

 

Maybe I should email XOTIC and have them ask Sager.

 

No harm in doing so.. They'll be happy to help..