T410 - reapply thermal paste - noticeable improvement

[dr_st]

As some of you may remember, a couple of years ago, applying Shin-Etsu MicroSi to my X32 gave me a significant temperature reduction. Our IT folks use this brand for most of their setups, and they probably have good reasons to trust it.

Recently I noticed that my work T410 runs very hot under load. While compiling a big project in Visual Studio, the temperatures were sometimes exceeding 90C when undocked, and were creeping towards 100C when docked with the lid closed (which is the normal mode of operating for me).

The first thing I tried was to clean the fan and the vents, but it had almost zero effect (they were not so dusty to begin with). So I decided to try reapply the thermal paste to the heat sink.

Results were quite satisfactory. Even though the paste that was already there looked very similar (according to some sources, Lenovo does use Shin-Etsu), and was not even so dry, it seemed not well-spread. A lot was caught in the gaps surrounding the die, and what was on the die seemed a bit uneven.

The rule of thumb I was taught is not to bother with spreading. Instead you use a small amount in the center of the die (somewhere between rice grain and pea in size, depending on the size of the die) and let the heatsink squash it. So far it's been working well for me. It worked well this time as well. Now full load temperatures usually stay in upper 70s to lower 80s, and even when docked, closed at 100% load for over half an hour, the temps only barely reached 90C. So about a 10C reduction in temperatures across the board was achieved by refreshing the thermal paste.

Now, I am not really a believer in the theory that thermal paste must be refreshed/replaced, but it's the second laptop where I've done it to noticeable improvement. I think that if a good paste is used, and if it's applied correctly, it is normally not mandatory (I haven't had to replace it on any of the machines I built myself), but in case of a doubt - go for it.

The access to the fan assembly is a bit harder on the T410 than on most Thinkpads I had to work with. Usually I just had to remove the keyboard, palmrest and keyboard bezel to get full access. On the X32 even the bezel removal is unnecessary. The T410 also requires you to remove the speakers and the LCD unit to be able to fully remove the fan assembly. Since I did not actually need to replace it, I was able to cheat a bit, and did not remove the fan assembly (which spared me the need to remove the LCD). Instead I just propped it up just enough to clean the old paste, and apply the new one. It also helped that this an integrated GPU model, and so there is only a single die to cover.

Heh, at least it's not as bad as the X220 which has the fan on the underside of the system board and you have to disassemble the whole thing.

[TonyJZX]

70-90c is probably a bit hotter than I'd like and if this is the best it can do then I guess this is typical of Arrandale.

[AIX]

@dr_st - how about your Prime 95 small FFTs temperatures?

[jaspen-meyer]

Artic Silver's website shows different application methods for different processors.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_appli ... ethod.html

[axur-delmeria]

I'm not surprised that "surface spread" is the recommended application method for laptop processors.

Mounting systems for laptop heatsinks don't apply much pressure to the processor, so getting the paste to spread evenly on the entire silicon die isn't easy. I haven't had an opportunity to use AS5 though.

[TheMagicT410]

hi,
i had the exact same issue as you did with high temps and a clean fan. i had the core i5 520m processor and it kept cutting out at the max 105*c lots of times. i even bought some arctic 5 thermal paste and only bumped down only 10 or so degreese which is better but at around 95*c when i play games is very bad. everything in my t410 was spotless i got it referbed for £130 came with 4gb of ram i5 520m 160gb hatachi hdd and hd 1000 graphics to.

it still kept acseeding 105*c and kept dying while playing my normal games sims 3, minecraft, rust legacy, nfs mw 2005, nfs carbon, driv3r, gta san, you get it. i had plan with all of my birthday money to upgrade anyway so i got a i7 640m and 8gb ram and it ran underload 60*c and not on load 40*c +. the ram is a problem its 800mhz and its gets to 100*c its extremly hot for ram for some daft reason.
overall it could most likly be a "defected" processor my i7 only cost £60 but was shiped from the usa so shipping was more money
they probally sell cheap if you based in the usa. if you cant try get the faster i5 540m if u have a 520m or if u have a i7 620m try get a replacement one they go for around £30 when i last checked a few months back.

best of luck.

[TonyJZX]

My two 410s, one with nvidia one with intel dont have anywhere near these temps.

My intel 410 gets very reasonable temps... it has a new $3.75 fan in it.

My nvidia 410 not so good, i get 85c max when playing games... i think this is because both the gpu and cpu is banging the fan.

But still, this is within the bounds of what you guys see here.

I would struggle to get my T400 and T420 to get anywhere near these temps.

[600X]

The thermal paste needs to be replaced on every laptop sooner or later. The T410 is over 6 years old now, so it's about time. I always apply new paste to every machine that I buy, even if it's brand new because factory applied thermal paste will never be as efficient as paste applied hand. The less you use, the better. Most laptops come out of the factory with what appears to have been the opposite motto.