Repasting GPU and CPU

I´m most likely going to be purchasing the np8230, and I´m wondering if I should order it with the IC diamound thermal compound paste, or paste it myself? Also, I´ve heard various people say that even if they do paste it one should repaste....is this really recommended? Also how do I go about pasting?

 

My came as standard but repasted anyway in the end.

 

It is generally not absolutely necessary to repaste, however, a repaste might help decrease temperatures by a small degree (3 to 5C when under load) since stock paste might be applied incorrectly or has inferior thermal qualities compared to IC Diamond or Arctic Silver. The reason people tend to choose to get stock paste instead of paying for it already applied is because it's fairly cheap to get a tube of thermal paste which saves the ~$30 that you would pay to get it done by the manufacturer.
If you aren't comfortable going through the internals yourself (even though Clevo laptops have very user accessible components), it's simpler to just order with.

If you DIY:
How to apply the paste really depends on what paste you order. There are specific instructions on how to paste, but the general rule of thumb is just use enough paste to cover the entire contact patch as too much will actually be detrimental to heat transfer. For IC diamond, you generally use the 'pea' method and simply put a small blob of the paste on the center of the processor/GPU surface and let the heat sink spread the paste out purely by pressure.
However, given that Core i7 mobile processors have their die exposed rather than having the desktop style square IHS surface, the contact surface is long rectangular -- thus the paste might not spread completely edge to edge and/or will be too much along the width and overflow over the edges. For this, I applied a thin line of paste along the center of the CPU instead of a single blob.

Before applying any paste, make sure that you wipe away the original paste on both the heat sink surfaces and the CPU and GPU contact patches. Preferably use a lint free cloth so that no lint is left over after cleaning. You can use a high concentration isopropyl alcohol (such as 70%) to assist in cleaning the surfaces nice and clean before application. Be careful not to spill/get it on nearby motherboard components (never know what impurities will be in the alcohol and ruin the board).

 

I also repaste mine every year any way, rather be on the safe side with everything. Especially if you drive the system hard.

 

I also have a question, how do you guys apply the paste? I pasted mine as a dot and let it spread over time. Is that okay?

 

It's not spread over time but the force of the heatsink pressure, I usually push a little on the middle while screwing in to ensure it spreads well.

 

Thanks for the info. I did tighten the screw but not that hard. Will that affect the temps? The more your tighten it the cooler it will be?

 

The closer and flatter the copper of the heatsink is to the chip, the shorter the distance of heat transfer and the better the heat will flow from the chip to the cooler. It's based off the fundamental equation for heat transfer:

 

Great instructions of IC Diamond here Application

 

Great! Thanks for the link.

 

For the small upgrade fee i'd personally just have it done.