[SOLVED] Replacing my laptop's thermal paste on the CPU

[JQB45]

Are there any TIM (thermal interface material aka thermal paste) products you would recommend for replacing laptop CPU thermal paste and would you recommend different product for a desktop CPU vs a laptop CPU?

I have an old AMD A4-3300M (new 07/2011) and AMD A8-4500M (purchased refurbished 02-2013), both need disassembled, cleaned, etc. And since I will be taking them apart anyways I am going to replace the thermal paste and I needed product recommendations and any other tips you all may have. Especially, on how its done differently vs. a desktop.

 

[Eximo]

There is no difference. Just depends on how much you want to spend on the compound.

My standard recommendation for a general purpose compound is Arctic MX-4. Works on GPUs, CPUs, and all types of coolers, and is a non-curing type. Not too expensive either.

If you want the best possible, something like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is the common recommendation. Though pastes like IC Diamond, from Noctua, Swiftech, Gelid, etc all have high end compounds you can use.

High end pastes are usually fairly thin and work best with extremely smooth or plated surfaces. I like Arctic MX-4 because it is a bit thicker and can be used to fill in gaps in things like direct contact heat pipes (which are somewhat common in laptops)