Tutorial for Reapplying Thermal Paste, Helios 500?

xapim · September 2019

STOPchris i think hwmonitor/hwinfo will also show all your drives temps but basically those are the main you need to look at

STOPchris · September 2019

Yeah, HW Info is showing the PCH temp. It shows my drive temps, but I am not worried about those (they are all SSD's). Predator Sense shows my system temp. PCH is getting to a high of 57c, from what I understand is fine as well.

STOPchris · September 2019

Wouldn't smaller thermal pads be better overall, if you can get away with it (having them make contact with the cooler)? I mean, there should be less resistance in the form of a thinner pad, right? If the purpose of the pads are to fill the tiny crevices/imperfections, then wouldn't you want the thinnest that you can get away with? Same as thermal compound on a CPU/GPU.

STOPchris · September 2019

egydiocoelho said:

In my opinion, it is very close to the tolerable limit, see:

Where did you get this document? I am trying to find it on the support page, but am having a difficult time locating it.

Commodore_1995# · September 2019

It is a part of the service manual. But we cannot post them in the community.

STOPchris · September 2019

egydiocoelho said:

It is a part of the service manual. But we cannot post them in the community.

Oh, this is an Acer internal document?

Commodore_1995# · September 2019

Yes my friend!

xapim · September 2019

STOPchris the service guides as far as i know are only available to Acer staff, service center engineers and us ACES and as it was said above its to be used only to help to resolve issues an we are no allowed to give access to anyone (we can only prtcsr some parts in order to better help but not all) we all (ACES) had to sign a NDA to enforce it and the thermal pads are not only to level the heatsink thats just one of the many purposes they are also to cool some of the mobo chipsets where they sit on top of

STOPchris · September 2019

I got a winner here guys. I went back in after finding this guide for the thermal pad thickness: https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/555654/thermal-pad-thicknesses-on-the-helios-500-i9

I followed it to the "T", except I put 1.0mm pad where it says .05mm (doubt if this would cause any issues). After doing this process several times already, I knew the exact amount of thermal paste to put on the CPU (the GPU was always easy).

My temps are now around 80c (instead of 90+ with the Acer stock pasting) for my CPU when playing BF5. I would say the temps are better than 10c now. I'm pretty happy with these results.

EDIT: BTW, the GPU is now under 50c full load. I am seeing it around 46c playing BF5, it used to get up just over 50. Even though the old temps were no problem, this is an added bonus I guess.

Also, thanks everyone for your help!

belik · September 2019

egydiocoelho said:

In my opinion, it is very close to the tolerable limit, see:

@egydiocoelho
is it each service manual for each model contains CPU Fan True Value Table?

Can you please check the same for PH315-52 and post here?

cc @xapim

Commodore_1995# · September 2019

Unfortunately this information is not present in the service manual of model ph315-52. I asked if any moderators could update the service manual with this information.

belik · September 2019

Really? It looks everything went wrong with ph315-52 regarding the cooling
Not only it doesn't allow to stop fans in idle, single at whole their modern lineup I guess, but they even didn't put fan table in the manual
Maybe when they describe it they will find out how bad it is done

Commodore_1995# · September 2019

Do you prefer the notebook to overheat? Even if the gpu is idle, fans should still work to maintain normal temperature.

belik · September 2019

Your point is arguable because all other laptops like Helios 300 2018, Triton 500 can stop the fans, moreover stopping the fans doesn't mean they always will be stopped they will start after some temperature
There is no sense for me to run system fan at 2160 rpm just to keep system temp at 33C this is very loud

Commodore_1995# · September 2019

I agree that 33ºc is a very low temperature and it would be better for fans not to work when the notebook reached that temperature. You may be able to successfully install a modified bios, but this is not allowed here in the community and you would also void the hardware warranty. Many users are looking to better control their fan speed.

belik · September 2019

egydiocoelho said:

I agree that 33ºc is a very low temperature and it would be better for fans not to work when the notebook reached that temperature. You may be able to successfully install a modified bios, but this is not allowed here in the community and you would also void the hardware warranty.

I answered here
https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/730873/#Comment_730873
that unlocking bios doesn't help with fans. Yes now I can set undervolt, change PL, set XMP profiles, everything but not controlling the fans
And that's really annoying coz I may rely only on Acer feedback in such case which I guess will never occur

belik · September 2019

Well it could be some workaround if I would find and install other fans in the same size but with lower max rpm, for example with max 4000 rpm instead of 5500 rpm. Or just add put some resistor to the wire so that fans got 10v instead of 12v
But I'm not sure how they control the fans - by pwm or by rpm - and whether it's a good idea in general