Laptop Overheating? DIY fix it for 1cent

nCoherent1

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
8
0
10,510
WOW it took me a month to figure this out...

It started with the computer randomly freezing resulting in a required hard reboot...this brought me to forum after forum after forum....yada yada

i have a dv7 3165dx hp laptop...for most hp dv series you can fix your overheating laptop (usually from gaming or otherwise taxing the GPU) for one cent!

i am still going to install a water cooling system since summer is here, and possibly make a permanent and much more efficient heat sink system but for now i was lazy and took a penny out of my pocket at work and realized what to do so i could game tonight....

take a penny and file it down smooth as a mirror (or damn close) and flat as a countertop on both sides.

open up your laptop (google it if you don't know how)

remove that mass produced sad excuse of a heat sink that HP gave you and locate the northbride that would be your GPU...on it will most likely be the thermal padding...toss this

apply thermal paste to either side of the penny and put it where the padding was and put it all back together.

i re-applied the cpu thermal paste while in there and it's running 4C cooling idle now...and oh my what a shocker, the games aren't locking up my pc.

....i will def post on here the detailed DIY instructions for the watercooling/improved heatsink (if it works)...for now i just had to share this penny revelation.

 

ratedk

Distinguished

nCoherent1

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
8
0
10,510


OK.... if you've read the original post you would have seen that this was a solution. I do know about the copper content this is why i used a 1967 penny....and just fyi if you ever do file a penny down it's kinda obvious what level of copper content there is when one penny is the color of copper and another is the color of steel after filed.

It took me about 30min and I got a filed to shiny perfection on each side penny, not difficult just tedious. Oh, and using a lot of thermal paste to connect the penny to the heat sink aluminum 3 is kinda a given when your replacing the thermal padding.... If i wanted to go to a website and order something I wouldn't have used a penny!
 

ratedk

Distinguished
I've read it. Heck, I've done it too. However, I've got the proper tools to do it. Most of the forum readers looking for a solution do not. That's why I suggested spending the extra 99 cents on one that is made specifically for the purpose.

Caking on thermal paste is bad too. Again, one made for the purpose of replacing the original solves that as well. I'm not trying to dog your post dude, just trying to pass on my personal experience. Let us know how it's running in 6-12 months.
 

kilobots

Estimable
Oct 28, 2014
1
0
4,510

what do you mean putting on thermal paste is bad?