Thermal Paste / Compound

[Rapid_Sausage]

Hello everyone.

I've had this god forsaken M17x R4 withe the GTX 675M for about 20 months, and during that time i had to replace the gpu TWICE (meaning i'm using the THIRD gpu), first time was due to a short circuit caused by improper assembly by dell, the second time was because the thermal compound (which apparently is the worst quality compound Dell could find) had dried out and shrunken, providing less thermal conductivity and eventually overheating components.

Now i'm very paranoid, i don't know how often i should reapply that compound, and i don't know if it'll be available when i want it, and it's been three months since they last reapplied the purple paste (not the green one).

I always monitor my temperatures, but that's the thing, my temperatures are normal all the time, and despite that, parts of the gpu go bad and cause it to crash, so i'm a bit skeptical about using temperatures as a point of reference.

So, what i wanna know is, how often should i be reapplying the thermal compound to my gpu, taking into consideration that i use the laptop for extended periods of gaming (4-6 hours) and work almost everyday??

note: the thermal compound they use on my card is a rectangular purple sponge-like strip, and in other parts it's thinner green strips.

 

[AeonSoul]

Those strips are the thermal pads, not the thermal paste. The thermal paste sits right inbetween the GPU and the heatsink. Usually I'd say if no major problem arises you could re-paste every couple of years, just to be sure.

 

[Rapid_Sausage]

Those strips are the thermal pads, not the thermal paste. The thermal paste sits right inbetween the GPU and the heatsink. Usually I'd say if no major problem arises you could re-paste every couple of years, just to be sure.

The thing is, these "pads" are the only thing that sits between the gpu and the heatsink, and it was the only thing that they reapply when they put in a new gpu, plus the last time the gpu got busted, the purple pad was dried up.

So where exactly is the thermal paste in this mess??, and should I be extra careful and reapply it every 4 months?? (The second card lasted only 7 months)

 

[AeonSoul]

You might want to check these video out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vEk_ZFAzLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITj5XV7XimU

The paste should be applied on the GPU die, which is that rectangular/square part kind of popping out in the middle of the GPU card.

 

[Rapid_Sausage]

You might want to check these video out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vEk_ZFAzLI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITj5XV7XimU

The paste should be applied on the GPU die, which is that rectangular/square part kind of popping out in the middle of the GPU card.

I'd do all this myself if I had access to thermal paste, but I dont know if they renwed the paste the last time I went to a dell branch.

Should I be concerned?

 

[AeonSoul]

Dunno what's the whole point is, but you can alwats buy some thermal paste and clean the old one off and apply the new one yourself.

 

[Rapid_Sausage]

Dunno what's the whole point is, but you can alwats buy some thermal paste and clean the old one off and apply the new one yourself.

I meant "I don't have access to thermal paste" as In "there's no one i know whom I can buy from"

edit: to elaborate a bit more, the last time i went to a dell branch was to replace my dead gpu, now i don't know if dell sent in thermal paste and pads with the new card or not, but what i know for sure is that the purple pads were replaced, the green ones were the old ones, and as for the thermal paste on the gpu die (big square in the middle) i don't know if they renewed the paste on it or not, but the temps i'm getting are the same as ever since i bought the laptop, what i'm asking is, should i worry myself in case the paste on the gpu die wasn't renewed??

 

[AeonSoul]

If they replaced the GPU it's highly unlikely that they didn't put new paste on the GPU die. As far as I know, beside the fact that would be stupid, there's no way to re-use some already applied paste.

Anyhow, if you still want to re-paste it yourself, you can always buy some off the internet y'know.

 

[Rapid_Sausage]

If they replaced the GPU it's highly unlikely that they didn't put new paste on the GPU die. As far as I know, beside the fact that would be stupid, there's no way to re-use some already applied paste.

Anyhow, if you still want to re-paste it yourself, you can always buy some off the internet y'know.

Alright, thanks for your reply.
If you don't mind, will you recommend me some quality thermal paste and where to order it online (international shipping)??, cuz I'm new to this whole process.

 

[AeonSoul]

frozencpu.com has alot of products.

I'd go for ic diamond 7, but right now im using dimastech htx ee which is also nice.

 

[Rapid_Sausage]

frozencpu.com has alot of products.

I'd go for ic diamond 7, but right now im using dimastech htx ee which is also nice.

just a final question.
i'm pretty sure the people at dell didn't use thermal PASTE, but instead use thermal pads, now i've never done a repasting myself before, and certainly not a laptop or a gpu.

so i wanna make sure, are there any words of caution when applying thermal paste on my specific laptop's gpu? (m17x r4 with GTX 675m)

 

[AeonSoul]

Be assured, without thermal paste your GPU would die in about 5 minutes, you can't skip that part of the process.

Just be careful in cleaning and removing the old paste both from the GPU and the heatsink with some rubbing alcohol and you should be ok.

 

[BrokeHombre]

Here is a link to a you tube video demonstrating how to apply thermal paste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuMcVpUSuBA