[SOLVED] Expert help needed about repasting laptop cpu!

[NightHawkRMX]

Hello and thanks for your time! I have question about reapplying thermal paste to an older laptop. I have a Toshiba Satellite L55-A laptop that i am using for a Windows XP retro gaming system.
It has a Core I5 3337u 2c/4t CPU and an adequate cooler design with 1 copper heatpipe and 1 fan. The laptop sits in a desk drawer that is typically closed under my monitor, however i don't think airflow is an issue.
I recently opened it to install an SSD and i discovered that there was only a small amount of dust in this laptop. I had dusted this laptop about a year ago, and I wasn't surprised to find little dust in it since it hasn't been used much for awhile.
Running Prime 95 v29.4 and monitoring CPU in HW monitor, the CPU reaches about 83-84c and turbos to 2.5-2.7ghz. Opening the drawer the laptop sits in doesn't change the temperatures at all or a small amount (maybe 1 degree) so airflow is not a restriction. Older games do cause the fan to spin, but i doubt temps are very high as the CPU isn't stresses much. I am aware 84 degrees will keep my CPU at full turbo and isn't particularly dangerous, however I would like to quiet the fan noise and bring the temps down a bit. I doubt the paste has been changes since it was made in mide 2013, so do you think a re-paste would help much even though the temps arent too high?

 

[jojesa]

New thermal compound might help bring the system temps down a couple of degrees but that might not help with the fan noise.
The older those fans get the higher the sound.
You could try replacing the fan and that could help to lower the sound a bit.

 

[maziech]

I'm not an expert, but agree on that. First thermal paste. If it doesn't help - try replacing the fan, it's few $ probably.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Fans not that loud. Not like its faulty so im not going to replace it. I think ill repaste it tomorrow and see how that goes. Im hoping some alcohol and paper towels will work well enough for the very old paste.

 

[Bearmann]

Use the laptop for some minutes or run prime 95 to soften up the old paste before you try to remove the heatsink.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I have done this but i will do it some more tomorrow before trying to remove the paste. I might blast some of what little dust was in there out.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The repaste helped a lot. The old paste was quite hard but running prime 95 before removing the heat sync made the goo a bit easier to get off. After a dust and new "thermal paste" the temperatures hover around or below 70c in prime 95 running for a few minutes. I was out of arctic paste so i used toothpaste+petroleum jelly, which actually is better than you would expect: -15c and it doesnt harden. I have been running toothpaste+petroleum jelly an another older laptop for abour 1.5 years and it hasn't hardned like you would expect, although the laptop only sees occasional use.

 

[jojesa]

If it does the job. Great!
Toothpaste+petroleum jelly...who knew?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yea. Oddly enough it is much better than old paste, but not quite as good as a new paste. Cleans off easy and doesn't dry up a lot.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Linux tech tips did a video on this a bit after i repasted the laptop and it showed it as a decent alternative.

 

[jojesa]

I am going to try it on a Dell Latitude laptop.
I will go with a plain low abrasion toothpaste.
I have Crest MultiCare which I have used to remove stuck compound and sand the CPU lid.
I don't think that will do.
Which one did you used?
I do have compound, but just want to see the difference in cooling performance.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Ill have to check. I believe i used off brand petroleum jelly and toothpaste without baking soda. I used a laptop with no ihs, which is most common i guess.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

From what i gather the toothpaste is thermally conductive and the petroleum jelly is just to keep the paste from hardening up. I used 2 parts toothpaste to 1 part petroleum jelly mixed together well.