P170HM pasting

I'm thinking of repasting the GPU/CPU or maybe only the GPU myself however I've never done it before and I'm wondering if there is a guide around to follow.
I'm really looking to do this myself as getting someone from a PC store to repaste is really expensive.

Is it difficult? Can alot of stuff go wrong?

 

its been a couple years since i pasted anything, but i used to do it all the time. Its pretty easy. The two things you want to be sure of is first, make sure you have no bubbles or gaps. a trapped bubble with no paste in it will expand when things heat up and make conduction worse, not better. and second, keep the paste layer thin. The thinner the layer the better the heat conduction as paste is an insulator (though less so then having no paste, or junk paste).

These two can sometime be contrary to each other. but seriously.. it isnt all that hard. And when its done monitor the temps. If they seem too high, the best part is you can do it all again. There is usually way more paste then you need when you buy it.

 

Arctic Silver lists a great set of instructions on their website. I bought a bottle of 99.9% Isopropyl alcohol (not the regular drug store crap) at my local custom computer shop and some Goo Gone adhesive remover at Home Depot to do the job. They also recommend a lint free cloth, and I had some extra coffee filters so I used one of those.

Get the .pdf http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v1.1.pdf

 

I had never opened a laptop before, but it took me at most 30 minutes to repaste my p150hm. I don't know if the p170hm and p150hm are exactly the same, but all it took was 4 screws to remove the cover, 4 screws to remove the heatsink over the gpu, and 4 screws to remove the heatsink over the cpu.

I used IC diamond 7 because it had good reviews as one of the best non-conductive pastes (less of a chance to mess stuff up). There were liquid metal pastes that had much better results according to reviews, but since this was my first time pasting I wanted to be on the safe side. I also purchased some thermal paste cleaning liquid along with the IC Diamond 7 from Amazon.

As for the actual application and removal.... To remove the paste just put a few drops of your thermal paste remover and wait a few seconds. Then just scoop it up with a paper towel or coffee filter, and make sure to also do this for the heatsinks. For IC Diamond 7, you just need to put a drop on the CPU/GPU and then put the heatsink back on (don't spread the compound). Here's a good link that shows how you should apply IC Diamond 7: Application

 

Please do NOT use a paper towel - they are lint machines! Cotton "diaper clothes" found in the automotive cleaning section are another good alternative and are dirt cheap (ie: 3 pack for $3 at WalMart).

First time I removed a cpu from a laptop, it wouldn't turn on after. Freaked out, then realized I forgot to turn the tightening screw that half turn after I reinstalled the chip. Had to pull everything to get back to it, but no damae done. Just don't be an idiot. Think things through before hand and you'll be fine.

 

Thank you. I might try that with a cofee filter.