What thickness for thermal pads can I use on GPU VRM chips for Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH315-52)?

zerophyte
zerophyte Member Posts: 9

Tinkerer
in Predator Laptops
Hello all,

I just recently joined the Predator family by purchasing a brand new Acer Predator Helios 300 15.6" (PH315-52) with the GTX1660 Ti gpu option.
When I went to repaste my CPU/GPU with Artic MX-4, I noticed that the VRM chips to the sides of the GPU die had a dried out pink thermopaste that was inconsistent to say the least. Some of the VRM chips had moist pink thermopaste, while other chips it was flaking off like dry scabs.. That obviously cannot be good cause I know these GDDR6 VRM chips will run hot under load.

I had been googling for a little while but have not found any discussion with a definitive answer on what thickness of thermal pads I could cut and place on the vrm chips for under the gpu heatsink. I have some Thermal Grizzly Minus Pad 8 kicking around which is 1 mm in thickness. I have no way of really measuring what I need, so I was hoping someone from here could shed some light on this, and on if they have put pads on that they found effective at reducing heat. I can get 0.5mm, 1mm and 1.5mm Grizzly minus pad 8. Of course I'm open to taking suggestions on other good thermal pad brands. 

Thanks guys!

- zerophyte
«13456

Answers

  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    edited December 2019
    I’m not sure Mx4 is good choice it has quite poor conductivity btw

    There is a reason they didn’t put thermal pads on video chip I guess it’s because any pads will make worse the heatsink pressure. With 1 mm whole part on gpu can be out of paste at all, with 0.5 mm it’s better almost acceptable but still worse than without pads/with pink paste. You can check it on your implementation if you apply paste and then assemble and disassemble and compare footprint on gpu heatsink with 3 cases - 1 mm, 0.5 mm, no pads

    If you still want to use pads you may want to improve pressure on the screw #6, this is what I’m doing myself now)
  • zerophyte
    zerophyte Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    edited December 2019
    So should I just get a tube of the pink thermopaste? (any brands to suggest?) Rather than mess with the pads and varying thickness. Also, if Artic MX-4 is not that great.. Should I order Grizzly Kryonaut or Noctua NT-H1 instead? (just edited my post after realizing that condoctonaut was liquid metal.. I do NOT want that.. lol)
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    edited December 2019
    Kryonat or pk-3 would be fine, yes
    As for pink paste well there is a small problem =) I never saw it on offer and don’t know any other paste which would replace it
    And using conventional paste on memory chips will result in virtually zero contact there as shown on the photo below (btw this is Mx-4)







  • zerophyte
    zerophyte Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    I've continued to search on if I can buy this pink thermopaste anywhere but with no success.. Most people tend to want to stick thermal pads on their VRM chips in most forums I've visited.. But again, the Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 is never been brought up in most discussions with any conclusive results on success. 

    @belik what are you using on your vrm chips for your setup? Do you have the same laptop as I?
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    edited December 2019
    0.5 mm thermal pads or old pink paste, still trying to get what’s better  =)
  • Citizenkane
    Citizenkane Member Posts: 48 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    belik said:
    0.5 mm thermal pads or old pink paste, still trying to get what’s better  =)
    Do you know maybe tickens of pads? Pink ones and other ?
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Citizenkane said:
    belik said:
    0.5 mm thermal pads or old pink paste, still trying to get what’s better  =)
    Do you know maybe tickens of pads? Pink ones and other ?
    As I told it’s 1 mm everywhere except vmemory

    Gaps on vmems are different from 0.3 to 1 mm roughly and filled with pink paste
  • Citizenkane
    Citizenkane Member Posts: 48 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    belik said:
    Citizenkane said:
    belik said:
    0.5 mm thermal pads or old pink paste, still trying to get what’s better  =)
    Do you know maybe tickens of pads? Pink ones and other ?
    As I told it’s 1 mm everywhere except vmemory

    Gaps on vmems are different from 0.3 to 1 mm roughly and filled with pink paste
    So 1mm everywhere except VRAM ? Or even PINK paste is 1mm which is on VRam ?
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Citizenkane said:

