Applying Thermal Paste to the Lenovo Y470

Hi,

So I owned a Dell XPS M1330 before this new Y470. I bought a set of cooling modification items on ebay thinking that I would do the copper mod on my old laptop, but I never got around to it.

Now, since the Y470's temperatures get to mid 90's while gaming (CPU, GPU gets to mid 80's), I'm thinking maybe I could put the stuff I bought for the M1330 on the Y470 instead?

The set contains a little pouch of Arctic Silver thermal paste, 2 bags of black squares (not sure what they are, they look like cloth), and 2 1.8cm by 1.8cm copper sheets.

Would I be able to apply this to the Y470?

 

You will be able to use Arctic Silver on the CPU and most likely the GPU as well. Just dissemble the case and look to see wherever the heatsinks are.

 

I'm questioning whether there is enough paste, as it is only a small 1cm by 1cm thin square bag of paste.

 

You should use a pea sized bit of paste and let is spread when you tighten it down.

 

A pea sized bit for the GPU and another pea sized bit for the CPU? I barely have a pea sized amount in the bag.

 

Pea sized is not the right amount: it should be 'lentil' sized.

 

I think I have exactly one "lentil" of cooling paste. I actually had to search it up on google images

Should I apply the "lentil" sized wad to both the GPU and the CPU?

Also, is there anything useful I could do with the 1.8 by 1.8cm copper shims?

 

Yes, (I can't find the post where this was mentioned, right here on NBR...) and if the GPU is bigger than the CPU, you need to put just a little bit more.

It is worse to put too little (cpu runs hotter...) than too much (you make a mess around the cpu/gpu area...).

Copper shims should be used very carefully only when there is a physical z height difference between the core package you're trying to cool and where the heatpipe sits. If your shim is exactly the difference between these two - then that is where it is most applicable. All you're trying to achieve is minimizing the air between the cpu/gpu and the contact to the heatpipe. If there is contact already - then no need for the shims.

You may actually damage your cpu/gpu if you do use them where they are not needed (too much pressure on the chip).

Hope this helps.

 

Also, should I remove all of the stock paste that is already on the chip

 

Yes, remove the old paste completely (clean with alcohol...) before you put on the new paste.