Thermal Paste, an issue with T40s?

[l2karl]

I read that some Thinkpads have thermal paste around the CPU and that, over time, it dissipates and needs to be replaced. Anything to this, or is this just another Urban Legend thing.

Tks for listening.

[ajkula66]

Every ThinkPad has thermal paste between CPU and heatsink. It is advisable to renew it every few years.

Given that the youngest T40 is likely pushing six years of age, this would apply...

[FTC]

Hi,

I would add : do not do it unless yours need it because it overheats. Basically it is not worth the risk (specially if you do it for the first time) because you will not really gain anything if not needed.

To know if your T4x overheats, my personal limit is :
- If the CPU gests hotter than 82oC after 10 minutes of 'prime95' or 'superPI' stress test, or
- Or if the GPU gets hotter than 90oC after 10 minutes of Atitray tools rendering loop or similar (note only applies to discrete graphic machines)
(this running on ambient 'normal' temperature.. around 24-25oC)

While it is true that different machines have different margins and some can run much cooler that said, all of the T4x (even the ones with the more powerful CPUs or GPUs) should be able to pass both tests, and running hotter than stated will put you in the unconfortable-even-if-not-yet-dangerous heat zone. So, if you are not able to pass any of both tests, first try declogging the heatsink, and secondly reseat it with a fresh dot of thermal paste.

[poshgeordie]

When renewing heatsink compound use the thinnest of thin layers. It's designed to fill the micro imperfections between the metal to metal surfaces, not to be another layer between the surfaces.

When repairing laptops too often we see what seems to be half a tube of the stuff squirted on the chip and it is just not as efficient as a superthin layer.
Also Arctic Silver compound is conductive and could cause permanent damage by shorting out the surface mount components found on some chips - e.g Nvidia GPU's on T6x series.

Finally whilst the fan is removed blow out all the dust and dirt which will improve the cooling efficiency. be careful if using canned air on the fan since it'll cause the blades to over rev and cause premature bearing failure.
We just blow it out by hand (mouth!) and then use a toothbrush to gently brush off any dust off the blades.

[l2karl]

Thanks to everyone for their posts. I believe, if I read correctly, that I'm OK for now, even though this is a T40.

Model 2374AU0
CPU Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1500MHz
Cpu Socket Socket 479 mPGA

Temperature readings from BatteryCare utility:

cpu 41 C
hdd 34 C