Thermal pads

[Alison556]

I have a Dell E6400 laptop and I took the heatsink out the other day to give it a clean as I'd had overheating problems when playing games or using the likes of photoshop.

The thermal pads over the GPU and chipset tore when I removed the heatsink so I used thermal paste but I think the gap is too big for it to be effective as my temperatures are rocketing now when I use anything graphics heavy.

I'm in the UK and am having a nightmare trying to locate the proper Dell thermal pads. Can I use an alternative and if so, what would be the best pads to use?

Thanks in advance

Alison

 

[trents]

Don't know if this is available to you where you live but this may be what you want:

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Heatsink-Thermal-Pads-HSFPHASECM/dp/B0009B0K2I

 

[Elfie]

You'll need to find out the thickness of the thermal pad(s) and there may be more than one size used but you can get pads from Specialtech but many others stock them as well.

You can generally use thermal pads a few times (unless they tear) and if they look like drying out a tiny drop of silicon oil will rejuvenate them.

 

[Alison556]

Thank you. I'll phone Dell and see if they can tell me what thickness I need. The pads that were on are quite thin and they ripped. :/

 

[Alison556]

Well, I phoned Dell and I shouldn't have bothered. We had a slight language barrier and the woman had no idea what I was talking about. I confess, I lost the will to live and hung up. So I'm no further forward with finding out the sizes of pads they use.

 

[trents]

Well, I phoned Dell and I shouldn't have bothered. We had a slight language barrier and the woman had no idea what I was talking about. I confess, I lost the will to live and hung up. So I'm no further forward with finding out the sizes of pads they use.

The state of tech support is so sad these days. I've experienced the same thing many times. Most of it is farmed out these days to India and Pakistan. Anymore, if I cannot understand the tech because of a strong accent I (as politely as I can) request to speak to someone else whose accent is less pronounced. And sometimes that actually works.

 

[Alison556]

It's truly appalling. I tried phoning again today and think I went around the world three times with me (Scottish) trying to explain that all I wanted was advise on a part and I had the part number. I eventually got put through to a guy in England, explained what I was looking for, gave him the part number and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. He put me on hold, came back and said he'd spoken to somebody that actually repairs Dells and not to bother with the thermal pads but just to use thermal paste - I said there was a measurable gap between the GPU and heatsink and his answer was to just pack thermal paste into it!!

I've used paste and am monitoring the temp - so far, it seems to be OK but what a trauma.