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Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:45 pm
by kode-niner
Hey folks. I can finally use my MK5 regularly now. When I bought this a short while ago, temperatures would regularly soar towards boiling point when CPU was working hard so I tried not to use it too often. During a recent heat wave the thing would actually shut down on me. I've read a lot on the subject and it didn't take much thought into figuring out what to do. Naturally I ordered some new pads.

This leads me to my first mistake. I cracked the case open, remove the crumbly mess from the old thermal pads and installed the new stuff. What I didn't do was properly clean the chips and once I put everything back together, temperatures were only marginally better. I was still getting temps in the nineties during stress tests, so I guess I did a botched job and had to redo it properly. Thirty minutes ago I did just that; I polished the CPU and GPU chips until they actually shined and thoroughly cleaned the heat sink on the bottom panel for good measure. Now a 10 minute CPU stress test brings the temperature in the eighties and idles in low fifties, upper forties. What I don't see anymore are spikes where it shoots up in high nineties by merely launching an application. It's a lot more even-handed.

Moral of the story is: do a clean job, berk. :rolleyes:

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:24 pm
by Shawn
Bravo..........

For finding your error and correcting it......and ADMITTING you made a mistake.

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:36 pm
by kode-niner
Heh. Bravo for being in a hurry and making an obvious mistake? :pat:

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:37 pm
by toughasnails
I learned a long time ago, taking your time is always faster :rolleyes:

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:43 am
by kode-niner
toughasnails wrote:I learned a long time ago, taking your time is always faster :rolleyes:
Well then I've just had my "The Tortoise and the Hare" moment.

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:48 am
by Shawn
Every time I look in the mirror I have a hair moment.

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:08 am
by EdFromBJCS
Shawn wrote:Every time I look in the mirror I have a hair moment.
Just like Fonzie, right?

Image

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:57 am
by kode-niner
Mwahaha, my hair moment consists of shaving my ears.

Has anyone ever tried using copper shims?

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:34 am
by Shawn
kode-niner wrote:Mwahaha, my hair moment consists of shaving my ears.

Has anyone ever tried using copper shims?
To shave your ears?


Copper shims won't work properly on a Toughbook. Ya gotta buy the good thermal pads.
Frozencpu.com

Re: Thermal pad replacement. Do it right.

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 10:37 am
by kode-niner
Shawn wrote:
kode-niner wrote:Mwahaha, my hair moment consists of shaving my ears.

Has anyone ever tried using copper shims?
To shave your ears?


Copper shims won't work properly on a Toughbook. Ya gotta buy the good thermal pads.
Frozencpu.com
That certain age when the only thing that doesn't slow down is the rate at which nose and ear hairs grow.

I was wondering about copper shims because I have a few at 1.5mm thickness around here somewhere. I remember them having a ridiculous thermal conductivity of 300 w/mk or something.