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G74sx excessively high CPU temp [solved]

Omnikam
Level 8
My laptop when I first bought it had an idle CPU temperature of 33c-40c, and under severe load would get up to 68c
After around 7 months I noticed those temps increasing, and after a year and a half it had gotten so bad that it was idling at 60c and 98c under moderate load. I blew compressed air into it, but it didn't help much. At this point I figured it needed to have the thermal paste replaced
After a quick phone call with my computer repairs shop, I was told it would cost me $150 for Labor and another $25 for the paste wt?
So I decided to save my money and do it myself, I'd like to state that I'd never pulled apart a laptop before, so I was very nervous about doing so. I looked on YouTube and found some videos on how to dismantle it and watched it a few times over, until I was familiar with the process. Then I just did it, taking pictures along the way and putting the screws into separate compartments (I used an egg carton)
After many screws later I had it pulled completely apart, special care was taken on removing the keyboard as it's fixed by ribbons which could be damaged if not careful, and the removal of the motherboard was also a hairy moment, I just slowly and carefully pried it free.
The rest was fairly simple, just removing the heatsinks and cleaning off the old thermal paste. I did a lot of research on how to apply the thermal paste and found some excellent sites, but in the end I used the less is more approach and the dot method
Verdict? After putting it all back together it's running like new, actually it's even cooler
The reason I posted this here is too let the absolute beginner know how easy it was to do, so long as you are organised and take your time it's fairly easy, I'd never done it before and managed it 😉 just be very careful with lifting off the keyboard top because it's attached to the board with ribbons which are locked down, so you have to understand how the clips lock them in,.
Fixing it myself was very rewarding and I saved $150. I hope this helps someone like me feel more confident to jump in, and remember taking pictures can help too
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5 REPLIES 5

getmealive
Level 7
thanks for let us know....my g74sx is running at normal temps...

Zygomorphic
Level 17
Thanks for sharing! 🙂 I will add the bit about the clips:
They are along the top of the keyboard, and have to be pushed down (towards the floor) and forwards (towards the touchpad) in order to release. The best way to do this is with a small flat-head screwdriver. Start at a 90 degree angle (from the table), push down a little bit, and then gently tip the screw driver to about a 15 degree angle (body towards the back of the notebook). This usually gets them free, as long as you are careful, you won't damage anything.
I am disturbed because I cannot break my system...found out there were others trying to cope! We have a support group on here, if your system will not break, please join!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=16
We now have 178 people whose systems will not break! Yippee! 🙂
LINUX Users, we have a group!
http://rog.asus.com/forum/group.php?groupid=23

Omnikam
Level 8
I'll include a link to the YouTube video I used as it's very detailed and straightforward
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Zlr9WwpAs
For the actual repasting I used another vid, but you can find many on YouTube

hirethestache
Level 10
Thanks for this! Which paste did you buy? Did you apply it to both CPU and GPU? And any chance you could throw up the video you used for the repasting process? I've never risked tearing this rig apart, as I cannot afford to replace it at the moment--I want to make sure I do everything as safely and well-planned as possible.

hirethestache
Level 10
Bump