Question Thermal Paste Suggestions for MSI GF63 Thin 11UC

[mymercedesisntfast]

MSI GF63 Thin 11UC
i5 11400H
RTX 3050 4GB
16GB RAM.

Hi everyone, so i've been using this laptop which has the specs mentioned above, It's been almost a year since i had the laptop, temp seems higher than before. Averaging at 70-85c when playing games, need suggestion on what thermal paste i should use since it's gonna be my first time changing a thermal paste.

This laptop has only one fan, so good thermal paste is required.

Any suggestion would be appreciated
Thanks!

 

[Aeacus]

Take your pick: https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-thermal-paste

Personally, i prefer Arctic MX-4 (in use for my build). Arctic MX-5 is also good. While the latest Arctic MX-6 is quite a bit thicker than MX-4.

 

[mymercedesisntfast]

While the latest Arctic MX-6 is quite a bit thicker than MX-4.

Thanks for the reply! , oh and does thicker means better?

 

[Aeacus]

oh and does thicker means better?

Depends on the use case.

Thicker paste needs higher contact pressure for it to be spread out better and e.g MX-6 is so thick, that you can not spread it with spatula.
MX-6 specs: https://www.arctic.de/en/MX-6/ACTCP00080A

But on the flip side, ticker paste also means that it won't sweep out that easily between IHS and cold plate, smearing up the PCB. (If you don't put too much of it, that is.)
Also, i don't use spatula or similar to spread the thermal paste. Instead and for CPU, i'd put small pea sized blob in the middle and use CPU cooler weight + screwing in screws in X pattern to spread the paste.

But if thermal paste is too thin and easily flowing, you can smear everything before you can even get the cold plate in place.

So, best to use middle viscosity paste if you're unsure.

And here's nice video about how much you should apply on normal CPU:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWVVTY63hc

laptop

Since you have a laptop, are you sure that you even need thermal paste for it? 🤔 Since laptops often use thermal pads to connect different heat sources to one, single, big heatsink. E.g similar to dedicated GPUs, where GPU die has thermal paste, but memory modules have thermal pad, to connect them to GPU cooler cold plate.