Help me choose ssd's and thermal pastes for my laptops

[majed.qutub]

Hello guys,

So I got 2 old laptops that got pretty slow and a bit hot.

I decided to both get them an ssd (I have to remove the old HDD to apply this), clean the dust inside them, and to reapply the old thermal paste with a newer and better one to eliminate heat and make them boot and run faster. I wont be making them the primary laptops, I just want them to store and run small documents and browse the internet smoothly.

My 2 laptops are:

1- HP 8470w
Here

2- Lenovo G40
Here


Since I want to go budget on this upgrade, I was initially going to get 2 (120gb) SSDs from the cheaper ones just enough to get the speed of an SSD over an HDD, and not the BEST SSD. then I thought about it that Windows gets a huge portion of the space, and figured I got to make space for future things. So I settled to get 2 (250gb) SSDs.

I thought about this SSD since it is not that expensive and is from a good reputable company since I do own an SSD for my PC rig from more than 3 years and running excellent. https/www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-250GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0781VSXBP/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1532346674&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=250gb+ssd&psc=1#customerReviews

So about the SSD, I dont have much info about the installation. should I just get an SSD device and plug in the HDD place simply or should I purchase another bay or adaptor with it?

And about the SSD itself, what is the best budget quality SSD for my budget and slow laptops to replace the HDD? I dont want to pay too much over a small portion of speed obviously because I wont notice anything and wont need it. I just want enough speed and performance to make me relaxed and notice a huge difference from an HDD. I will be purchasing from Amazon.

Also, I need a good quality thermal paste to replace the few-year-old thermal pastes on both laptops. Is getting one thermal paste enough to apply it in both laptops?

I will place a link to give you an insight of the disassembly of both laptops just in case.

HP:

Lenovo:

Thank you!

 

[Rdslw]

mx500 is one of best (almost) budget series. Its not cheapest but it performs great and its best in price/performance tier.

you can just insert it into HDD slot it will work out of the box, If you want you can copy our old OS into it beforehand.

third option:
https/www.tomshardware.co.uk/ssd-laptop-upgrade-optical-bay,review-32366.html
(for my laptop only way to have 2 physical discs inside) and very usefull as DVD was not used for years.

for paste make sure of 2 things:

1. high HEAT conductivity:
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 12.5 W/m · K (is one of best non-conductive) --> 73 W/m · K liquid metal example. Anything above 6 is good.
2. not electric CONDUCTIVE
I've used:
Arctic silver Ceramique 2 2.7g
and it was already better than default laptop paste.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

I agree with Rdslw, the mx500 is a really good SSD. Another good option is the WD 3d nand SSD. It is priced similarly to the mx500.

As for thermal paste, there are really 2 categories, Grizzly and everything else. Grizzly Kryonaut is widely considered the best thermal paste. But unless you are going to be doing heavy overclocking, it may not be worth the extra cost. You can find a tube of Arctic Silver for next to nothing and my be your best option.

 

[majed.qutub]

I havent changed a thermal paste before and this is my first time doing it.

I wont be doing any oc or anything mad. I just want to lower the temperature of the CPU on idle since I notice some heat on the body. So I dont think I also want to go mad and hopefully something safe if I spill something out.

since I dont live in the US, the Arctic silver ships very expensive by the seller to my country (for 40$!).

I searched for some thermal pastes that ship with the normal prices here and found two from reputable companies.

1- https/www.amazon.com/Noctua-NT-H1-Thermal-Compound-Retail/dp/B002CQU14A/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1532348185&sr=1-7&keywords=thermal+paste

2- https/www.amazon.com/Thermal-Grizzly-Kryonaut-Grease-Paste/dp/B011F7W3LU/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1532348185&sr=1-11&keywords=thermal+paste

Which one do you think is good for my situation?

 

[majed.qutub]

Just wanted to ask about something:

The normal HDD is 3.5''

and the SSD is 2.5''

I also see some products say 2.5inch tray to 3.5in tray

https/www.amazon.com/SIENOC-Adapter-Bracket-Mounting-Compatible/dp/B00GTA4JQQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1532348869&sr=8-3&keywords=3.5+inch+to+2.5+inch+ssd+tray

What are these used for? shouldnt I use this one to convert a 2.5in SSD to a 3.5in HDD size? or am I missing something here?

 

[colmcd]

On thermal paste, one paste should be enough for two laptops (the usual small pencil size syringe is fine).
Thermal paste is a "less is more" type thing. A single line from top to bottom of the CPU is what we want.

