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Prebuilts and clump thermal paste

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I just was wondering if any of you have dealt with this I just bought a new laptop and I notice, this damn things Idling at 60C, ignored it, then shut down right after i saw it and started vindictus for the first time, I have seen this on old well used laptops and desktops but god damn, this is a new computer, I opened it up the thermal paste was hard as a rock and barely touching and this is an acer, not a compaq or something, change it with some MX-2 the temps dropped to 35C idle, WTF, is this how alot of prebuilts come now, this shit is getting old quick.
 

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Usually the factory application of themal paste is pretty shitty, but damn man, that sounds really bad. Usually you drop a few degrees, not 25.
 
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I just was wondering if any of you have dealt with this I just bought a new laptop and I notice, this damn things Idling at 60C, ignored it, then shut down right after i saw it and started vindictus for the first time, I have seen this on old well used laptops and desktops but god damn, this is a new computer, I opened it up the thermal paste was hard as a rock and barely touching and this is an acer, not a compaq or something, change it with some MX-2 the temps dropped to 35C idle, WTF, is this how alot of prebuilts come now, this shit is getting old quick.

You should see how the xbox 360 thermal paste is applied from factory. Its a shame they dont care about things like this anymore.
 

hat

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Oh my... maybe if they would spend the extra couple pennies to do it right, they wouldn't have billions of 360s being returned for RROD.
 
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don't even want to think about the 360's, I had one RROD, did the Xclamp mod and when I took the cpu heatsink up, I don't know how it got there, but there was a piece of hair in that rock hard gray fail thermal paste microsoft uses, took hours to get that crap off.

not joking either.
 
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I remember when I fixed my first 360 it had thermal paste everywhere and like you said it was rock hard and a PITA to remove. I found that electrical contact cleaner works well but still a PITA to get it squeaky clean. Cant believe computer manufactures are this careless too. :confused:
 
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Yeah, I find that crap in laptops a lot, found it in my old Xbox too.

I normally get a 7*C - 15*C drop by changing the thermal paste to MX-2.
 

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buy arcticlean, removes that hard, shitty thermal goop.
 
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Why don't all prebuilt systems use preapplied pads like intel? That way they don't have increased labor costs by making them spend more time on the application, and it will guarantee consistency in thermal performance saving hardware and increasing accuracy of failure rate predictions.
 

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Why don't all prebuilt systems use preapplied pads like intel? That way they don't have increased labor costs by making them spend more time on the application, and it will guarantee consistency in thermal performance saving hardware and increasing accuracy of failure rate predictions.

no one knows. my guess is that these people get passed a spec 'X method with Y amount of substance Z is sufficient' and they just adhere to that.

sure they could go above spec and save themselves tons of hassle down the road, but if they've got a guarantee that minimum spec cuts the mustard, they get to sue if it doesnt.
hardware manufs (say, IBM with the 360 CPU) dont want to give them a rigid set of specs to adhere to, because then it would cost more money (even if only a small amount more) to get the systems setup for initial sale.
 

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I've been thinking of changing the thermal paste in my laptop as well. In what manner do you guys apply thermal paste when replacing the stock stuff in your laptop?
I was wondering since there are many ways to apply thermal paste on things like a GPU and cpu, some of which include spreading and flattening the paste or simply letting the pressure from the cooler spread the paste.
 

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I've been thinking of changing the thermal paste in my laptop as well. In what manner do you guys apply thermal paste when replacing the stock stuff in your laptop?
I was wondering since there are many ways to apply thermal paste on things like a GPU and cpu, some of which include spreading and flattening the paste or simply letting the pressure from the cooler spread the paste.

if its a small area (no heatspreader) then use a glove/plastic bag over your finger and spread the paste carefully and evenly. if its a large area, then put a blob in the middle and let the heatsink do the spreading - if it smears over the edges with this method, you used too much.
 

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Thanks for the quick response. I suppose I'll try changing the paste over the weekend. I hope this helps since the laptop is one of those 17 inch behemoths which produce a lot of heat. :(
Edit: And I assume just like with a desktop, one should use Isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the thermal paste if needed?
 

