Sony laptop Heat sink, HDD help

Hi,
I have a sony VGN-CR590 laptop:

T8400 core 2 duo processor
250GB 5400 rpm HDD
3GB RAM
Win XP

I want to upgrade the laptop coz i can't accord to buy a new one.

I am planning on installing Win 7 (i have a copy lying around), plus am thinking of upgrading the HDD to seagate momentus XT 500GB (to speed up the laptop and increase the memory, can't afford an SSD).

Also my laptop heats up every now and then, although i've opened the back cover and used a blower but i think the heat sink is messed up because it shuts down while watching a movie.

I am attaching a pic. of the heatsink, if anyone has any idea how to replace heat sink or any insight on pro and cons on the heating problem please let me know.

I've never changed or replaced a heat sink so any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

 

Hello,

How old is this laptop actually? If it shuts down, I would start with repasting. It looks pretty clean otherwise.

 

The heat-sink is just a piece of metal - it cannot go bad You don't need to replace it!

The reasons for overheating (if you are certain it is overheating? Have you monitored/logged the temperatures?) could be:

1. Bad FAN
2. Thermal paste has aged and needs replacing.

But to find the reason for shutting down I would start with investigating the temperatures and the FAN operation - does it change speeds as it is supposed to? Does it spin without making any unusual noise?
I would also run extensive RAM test (one night) - I see you have 2 different brands of RAM, one of which is a really cheap one... It wouldn't cost you anything to make sure there are no RAM issues.

If you are certain the laptop overheats and it is not the FAN that is bad - replace the thermal paste, this should fix it.

 

Infact, it is liquid inside the pipe, so it can go bad. And once it does, your laptop will overheat. I have orderd a new heatsink for my laptop (signature), basically because my tempratures raised by about 10C since last week. Now, under very heavy gaming my laptop even shutsdown. It peaks at 89C now, which were like 75C-ish just a week earlier. I opend my laptop and saw that the heatsink got some marks on it, and it is no money, I orderd one.

So in short, it can go bad.

But, also as you said, a RAM check isin't bad idea, but again, I dubt for some reason..

 

Looks like the heatsink is $15-$20 on ebay, good price IMO.
I would do what the others have mentioned (repaste, check fan and ram) before you spend money on a heatsink.

Oh and try to remove the fan from the heatsink (if possible) and check for dust between the fins of the heatsink and the fan area.

 

I would also disassemble the fan so that you can clean the copper fins that are usually the culprit when it comes to overheating.

 

Thanks for replying guys.

Any idea which thermal paste should i get, is there a specific one for my laptop? Or Sony laptops.

My laptop is around 2.5 yrs old.

Also is there a good tutorial on replacing thermal paste?

Any insight would help

 

I would highly recommend this as thermal paste Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"!

Also, there is a lot of guides at youtube..

 

Here's the paste i use with application instructions: Application.

 

There are no brand-specific thermal pastes. They are universal as the role they need to play is absolutely the same in every laptop. I have been using Arctic Silver but I can't really tell if this is the best choice out there. People say it is good...

 

From the following reviews from amazon, all 3 have good rating:

Amazon.com: IC DIAMOND 7 CARAT 1.5 GRAM THERMAL COMPOUND: Electronics

Amazon.com: Mad Dog Techie Toyz Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound - Thermal paste: Electronics

Amazon.com: Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound - Retai: Electronics

i take it that any of above 3 should be good enough, hopefully.

Also do you guys think seagate momentus xt 500gb is a good choice to go for, right?

thanks.

 

thanks a lot for the help guys.

I've installed the thermal paste and HDD temp. fell down a down 20 degree.

i used Arctic silver 5 in the end, following products:

Newegg.com - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - Thermal Compound / Grease

Newegg.com - Arctic Silver ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier - Thermal Compound / Grease

normally while running prime 95 my system would shutdown during test 3 when temp would reach around 90 degree.

Now the test went up to test 6 and temp was still around 68-70 degree.

thanks everyone for the help

 

I did not get this, did you reapply the thermal paste or did yo change the heatsink?

 

i didn't replace the heat sink, i took the advice and examined the fan and it looks fine, so i changed the thermal paste with the above mentioned products and it simply worked, the temp went down and system runs cooler now.

the next thing in line i am doing right now is installed a bigger, faster hdd