How important is "Thermal paste"?

About a month ago, I was installing my wifi card and cleaning out my CF-28M and I noticed that my Thermal paste was all dried up. Should I get some more or just put it back together and leave it alone? Also, I turn my 28 off and on several times a day, should I just leave it running all day, or put it in standby or continue to power off and on when I need to?

 

If thermal paste was in one peace then it may be leaved as it is but if it consists of many little things or looks like sand or dirt - you better change it. You should watch temperature of Processor... Besides you are talking about paste on CPU, right?... and depends on degrees you choose change it or leave.
With bad thermal paste your fan will work faster and with higher volume.

less it reboots - longer it works (especially talking about HDD but not only). If it plugged in and you are not afraid to pay additional for electricity - just leave it on. As for me I turned of hibernation (and saved place on HDD which is similar to amount of your RAM)

 

Yes, I'm talking about the paste on the CPU, my 28M has no fan..........

 

Thermal past is VERY important! You WILL fry your CPU if you don't use it (especially in more modern systems with Dual cores or i5's/i7's... Not using thermal paste on a CPU is like not using gaskets on your garden hose, it just doesn't work (IE, it leaks lol).

Thermal paste transfers the heat from the CPU to the case of your 28, you NEED it!

 

O'kay I'll get some. How much do I use? Thick coating or thin? I want to do this right, so any advice would be great!

 

Completely right till the fan part. Fully Rugged(All contents sealed off from the world)* rely on the computer case to remove the heat from the cpu. If the cpu has no contact with the heat sink attached to the case then it's in theory, easy baking inside this metal sealed off to the world case.

Gurus,

Was the 28 something like the 29 with the thermal pad/putty?

*CF-31 is a different animal.


Standby is what I use on my desktop and the the toughbook if I didn't have it set to defrag or virus scan when I walk away from it.

 

If it is bad contact between processor and thermally conductive tube than processors temperature will rise up higher and fan-cooler (if it exists) controlled by computer will fan higher to cool the same as it would do in normal

I had old Compaq Presario 2700 which had a little cooler (it must be 2) which was LOUDER THAN DESKTOP'S ONE! I thought that it was because 2-nd cooler was lost somewhere but after I add some good thermal paste (old one was looking horrible) it became SUPERquite!

 

Get yourself some arctic silver... that's generally the best (And most expensive) (and I've been using it for 7+ years without problems) and apply about a BB sized dab right on the CPU Make sure to wipe away any oils from your fingers with a lint free rag first. (like a BB gun BB (.177 caliber))

 

I use "Arctic Silver 5" $5.69 for a 3.5 gram and he ships fast (3 days)
Arctic Silver 5 High Density CPU Thermal Compound 3.5g - eBay (item 260639109067 end time Jan-17-11 16:34:24 PST)

UPDATE:
THIS IS WHAT I USED ON MY CF-51 ONLY

The cpu on the 51 can be removed.....the CF-28/29 can not be

 

OK... y'all are talking outcher backsides here.

The CF-28 needs the special thermal pads just like the CF-29; you CANNOT just smear thermal paste in there, it will NOT fill the gap. On the CF-28, the CPU is "sandwiched" between the halves of the case, and they are deliberately designed with a large gap between the CPU and the case to allow for thermal expansion. This is because they use a fanless design, where the case is just a great big heat sink.

If you search this forum for the term thermal pads you will find hours worth of reading on the subject; of special interest should be the cf-29 cooling mods thread.

If your old thermal pads have turned the consistency of marshmallows, don't fret. Several of our members have successfully reinstalled the old pads by rolling each of them up into a ball and placing the ball onto the appropriate chip, then reassembling to "smoosh" the heat conductive polymer out as needed. Several have tried adding thermal paste to help, my experience indicates this is not necessary if you can get ALL of the polymer back where it came from.

We have not been able to verify what the original pads are made of; as a result, there is no way of knowing if your favorite thermal paste will react with it chemically. This is why I personally recommend NOT to add Arctic Silver or any other thermal paste; if there is a chemical reaction, it could very well wind up "eating" the heat spreader or the CPU or even the magnesium case itself. Others here will say they've tried it with wonderful results; I, on the other hand, have been using my CF-28 with "rerolled" polymer pads and nothing else for over 3 years and never had any thermal issues.

mnem
Haven't we hashed this over like sixty times already? SMEESH!

 

Visions of Charlie Brown banging his head against a tree.

 

Until the CF-31, we have no fans on the Fully Rugged line of Toughbooks. They are low energy CPU(until the CF-31) and when it gets hot it does it's best to minimize power. Semi rugged like my 72 has a fan; something like normal computers and the arctic thermal paste applies. Since the CPU update the fan was anything but quiet. Even after thermal paste and extra heatsink pipes from a donor 72. Speedswitchxp V1.52 on dynamic switch when battery powered stopped the fan from being on all the time.

Yeah I'm one of those guys who added thermal to the heatpipes of the 29 where it didn't touch the case in spots. The bottom of the computer got even hotter. I was told that means all the heat is being sent away from the CPU and left it alone.

