# Alternative to stock laptop thermal pad?



## Kantastic (Sep 27, 2010)

I recently took apart my laptop to replace the CPU TIM with MX-3 but I'm itching to replace the thermal pad on the GPU as well. Normal TIM is way too runny and isn't thick enough for this purpose, though, if I'm mistaken please correct me. Anybody know of any good alternatives?

2 year edit: The laptop is a Compaq CQ60-220US.


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## Mussels (Sep 27, 2010)

thermal paste is the way to go, unless the gap is too large.

in THAT case, you're kinda boned unless you find something thicker like thermal tape.


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## Fourstaff (Sep 27, 2010)

Put a piece of metal between the two surfaces and "glue" it with TIM. Just a thought.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 27, 2010)

Fourstaff said:


> Put a piece of metal between the two surfaces and "glue" it with TIM. Just a thought.



This.



Specifically a copper piece of metal, pop on ebay and search for "copper shim"

can be had for around 5 if your moneys and you'll just have to thermal paste both sides of it.

They completely PWN thermal pads.

26by26mm is a nice size for a GPU shim  DV2000 shim would do it.


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## Kantastic (Oct 2, 2010)

Bloody brilliant! I'm going to pick up a copper shim on eBay.


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## erocker (Oct 2, 2010)

I would suggest using Arctic Silver thermal adhesive for the cooler side to keep things in place.


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## Kantastic (Oct 2, 2010)

erocker said:


> I would suggest using Arctic Silver thermal adhesive for the cooler side to keep things in place.



Just looked up what thermal 'adhesive' meant, I should have known from the word itself but confirming is always a good idea. I'm not looking to make permanent bonds between anything, I like every I do to be reversible, probably due to my indecisiveness.

At the moment, I'm only worried that the copper shim would fall out of place if the laptop were ever dropped or constantly shaken.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Oct 2, 2010)

Copper shim sounds like a bad idea.  Use the darn tape.  That way, it won't ever fall out and short the mobo.


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## Kantastic (Oct 2, 2010)

PVTCaboose1337 said:


> Copper shim sounds like a bad idea.  Use the darn tape.  That way, it won't ever fall out and short the mobo.



Tape? As in the stock pad?


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## Phxprovost (Oct 2, 2010)

PVTCaboose1337 said:


> _Copper shim sounds like a bad idea_.  Use the darn tape.  _That way, it won't ever fall out and short the mobo_.



thats exactly what i was thinking, the last thing you want is for the tim to melt and the shim to shift shorting something near it.  I would find something else


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## pantherx12 (Oct 2, 2010)

Won't be able to fall out/off due to the heatsink being clamped/screwed to it.


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## Kantastic (Oct 2, 2010)

pantherx12 said:


> Won't be able to fall out/off due to the heatsink being clamped/screwed to it.



The heatsink is actually not clamped or screwed, at the moment it's stuck on by the adhesive thermal pad.


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## Kantastic (Aug 17, 2012)

Hi guys! I wanted to update this thread and let you guys know that I took the advice given and used a copper shim on the CPU. Unfortunately that didn't work and the laptop still heats up pretty bad (makes my fingers go numb). I figured it wasn't the CPU and put the shim on the GPU. Same problem. I even tried using high quality EK thermal pads, but that failed too. I've been putting up with this problem for almost 2 years now. Even replacing the HDD with an Intel SSD didn't help.

The biggest headache is that I can't monitor the temperatures on this laptop, so I don't know which method I've tried yielded better results, but I do know that none of them were effective enough to contain the heat. 

I'm going to give this laptop one last shot before I call it quits and just put up with it or scrap it for parts. I should have a tube of IC Diamond 24 coming in so I thought I'd make one last attempt at fixing the temperature problem. This time I'm buying another shim for the GPU to see if putting a shim on both the CPU and GPU works better.

Anyone have any other suggestions?


