HELP - Do I need thermal pads?

[Phantomx60]

Hello,

I've bought a replacement fan for my laptop but it used to heat up a little faster than expected, so I know that I replacing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU can help with this issue. I've been reading the manual for the DV6 and it points out replacing thermal pads in other spots, on some models.

I have a HP DV6 3032SA, not sure if it has thermal pads, if it does, do I need to replace them if I am replacing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU?

Also any recommendations for a good performing thermal paste that is pretty cheap?

A reply as soon as possible would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Huffer]

See page 92 of the Service Manual here:

Manual

Thermal pads are "dry"...they do not use paste and they can be reused as long as you do not damage them. They do provide less than optimal thermal transfer however. You have an AMD machine well known to be a heat management problem. A lot of modders when removing the fan/heatsink and reinstalling would use copper shim material at all the places where the heatsink comes in contact with chips. You get some really thin copper plating and interpose it between the heatsink and motherboard chips that require cooling compound and then use a stack of copper sheeting material in the places that have cooling pads and do not use cooling compound. Use the copper shims and cooling compound on those places as well. It takes a little fabrication to get the thickness of the shim material just right so there is some tension applied when you bolt down the heatsink but not too much. Done properly, adding shim material to the cooling system can drop temperatures significantly. Also use good high silver content compound applied sparingly. Good luck. 

[Phantomx60]

So if there are places in the cooling system with thermal pads which aren't damaged, I should just re-use those. Then with the CPU/GPU, use the copper shim material between the heatsink and the CPU/GPU, correct?

Would this copper shim material be ok? (using the 0.5mm)  : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Copper-Shim-15mm-x-15mm-Heatsink-Thermal-Pad-GPU-CPU-Laptop-0-3mm-to-2-0m...

[Huffer]

Yes since the thermal pad spots are dry they will just lift off the chips when you remove the heatsink. The cpu and gpu chips will have cooling compound which may have dried and you may need to jostle the heatsink back and forth a little to break the bonds to lift off the heatsink after you loosen the screws. You will see places on the underside of the heatsink that have residual "goop" and then a place or two that looks like a pillow with a piece of aluminum foil embedded in it. That is the cooling pad. Clean off the old "goop" from all surfaces with a clean rag and maybe some high percentage rubbing alcohol. I even buff up the metal part of surfaces a bit with an emery cloth so all makes good contact. Not too much just a quick polish. Those shims are exactly what you need. Place one between the chip that had goop on it and the bottom of the heatsink and only apply compound to the top of the shim not on both sides like an ice cream sandwich. Like I said some people will pop off the cooling pads from their metal base and use a stack of shims (maybe 3 or 4) and put cooling compound on top of the shim stack. The pure copper wicks away heat better than the cooling pad. Be sure and clean up all residual dust and such from the area around the heatsink. Clean out the vents, etc. Make it all squeaky clean. 

If this is the info you needed please mark it as the solution

[McPavilion]

What I always do and sugest is to replace thermal pads as soon as you see them. Yes there are a few of high quality that give perfect results and could be reused but no laptop maker will use such. So all thermal pads that are placed by manufacturer are quite close to quality to the cheapest Chinese pads on the market. Yes pads are dry and if you remove them carefully they might not look damaged but if you examine them with a microscope you will either see big scratches or that the patend of the component and it's printing on it is peranently engraved on the pad. You could be able to fit the same pad perfectly on it's original position (if you have some magical skils) but the chances are that you won't do so leaving some air between the pad and the component to the places where the pad is engraved which will result to higher operation temperature. So your options are either to follow previous instructions and place a thin copper pad which does give the best results but risks burning the motherboard if copper touches a component (usually a capacitor on the GPU....), or to use a high quality thermal pad instead of old (as long as you know the exact thickness that you need and you can find that thickness avaliable), or to do what I choose to do and use a viscous thermal paste called K5 PRO which is designed for thermal pad replacement. You can find a lot of info and reviews about it by searching on google or Amazon or ebay. I also just found out that it is now in stock on Amazon Australia so I won't have to wait for 3 weeks to arrive from the other side of the world any more. I am placing the link to this product on Amazon.com.au here

https://www.amazon.com.au/Thermal-Paste-Replacement-K5-Pro-K4-Pro/dp/B01H3D9ZE8/

but if another user is aware of another viscous paste which can replace thermal pads I would be very happy to know about