Vostro 1500/Inspiron 1520 thermal paste swap

Okay so I decided to repaste the CPU, chipset, and GPU on my laptop.
**Warning! If you mess up your notebook due to this guide, I am not responsible! Use this as a guide only!**

CPU temps before:

Ambient: 23.5C
Idle: lowest recorded was like 32C
Max load: 66C

Chipset temps before

Ambient: 23.5C
Idle: 34C
Max load: 76C

GPU:

Ambient: 23.5C
Idle: 37C
Max load: 66C

Crappy pictures taken my cell phone

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/3161/1126002206.jpg

Taking off SSD, ODD, Wifi cover, battery

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1008/1126002208.jpg

Removing LCD housing

http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/414/1126002223.jpg

Removing palm rest, touchpad cable and billion screws underneath

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2249/1126002223a.jpg

Exposed!

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/2557/1126002223b.jpg

GPU removed!

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/7498/1126002236.jpg

Yay for blurry nVidia logo!

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1508/1126002243.jpg

Repasting GPU and RAM with Ceramique

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2630/1126002227.jpg

Cleaned off CPU and chipset, applied Arctic Silver 5 to CPU and Ceramique to chipset

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/7024/tempsj.jpg

CPU and chipset dropped a decent amount. I haven't been able to stress GPU yet, had to open today.

 

Your temp seems perfectly fine, I wouldn't even bother repasting if I were you AS5 has a cure time of 200 hours, you are gonna have to wait until then to see the optimal result, which is why I hate it. But it's still a good option, although better alternatives are out there too.

 

Well I was wondering if I could put the load temps around mid 55's but I guess that's not possible with a 65nm Core 2 Duo. It's already undervolted

 

Seriously those temp are nothing to worry about, if you are picky about the temp, you might wanna invest in a good notebook cooler, but IMO it's not worth it as the temps are really great already. hmm, or you can get some better paste like ICD-7, people find they work better than AS5(including myself )

 

Heh well I also bought IC Diamond 7 for like 3 bucks. Was testing AS5 first.

Main CPU cooler at my room is Antec 200mm Big Boy cooler. I also have a Cooler Master Notepal X2

 

Happy New Year !

Why not the new Arctic-MX3 ?

 

My workplace didn't have MX-3 in stock for the paste swap. I think I will try IC Diamond 7 next, did wonders for my Core i7 970 hexacore and my Megahalems.

 

Before spending more money on thermal paste, save some for a camera.

 

LOL yeah I know. I spend too much upgrading my laptops and desktops to afford a camera. The pictures were taken my amazing 1.3 MP camera phone..

 

where is the damn Benchmark ? :]

 

I killed Prime95 a bit early on the last picture. It was benched for like 4-5 hours.

 

Nice write up !

I did the same thing last year and IMO what really increases the temps on this particular laptop has more to do with a clogged air vent. I found an accumulated amount of dust on both the CPU and GPU heatsink fins. I could actually hear a different sound when I ran my fans on high. It almost sounded muffled, that's how much dust I had blocking the airflow.

The first gen Vostro 1500 and 1700 were built like tanks (these are my favorite Dell's by far) and the GPU was a different design so they were quite reliable. My 1500 and 1700 are going on 3.5 years with no problems. Too bad Dell cheapened each Vostro successor although the V13 is nice.

Btw 16:10 FTW !

I can't stand 16:9 and my favorite aspect ration for a laptop was 4:3

 

Heh well what's funny is my Vostro 1500 didn't really have any dust at all. I blew it out and very little dust particles when I did first clean it out.

Oh I absolutely love my Vostro 1500. I never intended it to be a portable laptop as I was looking at the M1330/M1530 but they were way out of my price range for college. I bought the base Vostro 1500 and just upgraded up (configured late August 2007, arrived early September 2007). These days it just sits on my cooling pad on my desk. Heat was never an issue unless playing like Crysis for prolonged periods. I mean Vostro started out as sharing the same body line as the Inspiron, and I preferred the bulky/bigger chassis as it feels more durable. But the 1520/1720 was the last Inspiron line to have the bulky chassis, with the debut of the 1525 it moved to this thinner chassis though the internal takeapart is the same.

 

I was just wondering what do you use to monitor your temperatures for your Vostro in this exercise?