Remove the pad around GPU chip or not?

Hello,

I recently changed the thermal paste in my 13" Sony VGN-Z (specs in signature) and while the CPU temps went considerably down, the GPU remain the same, maybe became even higher.

When I was changing the paste I was too chicken to remove that black cushion/pad around the actual GPU chip as I thought it's maybe protecting other components around the GPU from the heat.



My GPU goes now up to 111C while gaming.

I was thinking about reapplying the thermal paste, but should I peel off the pad or should I keep it there? Or alternatively, should I buy somewhere new one and apply again?

Thank you,
eM.

 

111c ??

Are you sure the heatsink is even pressing all the way down to the chips surface?

Never actually seen those pads around the GPU but they just look like cushions to me.

 

Well that's another thing I'll have to check. But it looked fine, and was sitting tight when I was closing it. While around 90C is quite normal for this notebook, over 100C feels dangerous.

 

No, it's there for a reason. I noticed that pad also and I didn't touch it. It helps the heatsink level onto the chip properly. Mine runs in high 70s at 700/850/1800. If your laptop runs this hot don't turn it off right away after you're done gaming, allow the fan to bring the temp to normal before you shutdown the laptop. The laptop might shutdown in like 5-6 seconds if you want to but that chip is still hot and there's no cooling once it's off.

 

Thank you for your answer!

70C while gaming?? I just run Tropico 3 for a few minutes and according to HWMonitor my max temp on Nvidia GPU was 110C. I do OC my GPU, but even if I don't the temps are over 100C.

OK, I'll let it there, but I noticed that when I took it out that pad was sticked to the heatsink. Also it surely makes the GPU runs hotter and it's hard to clean the old thermal paste around the GPU...

 

better go with coppermod path

 

Something is not right and you have 256 not 128 like me on your chip look at the readings. Before and after 5 min gaming with Crysis set to gamer settings at 1366x768.

 

Looks like I'll be opening my laptop again. Thank you Twiz57

 

You're welcome, sir. I hope you're not undervolting the CPU, the GPU might suffer because of that but I'm not 100% sure of this I'm looking into it. I never tried undervolting the P9600. It's a very compact laptop with a small but reliable fan that cools both the CPU and GPU. Undervolting might throw something out of balance in this case so I'm afraid to undervolt it. Anyways! Best of luck! Post some HW readings when you got it back up and running. I'm curious what's causing this.

 

Not. undervolting the cpu makes the overall temperature lower if you have shared heatsink between cpu and gpu.
The gpu won't suffer anything because of it.

 

I do undervolt, but I also can't see why lower CPU temps would disharmony cooling down the GPU. Ah well...when there will be time I'll spend some time with checking it again. I would be happy if changing thermal paste wouldn't mean to disassemble the whole laptop incl. removing the display part...

 

Well we're talking about almost 20 degrees difference in temp for the GPU so for the time being disable RMClock. This laptop has to be able to keep control of its CPU/GPU temps without undervolting. You can always go back to undervolting later when all temps are where they're supposed to be.

 

if you think that way about undervolting, then replacing thermal paste on cpu will suffer the gpu as well ... which is not correct.

but I get your point, OP should check if the fan is working normally. If it is, then it's safe to have undervolted cpu

 

Remove the pad. It sounds like it is keeping the heatsink from making direct contact. It isn't protecting anything from heat as the heat goes through the chip and PCB.

But before and after you do anything, make sure there is good contact between the GPU and heatsink by putting thermal paste between them and installing and uninstalling the heatsink. If removing the pad doesn't help, then you have to go with a copper shim for the easy solution.

 

Just make sure the the heatsink isn't going to touch any of the metal bits around the GPU die.

 

That's the man's word But I was thinking why they put it just on GPU and not on others. It would be nice to get opinion from more ppl, but it seems that not too many laptops have such thing. It's also true that not too many laptops have 12 layer motherboard...

Anyway it's good to know that the temps are not normal and I should do something about that. btw, what temps on GPU are really critical? To be sure I'll probably not run the Nvidia GPU till I look it through.

 

u should undervolt.. it does reduce ur temps... also , u might want to copper mod... 110C is really the Max of NVDIA GPU... u should try to keep temps under 80C... i would also get a notebook cooling pad if u don't carry ur laptop around a lot...

 

Thank you for all your answers. I do undervolt. And no, turning of RMClock didn't make any difference except higher temps on CPU.

I can't see much advantages on that copper mod. It simply looks like it means to put copper sheet between the heatpipe and the chip. I don't think it can do any better if the heatpipe is touching the chip tightly enough, or if you're brave enough to bend the heatpipe a bit. Can't imagine how two times applied thermal paste and peace of metal between the heatpipe and the chip can be better then the heatpipe touching the chip directly.

Cooling pad is a no no for me as I carry my laptop around all the time

 

Wow, someone on this forum who wouldn't tell me I'm an idiot for bending the heatpipe!

You're right that the copper shim is not optimal. It is used in situations where they can't get direct contact without bending the heatsink, such as where there is a big thick thermal pad. A tightly fit copper shim with good thermal paste still conducts heat better than the original pad though. I have personally bent mine, but when I have said it is better than a copper shim and that it works fine I have been insulted for doing so.

 

Yes, coppermod is only to replace the crappy stock thermal pads.

Ive done it before and produced whopping results.

 

Yes, I do think it's a very nice mod but in fact just for very specific situation, most probably mainly with some Dell laptops. Vaio Z has in fact quite good cooling system, it just seems that I somehow screw up applying new thermal paste, even though I took some time with that. Hopefully I will be able to get it right this time.

 

I'm reasonably certain that those pads are there to prevent possible electrical contact with the resistors surrounding the chip. My Envy doesn't have a pad, but it does have a little plastic shield to keep them from contacting. That's actually why I was having a problem initially... the shield kept covering a little bit of the chip and keeping it from making good contact with the heatsink, so I was getting 80-90C GPU temps. I'm down to 60-70 max now.

 

Well that's interesting information, but how did you solve it and what's your recommendation then? From this information I feel again I should not take it off or I would have to cover it with something else.