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Switched from thermal paste to thermal pads on an old laptop last week
Had a Dell Latitude from 2018 that was thermal throttling like crazy. Pulled it apart, cleaned off the crusty paste, and put in some 1.5mm thermal pads instead. Has anyone else tried pads on older machines and seen a big temp drop?
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alice_hart19d ago
Did you check if the heatsink actually sits FLAT after swapping? I've seen people throw pads on and the pressure from the screws just bends the whole assembly slightly, making contact even worse on the CPU die. On a Latitude from that era, the mounting holes are usually close to the edge and a 1.5mm pad that's slightly too thick can actually push the heatsink up on one corner. I wonder if your 8 degree drop held up after a few weeks of the laptop being moved around and the pads settling in.
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rubys8019d ago
Honestly I feel your pain on that one. Those old Latitudes run hot even when they're new so crusty paste is just asking for trouble. I tried pads on a similar machine last year and it dropped like 8 degrees under load which felt huge. Just make sure you got the right thickness because if they're too thick the contact won't be right and you'll actually make things worse. I think pads are a solid choice for laptops that are a pain to repaste every six months.
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