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## pantherx12 (Aug 17, 2012)

Kantastic said:


> Hi guys! I wanted to update this thread and let you guys know that I took the advice given and used a copper shim on the CPU. Unfortunately that didn't work and the laptop still heats up pretty bad (makes my fingers go numb). I figured it wasn't the CPU and put the shim on the GPU. Same problem. I even tried using high quality EK thermal pads, but that failed too. I've been putting up with this problem for almost 2 years now. Even replacing the HDD with an Intel SSD didn't help.
> 
> The biggest headache is that I can't monitor the temperatures on this laptop, so I don't know which method I've tried yielded better results, but I do know that none of them were effective enough to contain the heat.
> 
> ...




Try finding a better fan maybe? Get a laptop cooling pad? ( I tend to find they need the fans reversed for best results)


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## Kantastic (Aug 17, 2012)

pantherx12 said:


> Try finding a better fan maybe? Get a laptop cooling pad? ( I tend to find they need the fans reversed for best results)



It's a PITA to use a laptop cooling pad on my lap so I'm trying to leave that as a very last resort. I'm looking for more of an internal fix. I just checked Amazon and there are some fans that should be compatible so I'm going to pick one up. Is there any chance the liquid inside the heatpipes on the heatsink somehow evaporated leading to inferior temperature conduction? Or am I being paranoid?!

I wonder if I would benefit from reversing the cooling fan on the laptop... pushing air out instead of pulling air in? I mean... the fan opening is on the bottom of the laptop so it gets suffocated a lot... it wasn't much of a problem until I disassembled the entire thing though. I don't know what I did wrong...


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## Batou1986 (Aug 17, 2012)

Kantastic]I've been putting up with this problem for almost 2 years now. Even replacing the HDD with an Intel SSD didn't help.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Kantastic said:


> edit: The laptop is a Compaq CQ60-220US.



Not to sound like an ass but simple fact is those laptops are poorly made and poorly designed with a terrible cooling system.
Unless you can find a better HSF that fits that laptop, which you wont, a laptop cooling pad or whatever is about as good as its going to get.


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## Kantastic (Aug 17, 2012)

Batou1986 said:


> Not to sound like an ass but simple fact is those laptops are poorly made and poorly designed with a terrible cooling system.
> Unless you can find a better HSF that fits that laptop, which you wont, a laptop cooling pad or whatever is about as good as its going to get.



Don't worry about sounding like an ass, I sound like an ass all the time. 

But it puts me on a major guilt trip that the laptop was cooling fine until I did my genius thing and took it apart. It was literally hot as hell after that.  I don't expect better than factory cooling, just the same as it used to be before I wrecked it. I ordered a new fan which should be coming in soon since the seller is from NY. Will update!


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## Batou1986 (Aug 17, 2012)

I missed the part about it acting up after you took it apart try putting some small washers between the screws on the heatsink mounts to get them to squeeze down on the cpu/gpu in combination with the shims.

Also I have seen some novice techs at shops bend the heat sink/pipe removing them which could also be causing the issue, 
use the razor blade method to check to make sure its still flat even if its bent away from the contact area it can cause the mounting to get screwed up and bend out of place when you tighten it down.


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## Kantastic (Aug 24, 2012)

SUCCESS! My 1mm thick copper shims and new laptop fan arrived today. As it turns out, I already put 0.8mm copper shims between both the CPU and the GPU and their respective heatsinks. But because there is a larger gap between the GPU and the heatsink than the CPU, I put the new 1mm thick shim between the GPU and left the 0.8mm thick shim on the CPU. I also ordered a fan, and when I took out the old fan I noticed there was a layer of dust clogging up the fins where air gets vented out the back. I never noticed that since I never had a reason to take the fan out.

I also replaced the old MX-2 thermal paste with some IC Diamond 24 that I received from Innovation Cooling, which was extremely thick and probably the perfect paste for my particular laptop.

All in all I'm so glad that I gave repairing the laptop one last try because it's so much cooler and quieter now.


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