Swapped thermal paste from Arctic Silver to Honeywell PTM7950 on a client's gaming laptop

Used to swear by the classic spread method with Arctic Silver MX-4, but a Dell G15 I worked on last month kept hitting 100C on the CPU even after a fresh application. Switched to the Honeywell PTM7950 pad and dropped temps by 12 degrees under load. Anyone else made the jump to phase-change thermal pads over paste for high-heat laptops?

2 comments

2 Comments

josephbutler6d ago

Wait, you're saying you dropped 12 degrees just by switching to a pad? That's insane! I've never seen such a big jump from just changing the paste type before.

cora_scott776d ago

I actually read somewhere that phase change pads like PTM7950 work better with direct die cooling because they fill microscopic gaps the paste just can't get into. That Dell G15 is a perfect example, the heatsink pressure on those is all over the place and paste tends to pump out after a few months. The 12 degree drop seems about right if the old paste was already drying out or not making good contact to begin with.