Heat-sink/fan replacement using thermal pads and thermal paste/grease

[Mitch8]

Hi,

The fan on my laptop died so I am in the process of replacing both the fan and the heat sink unit. The manual I am using specifies that thermal grease should be used on the cpu and thermal pads should be used on the graphics processor and the capacitors .

When the new fan arrived it came with thermal pads on all the pertinent areas of the heat sink as well as a tube of thermal grease. And when I removed the old fan, the thermal pads were only found to be on the capacitors and associated parts around the graphics processor and only thermal grease was used on the cpu and the graphics processor.

My question is: How should this part be installed? Should I remove the thermal pads fron the heat sink that covers the cpu and graphics processor and only use the thermal grease at these areas? Or can the thermal grease be used there and leave the thermal pads on the heat sink?

Thanks for your help - I appreciate any advice/views in this matter.

[Sparkles1]

Hi @Mitch8,

Thank you for your query.

I understand that you are replacing the fan and the heat sink unit.  The fan arrived with thermal paste and pads and you wish to know where to apply each.

Here are excerpts from the manual to assist you with that process.

Here is a link to the HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide.  Please note that  chapter 4 pages 93 and 94  is where I obtained this information.

Best of Luck!

[Mitch8]

Thanks for the reply Sparkles1 - appreciate it. 

The manual you referenced is the same as the one I was using as a guide. But since the fan/sink came with thermal pads on all points mentioned in the manual I wasn't sure if I should remove the thermal pads from the cpu area of the sink before applying the thermal paste. I was not anticipating seeing the thermal pads where the cpu meets the sink. The last time I worked on motherboards we just used thermal grease to mate any parts to a heat sink...I have no experience with the thermal pads.

Thanks again,

Mitch

[Huffer]

I answered this in your duplicate post. I can try to explain a bit more. If you got a part with pads instead of open metal flat places to touch on the cpu and video chip, then the fan/heatsink is machined so that there is a gap between the metal of the heatsink and the surface to be cooled. The pad fills up that gap. If you remove the pads, you will not have direct metal to metal contact and no amount of liquid thermal compound is going to fill in and if you try to pile it up to do so you will have a disaster on your hands. As stated before, use the part as it was shipped to you. I would double check the part numbers, but if the heatsink fits in place of the old one and screws down tight on the points to be cooled you likely have the right part. The engineers must have decided the cooling pads somehow work better in this application. Who are we to second guess?

And never use thermal compund under a pad....compound is only applied where hard metal touches the motherboard components. 

[Mitch8]

Thanks for the reply Huffer. What you say makes sense - but I wonder why they sent me the thermal compound with the fan/sink then? The thermal pads do not look too thick to replace them with the thermal compound. And I should have noted that originally there were no pads under the cpu nor the graphics processor - just thermal compound.

And thanks for reading my duplicate post. I wasn't getting any reads on my original post and I wanted to change the subject line to garner some interest, but I couldn't figure out how to edit the subject line - hence the duplicate post.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

You can remove the pads and go with paste If but only f you are sure the metal over the cpu core and graphics chip is making good solid contact. And by that I meant it touches and also has some downward compression on it. To me, thermal paste is the superior coolant and should be used over the really hot points. However, if the metal is not making full, solid contact you run the risk of overheating. 

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[Sparkles1]

Hi @Mitch8,

To assist you with apply the thermal paste here is a link to a YouTube video that I think may help.

How To Apply Thermal Paste

Good Luck!

[Mitch8]

Huffy - Thanks for your views - I do appreciate them. This is my first encounter with thermal pads. I have only used thermal compound in the past. Since the plates over the cpu stand proud of the heat sink I am going to use the thermal compound over the cpu and graphics processor as it was originally built.

[Mitch8]

Sparkles1 - Thanks for the link. Appreciate the help.

[Sparkles1]

Hi @Mitch8.

Thank you for keeping me updated and it has been my pleasure to assist you.

Have a terrific weekend!