changing thermal paste on timelinex 4820tg

[Vincent Sammel]

Hi

I just tore my laptop apart because it kept shutting down suddenly when applying graphical strain.
So I'm guessing overheating.
First I took apart the fan and it looked pretty decent - a few plastic ribs broken from the case vents might have been jamming it a bit but had very little dust and had a nice flow when running the laptop
So I figured I'd change the thermal paste on the cooling units since i already had the machine in pieces.
I'd feel safer with a few tips though...
1. The GPU has a thermal pad instead of paste - is it OK to swap it for paste?
2. Should I do something with the black stickers around the pasty bits?
3. Is it OK to clean the units with 40% vodka since I don't have the hard stuff?
I'll add the images of what it looks like after i took it apart:

 

[kapitalistas]

your that person jumps in the water and try LEARN to swim.lots of software monitor temperature too,any hardware in real time.

 

[Vincent Sammel]

your that person jumps in the water and try LEARN to swim.lots of software monitor temperature too,any hardware in real time.

I actually had SpeedFan running a couple of times to purpousfully see at what temps the crashes occur.
If it's of any significance, I'll post these here:
GPU temp - 70+°C
Temp1; Core0; Core1 - all at ~65+°C
HDD at a steady 35°C

What bugged me though was that it never showed my fan RPM - It was always 0 RPM even though it was definately running.

 

[Venom0120]

What thermal paste do you have? I have the Antec brand, with nanodiamonds, and I just dab less than a pea sized amount and the heatsink will smother it over the CPU once placed back in position. You should remove the prior thermal paste with a Qtip and rubbing alcohol, not vodka, beforehand though, before applying more thermal paste. As far as the heating pad, I just make sure never to break it when I remove my heatsink. However, it looks like yours was broken, so you should definitely replace it. If none are available, I guess you can use paste, but not sure on that one; I think I have seen people doing that. The temps are definitely high, but not crashing high. Then again, my Intel Pentium probably varies from yours. I use CoreTemp, and it shows the temperatures that are unbearable; it is beside Tj. Max, and is over a 100 degrees Celsius.

 

[Vincent Sammel]

What thermal paste do you have? I have the Antec brand, with nanodiamonds, and I just dab less than a pea sized amount and the heatsink will smother it over the CPU once placed back in position. You should remove the prior thermal paste with a Qtip and rubbing alcohol, not vodka, beforehand though, before applying more thermal paste. As far as the heating pad, I just make sure never to break it when I remove my heatsink. However, it looks like yours was broken, so you should definitely replace it. If none are available, I guess you can use paste, but not sure on that one; I think I have seen people doing that. The temps are definitely high, but not crashing high. Then again, my Intel Pentium probably varies from yours. I use CoreTemp, and it shows the temperatures that are unbearable; it is beside Tj. Max, and is over a 100 degrees Celsius.

Why is vodka bad for cleaning?
And what about those black square stickers on the heatsink - they've got some of that old thermal gunk underneath. Is it OK to get rid of the stickers entirely?
Anyway, this is the paste I've got. I don't know much about them but it was the only one they sold.
Deep Cool Z5

 

[mouse24]

Just don't use anything electrically conductive.