X120e - Thermal Compound Replacement (for great justice)

I decided to write up a bit of a thread to document my success in replacing the stock thermal compound on the X120e's heatsink, since I've seen no threads whatsoever documenting the subject otherwise. I believe this to mostly be because the laptop is still a new model and most still have a warranty... and opening it up and doing this can void your warranty. So I thought, why not! and this is the thread before you.

Note: you CAN INDEED void your warranty for opening up your X120e any more than that which the bottom panel door gives you access to, through accidental breakage of components. Lenovo gives you the option to replace your own hard drive and replace your own RAM, and this alone should be enough for the little-more-than-the-average-joe laptop user. If you are going to attempt to do this or do ANY modification inside your Thinkpad, do it AT YOUR OWN RISK! If your Thinkpad is still under warranty, it is still best to get a hold of Lenovo and get them to do the heavy lifting for you.

Now, with that out of the way...

For the last week that I've owned my X120e, I've experienced high temperatures, not necessary warm on my lap, but high enough while monitoring with TPFanControl while idle that it was causing me some concern about possible improper application of the thermal compound, like there are other threads about. On average, the temps while idle would reach up into the mid-60C to mid-70C range... it was horrifying.

Here's pretty much what I did, and I'm going to make it into an instructable from here:

-Make sure you have a Phillips Screwdriver handy, a creditcard, a small flat-head, and either rubbing alcohol (70% or higher if possible) or Arctic Silver ArctiClean 1&2.

-Make sure you also have a well-reviewed and accepted thermal compound handy. Arctic Silver 5 is the most popular, but in recent months Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 has come out... and in independent tests has shown to be more effective than AS5, so I chose that.

Note on using Arctic Silver 5: AS5 is, again, the fan-favorite when re-applying thermal paste on CPUs. However, I personally suggest you use something else other than it because it can become electrically conductive. With an APU like the E-240 and the E-350, there are surface-mounted components on the chip itself besides the core. If you apply too much, you can electrically damage your APU. This goes the same with most chips with the core exposed (without an integrated heat spreader like the ones most Intel and AMD CPUs now have to prevent users or OEMs accidentally crushing the cores when applying heatsinks.)

Other recommended choices are Arctic Cooling MX-2, Prolimatech PK-2, etc. You can also use Antec Formula 5, available at most places like Staples, but this is pretty much just a clone, albeit a very good one, of Arctic Silver 3 (and is also electrically conductive.) Either way, read reviews, find one you like the price and viscosity of, and remember not to use vegemite or toothpaste.

Also remember to use eBay if possible when purchasing-- getting thermal compound from a place like most stores that sell it alongside electronics can burn a hole right through your wallet! (except when getting Ceramique 2... the price is pretty reasonable online and off when you think about it.)

Alright. Let's get started. First things first, you're gonna want to print this up or load it onto another computer for viewing.

Next, you should watch this video on Youtube to get a visual example of how to the innards of your machine. Stop watching at 02:16. the board is removed here and the heatsink can now be manipulated.

Unscrew the APU heatsink from the board, starting with the screws closest to the fan. Once off, you're going to see cured paste on the top of the APU. a small drop from both ArctiClean 1 and then 2 after wiping the first drop off should remove all the residue from this.

On the heatsink contact surface, will be a thick pad-like piece of thermal compound. This is what we in the IT business call "value paste" or "value padding" as it keeps the computer from overheating, but doesn't keep it cool enough for efficient use. This is for mass-production cost-reduction. what you need to do is take the credit card, and, with a non-damaged edge, gently scrape off the thermal compound at an angle, so as to not scratch the heatsink. if you don't get it all the first scrape through, don't worry. one scrape is enough, and then drop a few drops of ArctiClean 1 onto the surface. After a minute, remove it with a lint-free cloth, and then do the same with #2.

Here are some images of what the APU and heatsink will look like with compound on them-- WOW is that tiny!

Spoiler

Note that this isn't to size and the actual chip is a little bigger than a key on the keyboard.