    So 1mm everywhere except VRAM ? Or even PINK paste is 1mm which is on VRam ?
    correct
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Citizenkane said:
     Or even PINK paste is 1mm which is on VRam ?
    Pink is 0.5 but in some places contact isn't good so you need to add some paste
    Or just keep pink mass and reuse
  • Citizenkane
    Citizenkane Member Posts: 48 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    belik said:
    Citizenkane said:
     Or even PINK paste is 1mm which is on VRam ?
    Pink is 0.5 but in some places contact isn't good so you need to add some paste
    Or just keep pink mass and reuse
    i already removed all the pads even pink ones so now its hard to find correct pads for chips. If you can, can you just write under what number is 1mm and where is 0,5mm.....also youthink i need to put extar paste on some pads ? tx
  • xapim
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,253 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    I sincerely dunno why ppl keep removing the thermal pads (big mistake) all the laptops i had repasted i had never replaced any thermal pads and they are all working fine including mine for 2 years now but hey do it if you want to i wouldnt also do not count on acer to help you in any way with any of these procedures they go against any warranty policy if youre not in the US/CA you prob can already consider your warranty voided :)


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    xapim said:
    I sincerely dunno why ppl keep removing the thermal pads (big mistake) all the laptops i had repasted i had never replaced any thermal pads and they are all working fine including mine for 2 years now but hey do it if you want to i wouldnt also do not count on acer to help you in any way with any of these procedures they go against any warranty policy if youre not in the US/CA you prob can already consider your warranty voided :)
    there are no thermal pads on vmem  =)
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Citizenkane said:
    belik said:
    Citizenkane said:
     Or even PINK paste is 1mm which is on VRam ?
    Pink is 0.5 but in some places contact isn't good so you need to add some paste
    Or just keep pink mass and reuse
    i already removed all the pads even pink ones so now its hard to find correct pads for chips. If you can, can you just write under what number is 1mm and where is 0,5mm.....also youthink i need to put extar paste on some pads ? tx
    vmem are number 1 and it is variable from 0.3 to 1 mm
    and I see some problem with one of #1 on your picture you have no footrprint 
  • Citizenkane
    Citizenkane Member Posts: 48 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    belik said:
    Citizenkane said:
    belik said:
    Citizenkane said:
     Or even PINK paste is 1mm which is on VRam ?
    Pink is 0.5 but in some places contact isn't good so you need to add some paste
    Or just keep pink mass and reuse
    i already removed all the pads even pink ones so now its hard to find correct pads for chips. If you can, can you just write under what number is 1mm and where is 0,5mm.....also youthink i need to put extar paste on some pads ? tx
    vmem are number 1 and it is variable from 0.3 to 1 mm
    and I see some problem with one of #1 on your picture you have no footrprint 
    So if i put 1mm on vram will cooler sit ok on GPU and CPU ?
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    No no and no
    If you use 1mm instead of pink paste, your gpu will have really bad contact 

    I will tell you the only reliable way to know, you need to apply paste on cpu and gpu, apply pads 1 mm everywhere except vmem, apply 0.5 mm pads on vmem, install heatsink, uninstall heatsink and check footprint everywhere, by paste and on pads
    only this way you can know as each heatsink individual 

    as I told your pink on vmem near the edge doesn’t have contact, why? 
  • Citizenkane
    Citizenkane Member Posts: 48 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    Thank you very much for this advice :)....and i really dont know why there is no contact on one of vmem it was factory made like this.
  • xapim
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,253 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    belik yup i know that its only thermal paste in the new 2019 but i was taking about all models in general :) and i i had one i would certainly use kryonaut on everything :+1:


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • Citizenkane
    Citizenkane Member Posts: 48 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    edited January 2020
    I repasted it again and put new paste on cpu and gpu.  Temps on benchmark for gpu doesnt go above 60'C and CPU 70'C max. I have one problem it doesnt go above 3.9Mhz it seams i have power limit throttel. 

    Anyone knows why ?
  • zerophyte
    zerophyte Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    @Citizenkane
    What thickness of thermal pad did you end up using on your vmem pictured above? I had ordered Artic thermal pads at 1.5mm thickness, but haven't tried using it yet. I heard from others that 1.5mm of that brand is not too bad cause it squishes quite well.

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