- Aug 1, 2012
- 19
- 0
- 10,560
So i have this alienware laptop, and on the GPU there is no Thermal paste/grease, the OEM uses these sticky pads (flat strips, sticky on both sides, exactly the size of the components).
In the past i've had 2 GPUs die, the first was due to an assembly error which resulted in a screw landing on the GPU and causing it to short circuit, and was replaced under warranty, the second time was due to these sticky pads drying out on the GPU dye, this time i had to pay for the new GPU myself but the people who replaced and fitted it again were different.
Now i want to replace these thermal strips/pads just as a precaution, but i can't find replacements anywhere and the guys who replaced the GPU for me before cannot procure a new one, i have no experience in applying thermal paste/grease and neither do they, and i don't wanna fiddle around with a $570 GPU on my first try, so i'm stuck here and i don't know what to do.
The precaustions i've taken since my last GPU replacement (7 months ago) were using nvidia inspector to limit my frames per second to 50~55 max instead of leaving it open all the time, i always keep the laptop dust free by cleaning the fans and heatsink (like twice a month), i ALWAYS monitor my temperatures to see if anything is out of the ordinary (thankfully nothing is so far), and i routinely check on the thermal pads to check if they're drying out, but i cannot check on the thermal pad sitting on the GPU dye and i don't wanna decouple the heatsink from the GPU to check as this will create air bubbles which won't seal again and will ruin the thermal conductivity between the GPU and heatsink.
So to the actual question now, Should i be worried about these pads giving up on me in a moment's notice??, do i really need to be chasing after a fresh set of stickies???, or am i just too paranoid??
In the past i've had 2 GPUs die, the first was due to an assembly error which resulted in a screw landing on the GPU and causing it to short circuit, and was replaced under warranty, the second time was due to these sticky pads drying out on the GPU dye, this time i had to pay for the new GPU myself but the people who replaced and fitted it again were different.
Now i want to replace these thermal strips/pads just as a precaution, but i can't find replacements anywhere and the guys who replaced the GPU for me before cannot procure a new one, i have no experience in applying thermal paste/grease and neither do they, and i don't wanna fiddle around with a $570 GPU on my first try, so i'm stuck here and i don't know what to do.
The precaustions i've taken since my last GPU replacement (7 months ago) were using nvidia inspector to limit my frames per second to 50~55 max instead of leaving it open all the time, i always keep the laptop dust free by cleaning the fans and heatsink (like twice a month), i ALWAYS monitor my temperatures to see if anything is out of the ordinary (thankfully nothing is so far), and i routinely check on the thermal pads to check if they're drying out, but i cannot check on the thermal pad sitting on the GPU dye and i don't wanna decouple the heatsink from the GPU to check as this will create air bubbles which won't seal again and will ruin the thermal conductivity between the GPU and heatsink.
So to the actual question now, Should i be worried about these pads giving up on me in a moment's notice??, do i really need to be chasing after a fresh set of stickies???, or am i just too paranoid??
/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=thermal%20pad&Submit=ENE
Is it possible for us to know you entire system specs? From your initial post it looks like you own a laptop but you're trying to fix a GPU?
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