This next part is not for the squeamish, and is entirely optional. What I usually like to do to make sure that I've got all the moisture left behind out of the metal from the cleaners is to take a lighter to the contact surface for 5 seconds at a time, until condensation stops showing on the surface after contact with the flame. I find this better helps to make sure the metal is dry and ready to be used, and it gives a cleaner area (as well as sterile) for better contact with the compound and APU.

After this is done (if you did it, that is...), apply the thermal compound to the APU die with the instructions provided by the compound manufacturer. for Arctic Silver, this is usually a drop the size of a pea or rice grain to the center of the die. Spread this out with another edge of the card, or with your index finger in a plastic baggie, etc.

Re-attach the heatsink. apply pressure to the middle of the heastink while screwing in the 4 screws. Re-attach the fan wire and re-assemble the laptop in the way it was taken apart (use the YouTube video linked above for reference. Be mindful of where what screws went where. Re-attach the battery and AC, and power on.


It's usually a good idea to run a burn-in program to heat up the thermal compound enough to start curing, initially. For some compounds, the curing is instant (Ceramique 1 & 2, as an example.) For others, like AS5, it can take up to 200 hours and many power on/off cycles to cure. You have a few options: you can run a burn-in program like OCCT, or a program such as Orthos Prime or Tripcode Explorer (2 instances of Tripcode Explorer though, Orthos is dual-core) that will make full use of each core and will generate the most heat.

Usually, the wait time is 24 hours for a correct burn-in, but I see no problems if you were to leave it go overnight on a flat, dry, dust-free surface to burn-in. If you do this a few nights, you'll see a definite drop in temperature over time.

After the re-application and burn-in, my temperatures went from the ones described above to 10-15C cooler on average. I'm very impressed, and so is my lap!

I Hope that this helps someone that wants to do this sort of thing, but doesn't know where to start. Feedback and improvements to this, if any, are welcomed highly!

 

Are you sure you have to go all the way to 2:16?
I think at 1:20 it is sufficient.

 

1:20 might be sufficient for some people, but there are also screws keeping the motherboard secured to the base in two spots. for the sake of helping people find where these are, even if they're easy to find otherwise, I'm suggesting a stop at 2:16 as at that point the video stops being relevant to this topic and goes on to screen replacement for this model. this is also to help find where to screw the motherboard back in during re-assembly.

 

That sounds good.
I will probably wait until the notebook is after the warranty replacement before re-pasting. Re-pasting may make your notebook run cooler but have you noticed any improvement over battery consumption?

 

the machine runs only a bit longer now after the repaste. the fan isn't working as much to keep the machine cool and I'm not using TPFanControl for anything other than monitoring the temperature.

waiting for the warranty to run out is a good idea. I'm not one to worry about laptop warranties because I can do any repair work myself, and am willing to pay for parts myself... I don't like the roundabout service idea, much less being without my laptop and sending it off someplace with my personal data on it- I'm not one to trust OEM service techs or even the contracted techs from OEMs. so, I'm willing to void my warranty for this sake. but I'm recommending to let it run out before doing this to everyone else, because everyone else is not me.

 

Wow, your temps dropped 10-15C!! So your saying you load up at a max temp of 65 now running occt?? Thats amazing. My temps reach 70's when simply playing back HD flash video! I'm defiantly gonna do this if thats true. Thanks

 

I have also done a reapplication of the thermal paste on my x120e, and I also get approximately 10C in drop of temperatures. I used Antec Formula 6 Nano Diamond, and I now hover in the 50's during idle and light browsing, as opposed to the mid 60's that I used to get with the stock thermal paste.

Screw the lenovo warranty, this is by far the best method in lowering the temps in your x120e without undervolting.

 

sure glad I found this. did a lot of searches with no luck, then MidnightSun directed me to your thread.
Thank you for providing this OP!!

I'll be giving mine the treatment as soon as I get a couple of other projects off my table.

