Has anyone tried to redo thermal compound & heatsink on P series?

Has anyone here tried redoing their P series internal heatsink with some quality thermal paste as outlined in the thread below? Pictures? Walkthroughs specific to this laptop? Any forseen obsticals in doing this?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3339276&postcount=1

If you have, please at least post before and after temps so I know how much this is worth it.

 

Uh, that guide really isn't much help for a P series gateway, but basically, you remove the large cover on the bottom that covers the ram, wifi, cpu etc. Remove like 6 screws holding the heatsink down, clean the cpu (leave the small blue pad alone for the northbridge chipset), put on the thermal compound and put the thing back together. It's not even remotely difficult to do on this laptop. The GPU is nearly impossible but usually not a major concern. I didn't really pay that much attention to before and after since it was a cake job, but I think I lost 2-3C, some have had better results than that if their factory seating job wasn't done well. There are several threads on here about it, probably even one with pictures somewhere.

 

I just replaced my CPU yesterday and I got a tube of AS5 to put fresh compound on it. I didn't know about the blue pad on the chipset... When I pulled the heatsink/heatpipe off the compound on the Northbridge pretty much self destructed.. a chunk stayed on the chip and most came off on the heatsink. I didn't think much of it then and cleaned the heatsink and chip top and applied AS5 to the Northbridge and the new CPU and put it back together. Everything seems to be running very cool, even under a load. Will this possibly damage my Northbridge chip in the future? What utility do you use to monitor all temps? I have one that tells me CPU (both cores individually) and the GPU, but I don't see a monitor for the chipset.

 

I don't think there's a dedicated temp sensor for the northbridge. If you can figure out how thick the pad needs to be (I think it may have come up in a thread around here somewhere) you can get a replacement, they aren't real easy to find but they're out there.

 

You definately want to find a new pad for the northbridge as right now your AS5 is doing absolutely nothing! There is a gap between the northbridge and the heatsink, hence the thick thermal pad.

 

Yep, a new pad, or just do what I did and stop in at your local hardware store for some "shim stock". Cut to fit.

 

I ordered some thermal pad material from eBay.. It's 2mm thick so it should do the job. It's supposed to be the OEM stuff laptop makers in China use. I would like to directly monitor the Northbridge temp because right now just web surfing it is remaining really cool.. GPU and CPU hang in the 40's C, and I don't feel excessive heat in the Northbridge area. I noticed when I was working on it that the Northbridge part of the heatsink is on a spring screw. I'm wondering if it is making contact enough.. but I would need to take a reading of the temp to feel safe... I'd hate to tear it apart again if it doesn't need it.

 

I can attest to no it does not make contact. For 1 week I pulled the pad and used a thick layer of AS5. After the week I pulled the pipe off. While the cpu squished out the excess AS5 the Northbridge still had a thick, liquidy, layer between the HS and chip.............

 

i had the same problem as you. I pulled the thermal pad off and put some as5 there, not knowing that i shouldnt have. I just bought some antec silicone compound though, that should do the trick.