thermal grizzly conductonaut on GM501. Vredict.

[mays247]

Hi,

I finally grew a pair to open up my laptop and apply liquid metal. Just wanted to share my experience. Any questions? don't feel shy to post them.

You'd be surprised when you open up your laptop to find the substandard thermal compound used on these laptops. Its looks and feels like old thermal pads that are worn out. It does not even seem to be paste. The texture is like rubber. No wonder the whole world keeps complaining their GM501 heats up.

A few tips

- Make sure you have a tube of non conductive thermal paste since its to be applied to a lot of components around the processor and graphic die. I used Arctic Silver.
- Have truck loads of qtips and alcohol swabs.
- Make sure there are no puddle of metallic paste on the die. It should look more like scratches on the die. Use qtips to remove excess LM paste. It is crucial you do this or when you screw the heat sink the paste oozes out of the die and poses threat of short circuit. Attached an image.
- I found removing the fan connectors the toughest. Patience is the key.
- Arranging screws in a pattern so you'd remember while assembling is a good practice. there are different types and sizes of screws.
- Don't forget to clean the fans if there's gunk collected. tooth brush helps.


So is it worth all the risk and time?

YEAAAAAAA. I see at least 10 degree drop in temps playing triple A title games. I swear by my left testicle that its the best mod that you can do to your laptop.

[TipJar]

H ey, I applied the same to mine about 4 months ago. The Metal one on the CPU /GPU and the other kind on the rest,... I too get about 10 degrees C cooler. 😉

[ryanhaver]

I understand that this reduces temps and will help with thermal throttling, but why would any consumer what to buy a product that forces you to do this to get reasonable temperatures? Even after the mod are the temps actually reasonable? a drop of 10C for me would bring my CPU temps down to 87-89C....which still rediculous.

I am on the cusp of returning my GX501GI because temps are so rediculous that it thermal throttles when browsing the internet and streaming Netflix. The repair Asus wants to do is re-apply thermal compund...that isn't going to fix an inadequate cooling solution.

I'm glad this has resolved overheating for some people, but the silicon lottery will dictate who benefits the most from a mod like this, as not everyone is seeing temps as high as 99C in the first place. If your temps are in the high 80s now and you can do this mod in conjunction with a moderate undervolt of the CPU then I think you shold go for it.

Unfortuntely my CPU just won't get the most out of this. Returning for a refund.