10 C is a LOT. fantastic. I too run mid to high 60's in ordinary use. that's not terrible, but if I can drop that into the 50s - fantastic.

this little notebook is still a great choice even with prices of core i's falling fast. one has to buy "up" quite ways on the i3 food chain to match the vid perf of this humble unit.

 

They're little powerhouses, I'll give them that. After quite some disappointments in recent Intel offerings before the current Core i line with the C2D's and such, I'm never buying another laptop using an intel CPU. No intel tax for me!

10C is a lot, and that's on a good day. in the past few months it's been hot here in the northeastern US, and if my A/C isn't on, or I use this outside on the deck, the temperature can climb anywhere up to 75C with moderate usage. This is still using the thermal paste from back when I originally wrote this thread up.

Someone reported using Antec Formula 6 on their APU. I happen to have a tube as of late and I can give this a shot sometime in the middle of the month and do a quick comparison. For now I'm having 0 problems and the machine is idling cool enough that I've stopped monitoring the temperatures 24/7 and moved that task to an as-needed basis.

 

Could you tell us how are your temps now? and if you have your fans running all the time? (or which profile do you have in TPC fan control)

I'm asking because i put IC Diamond on mine and didn't notice any change in temps 60's while light web browsing (which also fires the fans) will any ArticSilver do it better? Or is just a waste of time in my case?

Thanks a lot!

 

Why are the thermals so shocking? even after replacing thermal paste and cleaning out the fans you're still hitting 60 degrees Celsius while browsing the net.

This is possibly the worst thermal paste job from factory I have ever seen, I hope that it's just isolated to this model though. However if this affects other thinkpads then I will replace the thermal paste with Arctic Cooling MX-3 since I still have some left.

No actually IC diamond 7 is better than arctic silver 5 which in my opinion is overrated, many thermal pastes are better than AS5 now plus with AS5 there's the 200 Hour curing time.

Did you paste correctly? ICD 7 is very thick and hard to work with.

 

Hey, thanks for the input. I paste it twice with IC Diamond because the first time i wasn't convinced at all. I put just a "grain of rice"

Do you think Artic Cooling Mx-3 ceramique would do a better job? (I'm not an expert on thermal compound replacement)

Also, which temperatures would be normal without using the fans?

 

No it wouldn't it is actually 1-3 degrees Celsius worse, I just chose it since it was easy to apply and cheap, just apply a small bb dot and let the heatsink's pressure do the rest, and generally that works well. Mx-3 does not exist any more since a newer mx-4 has come out since which is even easier to apply.

I don't think you can apply IC diamond like that, it's far to viscous to do the grain of rice method, according to this Application, you have to use a larger amount so it does spread out, although mind you those are instructions for desktop CPUs, so for this AMD apu you're going to have to halve the amount so about 2-3mm, that should be enough.
Try reapplying it, if that does not work then as far as I'm concerned thermal paste may not solve your heat problem, I guess it's lenovo's fault for skimping on the cooler albeit they did use copper.

 

Sorry for the zombie thread revival. Just got an x120e, and noticed it was getting rather warm while sitting idle. So I bought Antec Nano Diamond 7, and ArctiClean 1 & 2.

Finally did the reapplication, and what I hated most was having to take the whole thing apart, maybe apply enough, put it all back together. Temps didn't really improve (go down), after about 20 minutes of running SuperPi in a MiniXP instance (I don't think Kali has stress-testing tools built-in....?).

Reapplied a teensy bit more, let some kind of stray onto the black 'shroud' (for lack of a better term) and then tried to make sure the paste was even-ish before putting the HSF back on.

Ran SuperPi again, for 32M, and it ran it up to 87C, so I thought I might just leave it for a couple days (as mentioned in the OP) to 'set/cure'. Will get back to it Monday and see if it has helped.

I might add, the Antec paste came with no instructions, even though it came in (what I think) a very large box for the size of the item. So I am not sure if there is a specific size mentioned for application or not.

