[SOLVED] HP Envy, unknown component with thermal paste

[barnyard80]

What is the highlighted component of an HP Envy 17 inch laptop?

It appears to have thermal paste/pad on it. It is not the GPU or CPU. It is attached (not shown) to a lot of metal (which includes the enclosure for 2 drives), which I assume is a passive heat sink.

I don't have any thermal pads and am wondering whether or not it is important to clean and reapply thermal paste before reassembling the laptop.

 

[boju]

Looks like from this vid the chip (probably the mainboards north or south chip, either one) uses the chassis cover to dissipate heat using thermal pad to fill the gap. Chip wouldn't get too hot id imagine but it's there for a reason. Id clean and apply fresh thermal paste.