 

I remember that; there is a different thing altogether. You're not putting the goose grease where it will come in contact with the thermal pad material, you're putting it somewhere it's actually conducting more heat over a larger area. That has to be an improvement, and no worries about chemical reactivity.

mnem
I keep thinking I want to try peltiers on a ToughBook...

 

Well, I contacted Panasonic by e-mail and was told the CF-28M used paste, not a pad. So which is it, pads or paste?

 

It's been a long while , but here go's

No paste on the fully rugged models

When the base is removed it contains the heat-pipe assembly
There is a large 1" x 4" or so thermal tape (pad) attached to either the heat-pipe assembly or it's left on the exposed processers

Someone correct me if i'm wrong ,it's been years since I have had a cf-28 apart

 

Tomcat is correct..... I never really worried about the thermal pads on the CF-28 as they seemed kind of slimy and were easily removed.

The CF-29s are slightly different story. They use the thicker thermal squares and tend to dry out more. On these, if they are really trashed, they should be replaced. If they are in fair shape I use Arctic Silver Ceramique or plain Arctic Silver. Both work well.

 

I always use the thermal pad from CF-28 toughbook as the perfect replacement for CF-29 by just cutting the right size. I accumulated this pad from cf-28 carcasses from the past and thinking that maybe it has use for future and her it is. Its perfect and it doesn't turn into pieces as it is towel..te type.

ohlip

 

Teo.... You do double it up don't you? The CF-28 pads are about 1/2 the thickness of the CF-29s IIRC....

 

Yes, Rick! two layer and I think its the best alternative. I will start selling it on ebay...j/k



ohlip

 

I just spoke with Panasonic again. This time they're telling me that my CF-28M uses a thin copper sheet, not a thermal pad or thermal paste! I've got people telling me to use everything from pad's to dog poo...........................

 

http://amd751.ru/files/cf-28techmanual.pdf

Note K130 and K131

One is the pad we talk about , the other is the metal heatspreader that the pad sits on
Best to take a pic ,and post
Sounds like the thermal pad is missing on your unit

 

Where can I get this pad?

 

Here is a thread where we talk about this pad
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/247741-cf-28-motherboard-question.html

Hearlands is most likely going to give you the run around when you give them the part number , as it probably has an updated number now
Teo or Rick might suggest using an cf-29 type aftermarket type,we have had lots of posts on thermal pads lately
Or one of the regulars might remember the thread locations
A pic would be nice to confirm

 

Actually, Alex -

There are more thermal pads in this manual at K70, K71 & K72; K73 is the heatpipe itself and K131 is the aluminum plate at the top side of the CPU. Remember, the CPU & MB are sandwiched between the plate & heatpipe & case halves; so there are thermal pads on top of the CPU, GPU & NorthBridge(Chipset) processor, but also under the MB at the CPU.

On mine the long thin grey pad under the plate was fine; it is made of the fiber reinforced material. However, the one under the CPU, on the bottom of the MB at the heat pipe, was the soft red stuff that was all cracked and mushy.

I scraped it all up (being careful not to include any dirt) with an old credit card and rolled it up into a ball like I suggested; then when it all went back together, I just put it back under the CPU. It's been cool as a cucumber for 3 years now, so I'm going to go by my empirical evidence & say it works.

mnem
The pooky goes RIGHT THERE...

 

O'kay, I'm an idiot. What and where is this K70 through K73 your talking about? I cant find it in the manual tomcat sent me....................

 

Fig 8-2, 8-3, 8-4.

mnem
Exploded.

 

As I have said a couple of times
A pic would be nice, that way we are pointing you to the right parts

 

?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/512706-cf-29-cooling-mods.html

There was like 2 more but this was the 1st bookmarked one I have besides faq and sata swap.


If someone beats me to it it was a frozencpu.com pad correct?

 

This is a cf 28 not cf 29. They use a different thickness of pad.

 

Here are some low res exploded pix.

 

Thanks I didn't look on the bottom cabinet
There is the long type that I was commenting on in that pic
The long rubber pad
Good old K71
DFMY0276ZA RUBBER, HEAT PIPE
Its even a current part #
DFMY0276ZA HEAT SINK around $9.31

 

Screwed up quote... was going off of this. Another quote farther up the chain of post was also saying double up on them due to gap differences.

 

For the archives or whatever. CF-28Metc.
1. Old Thermal Pad .5 metrics (or what-ever they call them)
2. Old thermal pad in place.
3. Opposite side.
Had some Fujipoly in .5 and replaced the old pad.
FWIW

Jeff

 

I stumbled across this page and thought of mnem's peanut butter.
It's a great and informative read.

Thermal Goop

 

That's right - Toothpaste Superior To Arctic Silver 3! Film At Eleven!

Heh.

mnem
ITYS.

 

Ya ta hey,
Very informative and enjoyable read. This guy writes like I think. Loved it immensely.

Thank you.