Went to replace my thermal paste and found a bunch of thermal pads. Do I need to replace those too?

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homulilly

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May 6, 2014
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So my laptop was overheating a lot so I decided I'd replace the thermal paste. After reading tutorials online, it seemed like I knew what to do. Opened the thing up and there is some thermal paste, but there are lots of thermal pads inside as well.

Do I need to replace these too before I start using the computer again? And if so, does the brand or type typically matter?

Here are some photos.

I also noticed that all of the tutorials I've seen have told me not to let the thermal paste exceed the area of the chip. However, when I opened my computer up, I saw that both the pads and paste far exceeded the area of the chips in size. Is there any reason for this?

The computer is Asus G60Vx.

Thanks.
 
Solution
ko888
In your pictures there are only two devices that use pre-applied thermal compound. They are the CPU and GPU chips as noticeably missing on the mating surface where the thermal compound has stuck to those chips' heat spreaders. All of the other components that require cooling from the heat-pipe cooler are mated using thermal pads.

Thermal pads come in various thicknesses and different rates of thermal conductivity hence the different colors. Thermal pads are used when there is a physical gap between the heat producing component and the contact surface of the heatsink plate that needs to be filled.

If the thermal pads are still intact then they can be reused.

You shouldn't replace thermal pads with thermal compound because the...
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plaintuts

plaintuts

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May 5, 2014
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yes, remove them as well.

choosing a thermal compound is not very hard, just dont go uber cheap.

i personally apply the paste in a "single grain of rice" approach but theres other method, just use whats comfortable to you, the weight or pressure from re attaching the heatsink will spread the paste evenly.

 
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homulilly

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May 6, 2014
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Okay, thanks. The paste/compound that I have is artic 5.

I'm not sure what to do about the pads though. The pad in the first picture is blue and kind of foamy and fluffy. The other pads are gray and a lot firmer. Not sure what the reason for the difference is.
 
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plaintuts

plaintuts

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If your hesitant then leave them, the most important is the heatsink attached to your cpu.
Those thermal pads are for your laptops vrm, graphics and northbridge. The color doesnt really do much, maybe thats color coding during assembly.
 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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In your pictures there are only two devices that use pre-applied thermal compound. They are the CPU and GPU chips as noticeably missing on the mating surface where the thermal compound has stuck to those chips' heat spreaders. All of the other components that require cooling from the heat-pipe cooler are mated using thermal pads.

Thermal pads come in various thicknesses and different rates of thermal conductivity hence the different colors. Thermal pads are used when there is a physical gap between the heat producing component and the contact surface of the heatsink plate that needs to be filled.

If the thermal pads are still intact then they can be reused.

You shouldn't replace thermal pads with thermal compound because the amount of thermal compound required to fill the gap will be thick enough to act as a thermal insulator instead of a thermal conductor leading to component overheating.
 
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