T42 need Thermal Compound on GPU?

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fefrie · #1 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:06 pm

I'm replacing the power jack and am in the process of reinstalling the heat sink. I bought thermal compound for the cpu, and the part of the heat sink that covers the gpu has a rubber pad on it.

What should I do with this? Should I apply heat sink compound on the rubber pad? Clean it with rubbing alcohol?

I'm a little lost. Some help would be appreciated.

Thanks

BTW, this is a good disassembly video.

Doesn't show the screws being pulled out, but just logically follow the order and hopefully when you reinstall you don't end up with a handful of screws!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEYx2bXR5qs

ajkula66 · #2 Post by **ajkula66** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:09 pm

Clean the pad and THEN apply the compound, very lightly...

fefrie · #3 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:32 pm

Ok, Great.

So here is my plan.

Clean GPU rubber pad and the GPU itself with rubbing alcohol, then apply a very thin amount and spread it across the whole gpu so it's fairly thin, squish down and snug screws well.

The CPU is fairly straight forward.

Unless I'm making any mistakes in the above, thanks

ajkula66 · #4 Post by **ajkula66** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:34 pm

I'd spread the compound across the pad, not the GPU itself.

The less you touch the darn thing, better off you'll be...

fefrie · #5 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:55 pm

Is it really that delicate? I know about the heat/flexing issue, but I had to scrape a little of the old rubber off. Did it gently, so shouldn't be that bad.

ajkula66 · #6 Post by **ajkula66** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:57 pm

Nah...just don't fix the heatsink imperfections with a 50kg hammer...

fefrie · #7 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:59 pm

Done! Thanks for the help!

Finally fixed all the little problems on this sucker. Hope to keep it for awhile!

kaede · #8 Post by **kaede** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:58 am

can i use that pad for the southbridge? just wondering :p

lukee · #9 Post by **lukee** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:07 am

I am cooling my southbridge using small piece of copper in a specific shape which connecting the southbridge chip and optical drive aluminium cage. I used Arctic Silver compound on both sides of copper connection, so most of heat is transferred into that cage. On the southbridge side it is fastened by WiFi adapter pressure, on the cage side I used screws which are holding the cage on place.
I will provide photos of this project next time when my ThinkPad will be disassembled again

fefrie · #10 Post by **fefrie** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:21 am

Not sure, but I think that my t42 is one of the last ones made and therefore the upgraded Copper heatsink that covers the GPU in addition to the CPU. I've seen T42's that only cover the CPU. Not sure as to what that model make that was.

kaede · #11 Post by **kaede** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:25 am

lukee wrote:I am cooling my southbridge using small piece of copper in a specific shape which connecting the southbridge chip and optical drive aluminium cage. I used Arctic Silver compound on both sides of copper connection, so most of heat is transferred into that cage. On the southbridge side it is fastened by WiFi adapter pressure, on the cage side I used screws which are holding the cage on place.
I will provide photos of this project next time when my ThinkPad will be disassembled again

does that really works? meaning no more annoying heat under touchpad area?

lukee · #12 Post by **lukee** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:14 am

kaede: heat under touchpad area is still very noticeable and I guess 80% of heat remains under touchpad area and 20% is transferred to the cage by that copper connection. But I think that particular improvement is better than no improvement.

fefrie · #13 Post by **fefrie** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:13 pm

Well with "adaptive" set for CPU power management and allowing the GPU to be managed, I get gpu and cpu temps in the lower 50's range. I've got the fan set so that it kicks in at level 1 at 55C and level 3 at 70C and it goes up to the high 60s on gpu intensive applications.

ajkula66 · #14 Post by **ajkula66** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:57 pm

fefrie wrote:

Not sure, but I think that my t42 is one of the last ones made and therefore the upgraded Copper heatsink that covers the GPU in addition to the CPU. I've seen T42's that only cover the CPU. Not sure as to what that model make that was.

Fan type has nothing to do with the production stage, and everything to do with the GPU...

Machines with ATi 7500 had "short" fan that covers only the CPU.

Units with Radeon 9000/9600 had the "long" fan that covers the GPU as well.

fefrie · #15 Post by **fefrie** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:07 pm

I think we're talking the same thing.

I'm guessing that by the time they came to make the t42's with the ati 9600 GPU, the went to the copper heat sink that covers the GPU or as what you said, has the 'long' fan that covers the GPU and CPU.

ajkula66 · #16 Post by **ajkula66** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:18 pm

No we're not.

Even the higher end T40s with Radeon 9000 had long fans (M9), and that's way before T42.

M10 long fan which covers your Radeon 9600 was first used on T41p, covering the FireGL T2. Once again, before the introduction of T42 model line.

The only two things that were really new for T42/p generation were the introduction of Dothan-core CPUs and 15" LCDs.

Radeon 9600 with M10 fan replaced the original Radeon 9000 (used on very early T42s) with M9 fan, both are "long" fans, but with different internals and specs.

BTW, T42s with Radeon 7500 and "short" fan were available all the way until the T42/p range was discontinued in late 2006.

fefrie · #17 Post by **fefrie** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:45 pm

i stand corrected thanks