Thermal Grease/Paste in a Laptop?

AbsoluteZero

Hey there.

So I'm about to do my semi-annual deep clean of my laptop. I figured while I was in there I might just throw some thermal grease/paste on the processor. Right now the job is being done by a square of what I assume is thermal tape, which is surprisingly thick.

Is there any reason I shouldn't do this?

Concerns I have:

1) Thermal grease/paste may leak out onto other components due to laptop being moved frequently. Could cause a possible short with something like Arctic Silver 5 if it were to get into the wrong place.

2) Surprisingly thick thermal tape has been in there for years and it seems possible to me that by now it has bent the heat sink in such a way that there is now a gap there that thermal grease could never fill while staying in place and providing more efficient heat transfer.

Thoughts?

mspencer

What sort of heat problem are you looking to solve? Can you describe the symptoms?

If none, you shouldn't risk damage by messing with it unless you're extremely hungry for experience monkeying with computer hardware or the computer is extremely expendable.

AbsoluteZero

I could buy a new laptop if I destroyed it. It doesn't necessarily mean I want to destroy it.

A year and change ago I replaced the CPU in it with a 2.0GHZ Core 2 Duo and bumped it up to 4GB of ram. Ever since this puppy has run hot. I'm not expecting it to suddenly feel comfortable on my lap, but I would like to reduce the strain on the machine a bit.

Also monkeying with computer hardware is fun.

darkmayo

Yes, yes it is fun to muck with computer hardware.


You should be fine with arctic silver, you dont need to slather the cpu/heatsink with it the pressure of the heatsink against the cpu should squish it to cover the area you need and grease doesnt really move around once its applied and squished and arctic silver is a shitty electric conductor.

tho your mention of a gap/bend in the heat sink is curious, can you take a picture of it?

AbsoluteZero

I'm not 100% that there actually is a gap, as it would be a seriously tiny gap. But there should be no gap, the heat sink should touch the processor directly if I don't put any kind of thermal paste/grease/glue in there.

As such, I can't really take a picture of it, and I'm not sure how I would test for the presence of said gap... It may require some monkeying.

That said... I'm considering either Arctic Silver 5, or Arctic Silver Ceramique. The latter due to being non conductive and being reputable for staying put.

desdinova

Silver 5 is practically dielectric. You have to have a pretty tricky line-up of circumstances to get in trouble with it.
Anyway, hell yeah go nuts. Some laptops have no, or wholly inadequate (HP DVs, looking at you), thermal conduction solutions. I've also used Al and Cu shims on some machines (again, DVs!).
gl, hf, dd

illig

you should spread the correct amount of heatsink compound, install the heatsink, and then take it back off... see if there's a uniform square transferred onto the surface which didn't have any grease on it... if yes, you're safe... if not, there's too much space between them

Seattle Thread

Thermal paste is just intended to fill the microscopic pits that processors and heatsinks have on their respective surfaces. Just use a very thin layer--mind that you have a latex glove or cover your finger in seran wrap... skin oil in the mix is no good--and you'll be fine.

TychoCelchuuu

I would also like to point out that better heat conduction is probably going to make it feel hotter on your lap, because the heat will transfer off of the chip more efficiently.

JWFokker

I'd stick with Ceramique. There really hasn't been much progress made in the way of thermal interface materials since AS5 and Ceramique hit the market. It's all been very incremental.

Considering that AS5 and Ceramique are almost equal in thermal conductivity, I'd use Ceramique to be on the safe side.

AbsoluteZero

Okay so it had been a while since I'd taken it apart to have a look so I did today... and did some dusting while I was in there... anyways...



Two chunks of thermal tape and... wtf is that? I don't remember that being the thermal interface between the heat sink and the processor, i could have swore it was just another chunk of thermal tape.

Thoughts? It seems like a thin piece of aluminum but it's obviously left residue on the processor. What is it and how do I get rid of it?

JWFokker

It's metal foil. It's used on a lot of processors that put off too much heat for thermal tape to work. The Xbox 360 makes use of it, or did last I checked, as well as many laptops. Unless it's a real low wattage processor, like those in netbooks, thermal tape is NOT going to cut it. The use of foil came about because it's easier to work with than any kind of paste when it comes to mass production.

AbsoluteZero

That's good to know. I honestly didn't know what the hell that was.

So... can I use some plastic tool to just scrape that shit off?