P170EM PCH Cooling with photos

my PCH stock temperature values were 90-94 * C
idle 65-75*C
with 980M video card under it max temps 89*C (the 980m not the pch)

obviously these are not OK temperatures to spread through the system


do this mod to lower your MAX PCH temps to 73*C idle 50*C


measure and cut for hole above PCH to keyboard
years of use you will see the burn mark on the plastic anyways...just cut that out


thermal paste the PCH with thin 0.5mm copper plate less than 28x28mm.
mine were 15x15mm
the PCH die size is 10x10mm
the package size is 28x28mm (the green pcb)
you can find these dimensions and reference heatsink designs on the internet...

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/w...7-series-chipset-pch-thermal-design-guide.pdf
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/w...datasheets/7-series-chipset-pch-datasheet.pdf
http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/612/7-series-chipset-pch-spec-update-257611.pdf







clean the die area
thermal paste and copper sink installed with top cover replaced



i put 3x 1mm thermal pads on the copper plate and set the keyboard on it



2 thermal pads sit just below the surface of the plastic
3 thermal pads is about 0.5mm above the surface for compression and contact the metal keyboard plate


reminder
STOCK -- 94*C max temperatures
MOD - 73*C max temperatures



****NOTE****

new temperatures on the PCH are valued with a 1060m
this mod occured at the same time as upgrading GPU
previously using 980m.




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good job=)

 

My mod looks similar.

 

i have some of those ramsinks ^ i considered using that also

 

I did something similar on the on the P375SM-A, I just stacked like 5mm of thermal pads in a pyramid shape with smallest area at PCH and largest at contact with keyboard on top of each other in between the keyboard and the PCH to use the keyboard as one giant heatsink. At the beginning I thought it wouldn't make a difference since 5mm of thermal pads is just way too much. To my surprise my PCH temps never break 65C at the heaviest of loads. I also don't feel any heat on the keyboard.

You can try to do the same to avoid having the thermal paste and copper shim part. Because thermal paste will need to be reapplied from time to time, while thermal pads will simply stay forever with zero maintenance.

 

Thermal pads(like 5mm) under heavy load start to sweat. During modifying, do not forget about the electrical conductivity guys!

 

Yeah I was worried about that too especially when someone fried a conductor of a GPU because of pads sweat. That's why I used a cheapo very dry and hard pads made by ARCTIC. I checked after some very long heavy sessions and they were super dry.

 

Silicon oil in the cheap ones is not conductive. Looks messy but is harmless.

I have done similar 'thermal pad on pch using keyboard as heatsink' mods on P870DM and P370EM. The P870DM would get hot to the point of blackscreen crash. It had a black painted flat aluminium plate screwed on to it... Not sure if it was supposed to be a heatsink but it did nothing.

The only downside to these mods is the minor heat bleed through the keyboard. At least it's nowhere near the WASD keys.