How's this thermal re-pasting job? (Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-572-7703)

[darkcape]

The gaming notebook in question had been going over 99 degrees during heavy load (according to Acer's own PredatorSense fan control and temp monitoring software). I wanted to get it re-pasted but was not inclined to do this work on my own, feeling I'd botch it. I found a local computer store in Karachi that could take care of it and once I got it back from them, the temps were down 15-17 degrees. A month went by and the temps started climbing up again, with one particular core going over 99 degrees, this time according to CPUID HWMonitor.

So I thought I'd give it a go and open up the machine. I watched a video and followed instructions and finally got a good look at the innards, the photo of which I'm sharing. The CPU is on the left side in the picture. Any suggestions on what would be the course of action here to rectify the overheating CPU? Should I take it back to the store or start from scratch on my own? Thanks in advance.

http://imgur.com/a/B4w1E85

 

[NaNoW]

clean it up with rubbing alcohol pads, reapply thermal paste ( in the screen you shared it doesnt cover around 50% of the chip area)

 

[Simonsayz]

The CPU is on the left side in the picture. Any suggestions on what would be the course of action here to rectify the overheating CPU? Should I take it back to the store or start from scratch on my own? Thanks in advance.

http://imgur.com/a/B4w1E85

From your pictures, there is enough thermal paste to conduct heat from CPU to HSF, so it's not the application that would cause to overheat but other factors.

Conductivity of thermal paste: Quality of thermal paste is measured by it's conductivity. For the liquid metal thermal paste, it's typically 70W/mK (watts per square meter of the surface area), while non-metallic compounds have a conductivity of between 4-10W/mK. As a general rule, the higher the number rating, the better the compound is going to be at heat conduction. Arctic Silver 5 (8.9W/mK) is the cheaper and more commonly available option, a step up is the Arctic-MX4 (8.5W/mK), best thermal paste is Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (12.5W/mK). I wouldn't recommend liquid metal Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut (73W/mK) because the risk of frying your laptop is higher as it is electrically conductive.

Application: In your case, there is enough thermal paste for conduction but a bit too much, as it is overflowing a lot around the chip. But again, it would not cause overheating, just bit messy or over usage. For small chips like laptop chips, just put one dot in centre, put on HSF evenly and it will spread evenly.

Heat Sink Fan: Clean the fins of your Heat Sink and the blades of your Fan, make sure the screw are tight enough and the contact with chip is secure.

Intake / Vents for HSF: Make sure that the intake for the HSF is clear, if it is at the bottom then use a put laptop on a flat surface or bit raised so it can draw enough air.