Laptop Modding

I was quite dissatisfied with the temperature of my Dell Studio 15. In fact, many customers complaint but I don't think Dell is listening to its customers. I was one of those unfortunate soul who thinks that Dell would have improved on their heatsink design as new Studio range rolls out. I was wrong.

With the Dell Studio 1555, the GPU was running around 90c under load. My CPU temperature was registering at around 90c under load. I just don't understand why wouldn't Dell come up with a design which will silent the fan noise on their laptops?

I had had enough of this. I went up on the internet to look for any clues in which I could decrease the Studio's CPU and GPU temperature. Mind you, I do take the Studio apart once every few months to give it a good clean. Most of the time I will find lumps of dusts and that is why I need cleaning more often. Even though I have cleaned the heatsink/fan by tearing it apart, it does not solve the problem of a temperature registering at 90c even after cleaning the heatsink/fan under load.

I took the liberty to do a research online in a bid to end the heat problem on the Studio 15. Eventually, I found the answer. I bought an ICD7 thermal paste and a copper shim which would just fit onto the GPU. I was quite happy as the goods arrived without much delay. Immediately I was down to tearing the laptop apart. I have managed to remove everything and clean up the heatsink/fan. This time, I did something different. I have removed the old thermal paste on the South Bridge, CPU and also the GPU.

After cleaning it with TIM-clean, I have to let it dry. After that, I used one copper shim on the GPU (I have put some ICD7 on both sides) and another on the video ram chips. I did apply ICD7 on both sides of the copper shims. I have also apply the ICD7 on the CPU and the North Bridge (I think it is North and not South Bridge).

The laptop fired up without much problem. I will have to keep a watchful eye on the temperature as to whether the copper shim with ICD7 really work.

Update:
26/05/2010 - After a week of testing, I am very happy to say that it worked!!! The copper shims and the ICD7 thermal paste actually lowered the CPU and the GPU on my laptop! That is just marvellous!