Introduction
If you find yourself in the possession of a Gigabyte AERO 15-X8 laptop for a prolonged amount of time, you might want to replace the thermal paste and pads that lose their efficiency with time.
Thermal paste serves as a heat transfer medium that draws heat produced by the processor and graphics card away, so they can maintain their operating frequency and not throttle due to high temperature. You can usually diagnose if excessive heat is a problem by starting a resource-heavy task in conjunction with a temperature display, looking for a drop in performance once the temperature reaches the high 80`s Celsius. Replacing the thermal paste might help in reducing the maximum temperature as well as prolonging the amount of time the laptop can efficiently operate under a heavy load.
The replacement will likely improve the user experience, increase the performance, and prolong the service life of your laptop. It is generally recommended to replace the thermal paste on your laptop once a year for optimal performance and longevity.
Before starting on this guide, make sure to turn off and disconnect the laptop from the power source. Also, if you do not have experience in computer maintenance, familiarize yourself with How to Apply Thermal Paste guide.
-
-
After the screws are removed, carefully insert a plastic spudger in the space between the backplate and the rim of the laptop.
-
Apply moderate pressure upwards to disconnect the clips that hold the backplate in place.
-
Lift the backplate away from the laptop.
-
Remove the thermal pad that covers the SSD.
-
-
-
Using a Phillips #2 screwdriver, remove the screws that hold the fan assembly in place.
-
Seven 5.5mm Phillips #2 screws securing the center area are spring-loaded and require moderate pressure on the screwdriver to initiate the removal.
-
Three 7.5mm Phillips #2 screws.
-
-
-
Disconnect the fan wires by pulling on the connector while pushing on its sides with the spudger.
-
Lift the fan assembly and place it on the battery, bottom-up.
-
-
-
Use a lint-free cloth to remove the thermal paste from both the CPU and GPU chips.
-
Remove the old thermal pads from the power supply chips.
-
-
-
Degrease the surface of CPU and GPU chips using the isopropyl alcohol and Q tips.
-
Place a small amount of thermal paste on both CPU and GPU chips.
-
Use a spreader to thinly spread the paste on the entire area of each chip.
-
Consult the How to Apply Thermal Paste guide for additional instructions if necessary.
-
-
-
Using calipers or a precision ruler, measure the dimensions of all the power supply chips.
-
Cut the thermal pad sheet according to the measurements and place the pieces on top of the chips.
-
Use 1-1.5 mm thermal pad thickness on grey chips.
-
Use 2-2,5 mm thermal pad thickness on the 8 flat chips.
-
-
-
After the paste and pads have been applied, make sure that every chip is covered in accordance with the illustration.
-
Carefully pick up the fan assembly and place it back, aligning the position with screw holes.
-
-
-
Using a Phillips #2 screwdriver, secure the fan assembly in place.
-
The seven 5.5mm Phillips #2 screws are spring-loaded and require moderate pressure to screw in.
-
Three 7.5mm Phillips #2 screws.
-
Reconnect the fan wires by clicking them into the receptors.
-
Follow steps 2 and 1 in reverse order to finish the reassembly process.
5 comments
and guides for the gigabyte aero 17 yb laptop….and repair guides or guides to do a repaste ….
Beware!!!
I followed this guide and my GPU temperatures shot up dramatically. Opening the laptop back up, I noticed very visible indentations in the thicker (in my case 2mm) thermal pads. That and the fact that screwing the heatsink back on was noticeably harder after putting in the 2mm heat pads leads me to believe that they are in fact too thick, possibly creating a gap or at least insufficient contact between the heatsink and GPU. I replaced the 2mm ones with 1mm, thus using the same thickness on all components, and I’m back to normal temperatures.
TL;DR: be careful with the thicker (2-2.5mm) thermal pads, they made my GPU overheat. Using 1mm ones on all components worked perfectly. Try checking the stock thermal pads’ thickness
I made an edit to the relevant step of the guide, but it is unverified for now as I don’t have enough reputation.
Thanks for the input, I hope you found this guide helpful. The acceptable width depends on how soft/flexible the pads used are, so it varies slightly in each individual case. The manufacturer uses some kind of soft and foamy ones which are thick and very malleable, so its hard to match the exact thickness needed.
I have this laptop and i changed the thermal pads wth cooper shims and now i get a little bit better performance, but it bothers me how bad are the fans. i need to lube them every 4 months (my laptop is on day and night) because they start to make noise and i already bought replacements with same thing.
Regarding the SSD thermal pad... i dont think is accurate to said that it doesn't experience so much heat. i hagve two Samsung 970 2TB SSDs and the main one it shuts out even to 70 degress, is no cool at all.