 

Before every first repaste on any system; apply paste -> attach heatsink -> remove heatsink. This is to verify that there is proper contact with the entire die. Reason is that not all systems are designed to work with paste, some leave a rather large gap to accommodate thick pads (sometimes unintentional, due to inexactly manufactured heatsink). If this is the situation then merely removing pad and applying paste will make things worse. Can still do without pads, but needs a copper shim or some other adjustment to get sink and die close enough.

Anyway, when removing heatsink you want to see a nice, 100% filled rectangle on the sink (the die 'stamped' it). Couldn't find a proper image, this is from some old paste/heatsink removed (did have proper contact though):

Spoiler: heatsink removed

Also, make sure to use vacuum cleaner with an attachment (that plastic focus thingy) to clean out the heatsink. Especially between the fins (heat-exchanger), this can make a greater difference than the repaste itself. Fan too, of course, while you're at it.

 

Well, that sounds helpful, will try it after I get back to the unit.

However, I did notice when I took the heatsink off, it wasn't a massive 'pad' of the stuff, so I am not sure if someone else had already repasted it, or Lenovo used actual paste at the factory. Though, I did notice the stamped edges on the bottom of the heatsink area, I wasn't sure if I needed to put paste on the heatsink to cover that area or not; it seemed much larger in total area than the chip it sits on, including the 'shroud' that sits between the heatsink and the actual small bits on the surface of the chip (around the main raised die area; no idea what these are called, but I know they are part of the APU).

I can probably get pictures on Monday or Tuesday, depending on busy-ness if that would help.

 

Okay, so Monday morning (technically, afternoon now), I fired up MiniXP, ran SuperPi for 32M iterations, took a little more than 2 hours, and it topped out at 86C, and now sitting at idle around 65C. It reports 61C minimum temperature.

This doesn't seem much better than with the little bit of stock paste I found. Judging by the picture in the OP, there should have been a lot more here. Is it possible to put the paste around the heatsink area outside of the APU die and perhaps emulate the original factory thermal pad?

 

Top 86°C is fine, though idle 65°C is a bit high. Neither is a problem, though can imagine fan noise is too much for an idle system.

And no, picture in OP shows an oversized thermal pad. Everything that's larger than the ceramic die serves no purpose other than to facilitate faster factory install. The black tape is there to prevent potential shorts due to an overabundance of thermal paste.

Thinking of a reason for those high idles; this is a single fan system, right? And since cpu+gpu are on the same die, it might not be the cpu per se, but the gpu that's causing the high idles.

Spoiler: too long ... in short: ageing chip -> more base heat-load

Read a great article somewhere (from an nvidia employee) that explained it perfectly, can't find it anymore ... should've saved it . No matter, the gist is this; chips degrade over time and the hotter, the faster. There's tons of tiny transistors inside (AMD E-350 has ~400,000,000, for fun; a 22nm ARM), but not all of these actually function, this true even when brand new from the plant. The number of non-functioning transistors increases right from the start due to shorts or hangs. Although a particular transistor might no longer function, it still draws power as much as a working transistor. Worse; they can't be shut down since, being shorted, they'll no longer respond to instructions. Since these 'free-loaders' are hogging power continuously, this increases idle heat output and, therefore, temperature. For some reason this issue is more pronounced with a gpu than with a cpu, don't ask me why, though ...

Now, if you'd ran an identical benchmark when the chip was new and another every year you could follow this degradation beautifully. Must think of this for a new system; bootable USB drive with benchmark app. It'd make a lovely graph ...

Err ... anyway, if this the situation with your system; nothing to do about that, unfortunately. Hmm ... last resort; grease the fan's bearings, it might run a little better or, at a minimum, run more silent.

 

Hm....That hadn't occurred to me, but that sounds like it is plausible, this transistor aging thing.

Yes, small copper heatsink and pipe leading to a small (I'd say 40mm fan) blower with a bunch of small metal fins on the side of the laptop. Haven't gotten to the vacuuming part, though that's mostly external (on the outer plastic area, rather than in the fan/fins area internally), but will look into greasing the bearings, assuming that's possible; not knowing what type of bearing is uses might make it difficult.

