Replacing Thermal Pads for the Nitro 5 AN515-55-50VC

LordBoomser · May 2022

Greetings, fellow Nitro enthusiasts!

I've recently noticed that my laptop BSODs when I'm running thermally demanding games and always thought that a quick repaste of my CPU and GPU will do the trick. This worked well before, but now it doesn't as I've noticed. I've noticed that some of the Pink Paste used on the VRAMs (?) and other stuff has started drying up, so do the other thermal pads attached above the CPU (VRMs?).

As mentioned, I have a Nitro 5 AN515-55 and would love to know what thermal pad thickness would I be needing to replace both the pink stuff and the thermal pads above the CPU.

I plan on buying Gelid GP-Extreme as I've read those are good and are soft enough to not mess with heatsink not properly making contact with the CPU and GPU.

Thanks in advance!

AnhEZ28 · May 2022

@LordBoomser the VRAM and the VRM will use mostly 1.0mm thermal pad.

LordBoomser · May 2022

AnhEZ28 said:

@LordBoomser the VRAM and the VRM will use mostly 1.0mm thermal pad.

So would it be safe to use 1.0mm pads on everything as a replacement? Again, I have an AN515-55 and would really want to know what specific pads I need since the information for this is hard to find/verify.

AnhEZ28 · May 2022

@LordBoomser you can prepare both 1.0mm and 0.5mm because some smaller ICs have smaller gaps.

andybig77 · May 2022

The pink putty/grease is most likely K5 Pro.

The 1mm thermal pads I used were Gelid Ultimate. Please note I do NOT have the same laptop model as you. Here is my thread if it helps at all.

andybig77 · June 2022

I would add that you could buy these at different sizes/thickness. Having them around won't hurt. 1 Pad should probably be enough. Store the excess in a good place and it may help you out and/or friends. And you could get this. I personally used this (NOT the Ultimate and it worked well). Might get expensive but you'll be covered. Please order a pair of inexpensive digital calipers as well as it will help you with so many things (around the house/apartment too), including measuring thermal pad thickness.

LordBoomser · June 2022

Alright thanks, @andybig77 and @AnhEZ28 for the inputs!

Since I read that you used K5 Pro to replace the Pink Putty, would it be safe to just remove those and replace them with thermal pads instead?

And I can see you used Gelid Ultimate for your thermal pads. How were the tolerances after that? Was it soft enough to not cause any contact with the CPU and GPU dies? I've read that the Gelid Extreme is much softer and I wonder if that would be better in not changing tolerances.

andybig77 · June 2022

LordBoomser said:

Alright thanks, @andybig77 and @AnhEZ28 for the inputs!

Since I read that you used K5 Pro to replace the Pink Putty, would it be safe to just remove those and replace them with thermal pads instead?

And I can see you used Gelid Ultimate for your thermal pads. How were the tolerances after that? Was it soft enough to not cause any contact with the CPU and GPU dies? I've read that the Gelid Extreme is much softer and I wonder if that would be better in not changing tolerances.

I am thinking that they used they putty (K5 Pro) for a reason. I can only speculate, but perhaps because of uneven chips for the GPU memory? I would personally stick with the K5. Also, it is a pain to clean; meaning that you may not get it clean enough to apply regular thermal pads.

The Gelid were softer than the Thermalright pads I used for my NVME drives and they worked great for the pad replacement for where there were pads installed. It would probably fill the gaps if say you bought 1.5mm thickness (or .5mm thicker than the rest of the pads). I too wish it was all thermal pads instead of the messy putty grease K5 but the K5 does work. Apparently a lot of manufactures are using it now for laptops. There has to be a reason. I personally wouldn't deviate on that for the reason listed above. I read somewhere others trying pads and it caused stuttering in games, which means to me, it wasn't cooling properly.

However, there are pads elsewhere on the heatsink and for that I would use the best I could afford from Thermal Grizzly or Gelid or Thermalright.

If you do go with thermal pads for the GPU memory (where the putty is) than I might look into these Thermal Grizzly pads. It doesn't list how much heat it conducts but it looks to be very malleable. Again stick to the K5 IMHO.

Please post back with temperature results! I am following this thread and would love to know how it goes for you.

