5 mniute mod to improving PCH cooling in P370SM

***This mod will work for the P370SM, P370SM3, P375SM, P377SM-A, as well as the P370EM. Unfortunately I don't think the P15xSM or P17xSM could benefit since the PCH is hidden under a piece of plastic support.***

This is so simple I hesitate to call it a mod, and it quite literally takes 5 minutes or less with a P370SM. (and probably likewise with the other P37xSM models and the P370EM)

In case you didn't know, the PCH chip is located under the keyboard in the P37xSM models. (see pics below)




As you can see, the PCH just quietly hides under the keyboard, with no access to air or ventilation of any sort. Because of this (and the high summer heat), my PCH would idle at 62°C, and could go up to 83°C when gaming! I wanted to do something about this, and since the keyboard backplate is solid metal (aluminum I guess), I figured why not bridge the gap between the PCH and the keyboard and use the keyboard as one giant heatsink.

So I used my caliper to measure the gap between the PCH die and the keyboard backplate, and it came in around 4.2mm. I figured 2x2.5mm thermal pads would do the job nicely:
(here I actually just used the square 2.5mm pads that go on the inductors from a spare 780M heatsink, they fit very nicely and the size was perfect)




Look at the nice impression the die makes in the stacked pads:



I didn't expect too much from this mod, since I'm stacking 2 thick, stock Clevo thermal pads, and the pressure isn't that high. But even with this rudimentary mod, the idle temp dropped by 7-8°C, and the temp maxed out at 73°C after an hour of playing Watch Dogs:



The keyboard did not feel any noticeably warmer, probably because the heat is concentrated between the "\" and "enter" keys. However I will say I don't know what the long term consequences for the keyboard would be, so do this at your own risk.

If you're really hardcore I suppose you could machine a custom copper block, solder that to the keyboard, and either use some thermal paste or a thermal pad to make fine contact with the PCH.

 

The chip is safe over 100c so while nice it was far away from the danger zone.

 

Good to know, but the lower the better amirite

Ironically, my Toshiba Satellite which does have active cooling for the PCH actually runs hotter than the PCH in my P370SM without any cooling. Granted the Satellite uses a single fan to cool the CPU, GPU, and PCH, but that's still quite something.

 

You will probably find the other chips heat the PCH, but that on the whole the temps are stable.

 

What are the temps for the PCH like in your P570WM? I know it's actively cooled but shares a heatsink with the 4930K so I'm assuming it probably runs a bit hotter but the temps are more stable.

 

The heatpipe runs direct to a heatsink so it's little different.

 

I wonder if the alternate method of putting a passive ramsink there would yield different results.

 

The keyboard is significantly bigger than a little ramsinks.

 

I had tried this mod sometimes ago , but i did feel a noticeably warmer keyboard, and when playing, it was a bit uncomfortable, so i made some research , according to the datasheet, Tjmax is 108°C ( catastrophic at 120)°,as i never saw my PCH above 95°C, and considering the fact that the PCH have a Thermal throttling ability....i don't care anymore about that temp

Elispus

 

If you really want to go nuts with this, machine a 14 x 14 x 4mm copper block, solder that to the keyboard, then add a 0.5mm or 1mm pad between the copper block and the PCH and call it a day. But given the info in this thread I think that would be way overkill, although it could be a fun mod to try if you have the time and resources.

 

Good point.

 

Of course you may warm your fingers a bit. Use a ramsink in summer and keyboard in winter?

 

^ha, productive use of heat as palm warmer in winter, me like.

Or switch to an external LCD + keyboard setup like me (and use the machine as a "true" DTR) and not worry about it.

 

I use a mechanical keyboard for the desk yes.

 

The PCH in my P170SM-A got to 108.5C so I did the same thing. Took more work though because I had to cut out the plastic. I removed the top case to do that. Since I have done this I have seen no more than 85C on the PCH. My keyboard is warmer too.