Latitude D820 / Precision M65 - CPU Thermal Pad & Heatsink

Just wondering if anyone knows if the D820/M65 thermal-cooling assembly, i.e. heatsink, Dell part number YD866 or FF467, comes with a thermal pad on it.

On impulse last night, and because the price was right, I bought a boxed T7600 to replace the T2400. I don't mind too much cleaning off the existing heatsink and CPU, then using Arctic Silver 5 when I install the T7600, but I thought I'd keep everything stock if a new heatsink assembly already comes with some thermal material. With shipping, the whole assembly is about $20, but if it doesn't have pre-applied thermal material, it doesn't make much sense to me.

The answers here may all be obvious, but I can't seem to find them. Thanks.

 

Every manufacturer still uses thermal pads. They are cheap and they do not work very well. When you get your new processor, use rubbing alcohol to peal off the thermal pad from the heatsink, dry the surface and apply arctic silver. Your system is going to get much hotter with the T7600, so I recommend downloading a copy of I8KFANGUI. You should set your fans to come on at a lower temperature, becuase the T7600 will get hotter much faster than a T2400.

Good luck with the upgrade

K-TRON

 

Thanks, K-TRON. Interestingly, the T2400 core temps after Prime95 gets rolling on both cores are about 67/67 C (45/40 C, give or take, at idle). If possible, I'd like to avoid going much higher with the T7600.

What you suggest is what I was first planning to do, and is probably the best approach, but I was kind of thinking that if I keep everything stock (i.e., don 't use Arctic Silver), I don't nullify the warranty, though swapping out the CPU probably voids the warranty anyway.

The other issue is GPU thermal material: a replacement heatsink assembly may or may not have a GPU pad (I think the heatsink sits on top of the GPU too). If it doesn't, then I'm kind of committed to Arctic Silver anyway, since I don't want to replace the assembly with nothing between the GPU (which is about 75C under load) and the heatsink.

Lots to consider. Thanks again.

 

Most of the GPU heatsinks use thermal pads, but for good reasons. There are many different chips on the graphics card. Because of this, the heatsink cannot lie flat on the top of the graphics card. Different thickness thermal pads are used to compensate for the difference in the height of the different chips.

Youre best bet is to run I8KFangui. You can force all of the fans to high speed. Do not take the graphics card apart, because if you tighten the heatsink to much, you can break the graphics card.

By replacing the cpu you will be voiding the warranty.

Have you ever taken apart your dell before.
They are a pain to take apart, because you have to take virtually every screw out to get to the processor.

Good luck with the upgrades.

K-TRON

 

I've partially taken apart the X300, and I can also tell the M65 will be a pain from reading the service manual. But I figure if I have all the screws well labeled, it shouldn't be too bad. I copied all the instructions to a single Word file and it's about 13 pages, with pictures, bold type and everything.

Thanks for the I8KFangui suggestion - good idea - and the remarks about the GPU. I'm kind of committed now, but will take it all very slow. If it weren't such a good computer, which I got quite cheap from Dell Outlet, I wouldn't be bothering with this. But because it's a great laptop, I'd be upset if I destroyed it.

 

Just yesterday, I had to take my ENVY U709 entirely apart, because I lost a screw when i replaced my graphics card. My original Quadro was defective, and I got the new replacement the other day. I went to install my graphics card, and just as i went to seal the bay, I noticed I was one screw short. I had to take my entire laptop, only to notice that it was stuck between the bottom of the motherboard and the front speaker.
There are so many pieces:





Good luck, you shouldnt need a manual,

I did not have one, I just have a good memory.

K-TRON

 

Nice pics - and a very nice laptop. Looks like about 12 distinct piles of screws.

My memory is kind of so-so, and I'll probably depend on the manual, since Dell was nice enough to publish it. I'm not overly concerned, but it's trickier than working on a desktop, and I want to be sure to get the heatsink right. I just replaced stock HSF on my desktop with a Zalman 9700. Major improvement, but the D820/M65 looks a little less straightforward. I'll follow up when it's done, one way or the other.