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Thanks for the quick response. I suppose I'll try changing the paste over the weekend. I hope this helps since the laptop is one of those 17 inch behemoths which produce a lot of heat. :(
Edit: And I assume just like with a desktop, one should use Isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the thermal paste if needed?

the alcohol can work well, more so that it evaporates and doesnt leave a residue.

i prefer arcticlean, its unbeatable for cleaning up thermal paste - even the rock hard stuff.
 
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the alcohol can work well, more so that it evaporates and doesnt leave a residue.

i prefer arcticlean, its unbeatable for cleaning up thermal paste - even the rock hard stuff.

+1 for arcticlean, been using it since my first custom build. Makes cleaning so much easier
 

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No offense to the above honorable posters but **** articlean. I absolutely loathe anything that comes in a tiny bottle (especially two tiny bottles) and costs more than two bits.

IMO buy Goof-Off (standard can NOT citrus based) from any hardware store. It's a lifetime supply for the same price of articlean and it can be used for half a million other things.

Dip a cotton swab into the can then dab the CPU IHS. Finally wipe clean with cotton swab or lint-free cloth. Rinse and repeat until all the old TIM is off. (If it takes more than two minutes I'd be stunned.)

I usually do a final round of wiping with 91% isopropyl and then air dry for the cherry on top.
 

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Just took apart the laptop, took several hours to get to the bare motherboard. Now that I have it apart, it does not appear that there is any thermal paste on the Graphics chip?
Should I go ahead and put MX-2 on it?
I will upload a picture in a few minutes..
 

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Yeah, I find that crap in laptops a lot, found it in my old Xbox too.

I normally get a 7*C - 15*C drop by changing the thermal paste to MX-2.

I took the cooler of my gtx260 and replaced the stock thermal goop with MX-2. Suprisingly, there was very little temperature change.
 

dude120

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Here are the picture of the mobo, cooler, and graphics chip.
Notice there is no thermal paste of any sort on the cooler in the second picture.
Is this normal or should I apply mx-2?
 

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I took the cooler of my gtx260 and replaced the stock thermal goop with MX-2. Suprisingly, there was very little temperature change.

Graphics cards are normally fine. Depending on the brand.
 
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the alcohol can work well, more so that it evaporates and doesnt leave a residue.

i prefer arcticlean, its unbeatable for cleaning up thermal paste - even the rock hard stuff.

Thanks, I added this to my eWiz cart. Was about to pick up a fan & some MX-2 anyway.
 

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No offense to the above honorable posters but **** articlean. I absolutely loathe anything that comes in a tiny bottle (especially two tiny bottles) and costs more than two bits.

IMO buy Goof-Off (standard can NOT citrus based) from any hardware store. It's a lifetime supply for the same price of articlean and it can be used for half a million other things.

Dip a cotton swab into the can then dab the CPU IHS. Finally wipe clean with cotton swab or lint-free cloth. Rinse and repeat until all the old TIM is off. (If it takes more than two minutes I'd be stunned.)

I usually do a final round of wiping with 91% isopropyl and then air dry for the cherry on top.

i bought one of the large arcticlean kits (two large bottles) and its lasted me nearly 3 years. the small bottles are all that 'average joe' is going to need... and goof off is certainly not available worldwide, whereas arcticlean is.
 
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Personally, I use and recommend isopropyl alcohol, you should be able to find some at your local chemist. It dries instantly.
 

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Personally, I use and recommend isopropyl alcohol, you should be able to find some at your local chemist. It dries instantly.

just to back up my point about availability before... you cant buy alcohol like that here in Au. certain minority groups used to drink it and die a lot, so they had to add impurities to make you puke it right back up - and those impurities mean you're not cleaning the CPU/GPU properly (leaves a residue behind)
 
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Case Lian Li PC-B25F
Audio Device(s) N/A
Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower 700w
Software Windows 7 64-bit
just to back up my point about availability before... you cant buy alcohol like that here in Au. certain minority groups used to drink it and die a lot, so they had to add impurities to make you puke it right back up - and those impurities mean you're not cleaning the CPU/GPU properly (leaves a residue behind)

I can get isopropyl alcohol in Spain, but in Ireland they had to add those same impurities and bright blue and red dyes to basically everything...
 
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