LordBoomser · June 2022

@andybig77

Hello! I've measured out the pads I would be needing and this is what I came to. It looks like 1mm would do for everything EXCEPT the two VRMs directly mounted to the heatpipes which I measured would be needing 1.5mm.

Nitro 5 AN515-55 Layout

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/46/ygtpewptk6l8.jpg

Here's a picture I made with diagrams and I guess this should work? The vRAMs I just went with 1mm since that's what @AnhEZ28 suggested. In any case, I'll be ordering a pack of 1mm and 1.5mm just to be safe. I'll be going for the Gelid GP-Ultimate and will be trying my best to clean out the pink putty. Guess I'll be needing my trust 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol for this one.

I'll be updating (if my laptop runs after, lol) as soon as I get results.

Wish me luck!

andybig77 · June 2022

I am still going to suggest K5 Pro for the putty and not thermal pads (it is only 12 dollars or so on Amazon). And where you measured the 1.5mm thermal pads that's what I would use then.

Good luck! Just take your time and I am sure you'll be fine. Also, Don't torque down too much when reapplying the heatsink. Those screw heads are fragile. You don't wanna strip them.

LordBoomser · June 2022

andybig77 said:

If you do go with thermal pads for the GPU memory (where the putty is) than I might look into these Thermal Grizzly pads. It doesn't list how much heat it conducts but it looks to be very malleable. Again stick to the K5 IMHO.

@andybig77

It's hard for me to stick to the K5 Pro since it isn't really available here in the Philippines. How I wish we had some sort of distributor for this and maybe I wouldn't be having any of these problems to begin with.

By the way, in applying the pads to your NVME, did you just go with square cuts or did you cover the whole SSD? I've noticed that the coolers for the NVME as attached on the Laptop's backplate have only a square cutout for direct contact on the metal.

andybig77 · June 2022

For the NVME I covered the entire drive. You don't need much just a decent thermal pad for NVME drives (something like this as these are made for NVME size and I have them and they work). I don't think it would hurt to just go with the square as that is meant to cool the controller and the actual nand (the rest of the chip) doesn't need that much cooling from what I understand.

Does not Amazon ship to Philippines? I am not sure what I would go with for where the putty was. Maybe Gelid Ultimate thermal pads @ 1-1.5mm thickness? Or the The Thermal Grizzly pads I linked to at the same thickness; 1-1.5mm.

Honestly, I really wish Acer would employ an engineer to be on these forums. How much money did users spend just to try to get their laptops running ok. We don't know parameters and I am getting frustrated myself with the lack of consumer interaction. I won't buy again unless things change with this company big time.

andybig77 · June 2022

@LordBoomser Also for the NVME I did take the tape off as well. I did this because the stock NVME drive was slightly warped (I am thinking from uneven pressure from only the square) and I thought I'd like to cool the entire drive like most motherboard heatsinks do. Like I said the link to the Adwitts thermal pads are perfect for NVME drives (and perfectly cut) but for other parts I'd use Gelid or Thermal Grizzly or Thermalright.

For the Memory chips, now that I know your situation, I'd probably try Gelid Ultimate 1.5mm thickness (the Gelid Ultimate squish down very well). Or you might try a low cost thermal paste with somewhat low viscosity or high density. Something like this or this. I have seen people on YouTube do the paste.

As linked earlier, for your application, these Thermal Grizzly pads look interesting to me. For the GPU RAM they seem like they would squish and fill gaps well AND if you read the description they are for memory IC's.

andybig77 · June 2022

@LordBoomser I said 1.5mnm but it could be 1mm you want (as you stated in your pic). But if you go with the thermal Grizzly I think 1.5mm might be fine.

CuriousPerson · October 2022

@LordBoomser hey sorry to bump this pretty old thread, just wanted to see how it went for you. I have an AN515-55 as well which is about 2 years old. I repasted it once with Kryonaut but temps didn't really change, it became worst even. I'm planning on opening it up again and repasting properly. This time ill probably also replace the pink putty which seemed pretty dry last time I opened it up. I'm also from the Philippines so K5 Pro is a no go which is why I'm curious as to how the thermal pad went for you.