Flexible heat absorbing compounds?

I'm sure that many of you know that in laptops with weaker graphics cards not designed for gaming, the graphics memory often isn't connected to a heatsink or something similar. This creates a low overclocking potential.

Basically, I'm trying to fix that and cover my memory chips with something. My first attempt consisted of putting a layer of AS5 on the chip, and placing a thin sheet of copper on the chips. (you can see this in the picture).

Heat wise, it did OK, but the results weren't fantastic. Of course, I didn't cure it all the way, because I ran into problems. While the system was running, if I torqued the chassis (e.g. twist, or lift up by one corner, bend, etc), the screen would artifact completely, and I had to restart. With investigation, I found that the structure of my Dell palmrest caused pressure on the copper which transferred to the memory. Memory doesn't like excessive pressure... (also pic)

So, I was wondering if you guys had any good ideas for a flexible, squishable heat absorbing thing - similar to thermal pads, but they just transfer heat to the actual heatsink. What I'm looking for is a replacement for the copper part.

 

A thinner copper part.

Not to sound like a troll, though. In some cases, a copper shim is too thick for the gap, but a thinner one will work just fine. Try a new one half a millimeter thinner than the one you're using now. Also, make sure to apply thermal paste to both sides of the copper shim; both the side that faces the heatsink, and the side that touches the memory.

 

not much (if anything) beats copper for it's thermal transfer.

Laptop makers don't use copper because it's cheap (it's not), they use it because it's effective.

 

^Actually, many laptop makers have aluminum heatsinks instead of copper. It's not as thermally conducive, but it costs considerably less for the same amount.

 

wow. That really explains the overheating problems so well documented in the other topics.

Has anyone gathered The Data; How many of the chronic overheaters have Al heatsink parts instead of copper?

I've never bought a laptop with an Al heatsink. So many people are fixated on the fanbois factor of Crysis-level mobile graphics (that never gets used) they never pay attention to the important things like chassis rigidity, quality of heat dissipation/management, hardware fully supported in the bios instead of via non-standard drivers and battery life.

We now return this thread hijack to the OP..........

 

How much clearance do you have? Just looking at the pic, im guessing the keyboard sits on top of the chips.

Adding copper shims isnt really an effective way of cooling it since there's no fins to dissipate heat effectively and there's no airflow in that area.

Copper is a significantly better conductor of both heat and electricity compared to Al. Aluminum is sometimes used because its cheaper. (Al is the most abundant metal in the world)

Diamond is probably the best thermal conductor you can get due to their strong atom bonds, its what also makes it the hardest substance. Its up to five times more conductive than copper but the cost is next to insane.

 

I am still experimenting with the pads sold here

http://myworld.ebay.com/new-think/

 

I tried a couple of different pads that seller has when I upgraded, however maybe I was unlucky but my temps shot over 100c on my gpu!

Out of frustration I tried a really thick layer of AS5, and now temps stay much much lower, copper mod is next to bridge the gap thanks to helpful suggestions from members here

 

The copper shims are only there to better transfer heat from the die surface of the GPU/northbridge/whatever, and the heatsink surface, so the copper heat pipe channels the heat to the fan in the back of the chassis. In my case, there is a 1mm gap between the surfaces of the GPU die and the heatsink, which was filled by a cheap thermal pad. My GPU would idle on the desktop at 55C. I removed this pad, cleaned off the residue with alcohol, put a 14x14x1mm copper shim where it used to be, applied AS5 to both sides of it, and put everything back together. Since then, my GPU idle temperature has never even hit 50.

So yes, it works. Obviously a copper shim wouldn't work on its own, but it can be effective in transferring heat to a heatsink.

 

Well, there is no heatsink that I can put there, because my 1.24mm copper shims just fit. Thinner copper is an option, but I was looking for something else. Aluminum and diamond are good conductors, but they're not flexible or soft, so they don't really help me.

Clearly, without a heatsink, the copper shims don't have a whole lot of use. However, the shims I used are the largest that could fit in the gaps, simply because the larger the area of the copper, the more heat is absorbed. This is passive cooling that I need, versus the active cooling that works on a GPU or CPU with the fan.

 

"Seven Carat Diamond" would do even better than "Arctic Silver 5".