With the laptops:
go 8GB of ram if you can afford it and they are less then 8gb. The older ram is really cheap and adding an extra 4gb will make these perform out of site.

Min 250GB for any computer. The Crucial have worked fine with me, I do prefer the Samsung Evo's... but it is just a preference and the mx500 looks good on specs. While there the HP is listed as SATA2, so a difference of 480mb a second vs 510mb a second is not worth forking out extra cash... The prices look pretty equal so you might as well get the mx500.

This is a nobrainer. 1 thermal will cover both CPU"s or you have used too much. min 250gb ssd's on both laptops and make sure their 8gb minimum ram. mx500 is fine.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Just wanted to ask about something:

The normal HDD is 3.5''

and the SSD is 2.5''

I also see some products say 2.5inch tray to 3.5in tray

https/www.amazon.com/SIENOC-Adapter-Bracket-Mounting-Compatible/dp/B00GTA4JQQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1532348869&sr=8-3&keywords=3.5+inch+to+2.5+inch+ssd+tray

What are these used for? shouldnt I use this one to convert a 2.5in SSD to a 3.5in HDD size? or am I missing something here?

That tray is for a desktop. Some older desktop cases only have 3.5" hdd bays, so you can get a tray to put your 2.5" SSD in it to fit. Your laptops will only hold 2.5" SSDs, which is the standard size. So you wont need to tray.

As for the paste, dont pay $40 for Arctic Silver. The Thermal Grizzly is a pretty good price, but the Noctua is cheaper. For what you are using it for, you will never know a difference. I would get one tube of the Noctua and it will take care of both laptops.

 

[majed.qutub]

On thermal paste, one paste should be enough for two laptops (the usual small pencil size syringe is fine).
Thermal paste is a "less is more" type thing. A single line from top to bottom of the CPU is what we want.

With the laptops:
go 8GB of ram if you can afford it and they are less then 8gb. The older ram is really cheap and adding an extra 4gb will make these perform out of site.

Min 250GB for any computer. The Crucial have worked fine with me, I do prefer the Samsung Evo's... but it is just a preference and the mx500 looks good on specs. While there the HP is listed as SATA2, so a difference of 480mb a second vs 510mb a second is not worth forking out extra cash... The prices look pretty equal so you might as well get the mx500.

This is a nobrainer. 1 thermal will cover both CPU"s or you have used too much. min 250gb ssd's on both laptops and make sure their 8gb minimum ram. mx500 is fine.

Just wanted to ask about something:

The normal HDD is 3.5''

and the SSD is 2.5''

I also see some products say 2.5inch tray to 3.5in tray

https/www.amazon.com/SIENOC-Adapter-Bracket-Mounting-Compatible/dp/B00GTA4JQQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1532348869&sr=8-3&keywords=3.5+inch+to+2.5+inch+ssd+tray

What are these used for? shouldnt I use this one to convert a 2.5in SSD to a 3.5in HDD size? or am I missing something here?

That tray is for a desktop. Some older desktop cases only have 3.5" hdd bays, so you can get a tray to put your 2.5" SSD in it to fit. Your laptops will only hold 2.5" SSDs, which is the standard size. So you wont need to tray.

As for the paste, dont pay $40 for Arctic Silver. The Thermal Grizzly is a pretty good price, but the Noctua is cheaper. For what you are using it for, you will never know a difference. I would get one tube of the Noctua and it will take care of both laptops.

Thank you a lot and for everyone else!

I will get the noctua thermal paste and the mx500.

 

[Rdslw]

I havent changed a thermal paste before and this is my first time doing it.

I wont be doing any oc or anything mad. I just want to lower the temperature of the CPU on idle since I notice some heat on the body. So I dont think I also want to go mad and hopefully something safe if I spill something out.

since I dont live in the US, the Arctic silver ships very expensive by the seller to my country (for 40$!).

I searched for some thermal pastes that ship with the normal prices here and found two from reputable companies.

1- https/www.amazon.com/Noctua-NT-H1-Thermal-Compound-Retail/dp/B002CQU14A/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1532348185&sr=1-7&keywords=thermal+paste

2- https/www.amazon.com/Thermal-Grizzly-Kryonaut-Grease-Paste/dp/B011F7W3LU/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1532348185&sr=1-11&keywords=thermal+paste

Which one do you think is good for my situation?

both of those are insanely good pastes. NT-H1 and Thermal-Grizzly-Kryonaut with both lower temps very nicely. pick cheaper or one that ships better.

 

[Rdslw]

https/www.anandtech.com/show/9799/best-ssds