I was thinking I might have to buy a new HSF assembly for this model, but with prices ranging from ~$74 to ~$150 (more than I paid for this laptop, lock, stock and barrel, before upgrades), I think I'll just deal.

Then again, I was using MiniXP, which might not have had the ability to clock the CPU or GPU down when running idle. It's already got Kali Linux running on it, so I might just run some tests on that. Again, assuming proper driver support, and ability to clock down (with a ~3.18 kernel, I'd hope so) would help tremendously.

Thanks again for the help and ideas! I'd say I'm nearly done fiddling with this and ready to put it into production use!

If only Lenovo et all would make more of these kinds of netbook-with-muscle more often

 

New HSF will make exactly 0% difference (unless the old one was defective), so ... yes, no sense wasting money on that. And, well ... no downclock would explains those 'idle' temperatures perfectly; 920XM runs 62°C like that and the 4900MQ does 55°C. Of course, 'idle' as such hardly means idle in the sense that the other 99% of users experience idle .

MiniXP ... tried running a portable CPU-Z or HWiNFO on it? That ought to tell you whether it throttles properly.

Another Lenovo ... well, it's fine as long as you enjoy whitelist-workarounds, I guess ... though, truth be told, stock Clevos are severely bios-retarded (options à la consumer-model) and Dell had this no-'Dell'-adapter=downclock bit in the bios (even if new psu had twice the power). All effin' bastards, really ... still, could be worse; at least they're not the kind that does all of the above (+ some) and keeps the doctor away (because you can't afford him anymore).

 

Yep, was running HWiNFO to see the temps, and CPU-Z to see if it was throttling. It hovered around 1.6GHz the whole time, even idle. Not sure if there is a way to gauge if the GPU was being used at all, but I don't have a lot of experience with MiniXP, being run off a USB stick.

I guess I could install Windows 7 on another hard drive and see if the temps drop when throttling works properly.

Thanks for the help nonetheless!

 

Hm, in some of the tests I've run with Kali, I have seen the temp jump to 96*C. Only once has it shutdown because thermals, but I am now a tad concerned. Does anyone have any recommendations for a thermal pad to attempt to alleviate more of the heat? I've got it running through the GPU, too, so that's where a lot of the heat it likely coming from.

I know the tiny die I have the HS area on is but a tiny area of the whole APU. Again, when I originally removed it, there was no thermal pad, just a bit of paste on the main die.

 

Did you test whether the paste you've applied made proper contact? A good paste is preferable to pads, but if the distance die-heatsink is too great then you might resort to high quality pads. This is about as good as they come; Fujipoly 17.0watt/mk (just need to cut it slightly larger than the die's size). Another benefit of pads is that they last forever, unlike paste. Kinda useful when you fix someone else's system.

 

Well, I ask mostly because the die/paste contact area is about 25% of the APU size, therefore, a lot of the paste and heatsink are not really dissipating a large portion of the heat.

Looking at the pictures provided by the OP, I think with the small black 'shroud' on the APU, and a thermal pad to cover more of the APU surface might help shunt more heat away?

So, I am looking at using thermal paste for the main die area, and then cutting a small piece of a thermal pad around the die area for the rest of it. To the small stamped areas I assume a stock thermal pad would have gone.

 

Hmm, no, don't bother. If you really think a larger area is required, then just cut the pad to whatever size you want. A lot easier that way and you can safely screw down the heatsink as much as you want (the pad will compress slightly).

 

Hmm....I guess I could go with the thermal pad you linked to. I could only find a couple on Amazon/Newegg that went up to 6W/mK, but I have no idea how to reference that to anything, so I thought I'd ask.

So, this Antec Formula 7 Nano Diamond paste says it's rated at 8.3W/mK. Think I can just outright replace the past with a thermal pad rated for about double this W/mK rating and have better cooling, maybe?

 

Certainly, though paste has the benefit that it fills tiny gaps better (depending on its viscousness). Yet pads are easier, more accommodating and keep their initial performance indefinitely.