Bdtyktl

Been having heat issues with Razer Blade Pro 2016 (GTX 1080) for a while. Would get warm and fans would speed up just installing stuff; had to play games at medium settings; would shut off at 4K and high settings after about 30 minutes.

Out of warranty and was told by Razer it wouldn't be cost effective to have them look at it. Also decided to put in a fast 2TB SSD instead of the stock 2x 1TB RAID0 install while I had the thing open.

Well aware of the risks of LM installs, have done one other LM install, followed the dozens of tutorials on the subject to mitigate risk, etc. Not an expert, but aware of what I am getting myself into.

Even though this is a 2016 model these pictures of a 2017 are the same:

https://closestnum20.com/razer-blade-pro-disassembly/

• Disassembled the laptop making note of where all of the screws and connectors went


• Used 99% alcohol to clean the old thermal paste (which didn't look like it was spread well) off the dies and heatsink


• 
  Silicone Conformal Coating: on the contacts/capacitors around the GPU and CPU; let it dry for a few hours


• Super 33 Electrical Tape: apply tape around the dies also covering the contacts/capacitors


• 
  Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut: tiny drop spread between CPU, GPU, and leftovers on heat sink


• Install the new SSD


• Reassemble

Moment of truth... Turn it on it works, however...

Let me start off by saying, I know this laptop very well. I know perfectly well how hot it should be to the touch vs fan noise and thermals.

• First thing when booting up the fans are at almost max, but the chassis is very cold to the touch... more than usual


• Install Windows, update, install drivers, install HWINFO64


• All this time the fan is humming and it is cold to the touch, never gets warm


• The fan did get quiet a few times, but then would speed up for no reason


• Turn on HWINF64 to see the thermals: GPU is idle at around 70C and CPU is idle around >85C
  


• It will drop for a few seconds to < 20C, fans will get quiet, and it will shoot back up... just sitting there


• I know these temps are not accurate because it would have shut off and I'd barely be able to touch the chassis where the CPU, GPU, and heat sink are... I've been through this several times in the past at lower temperatures than HWINFO64 is indicating


• Again, it is extremely cool to the touch

It goes without saying something is up. I'm looking for suggestion on how to resolve it.

Maybe the CPU actually is getting that hot, but isn't touching the heat sink properly and isn't distributing heat to the heat sink and therefore chassis making it feel cold to the touch. Is this a possibility?

I'm going to take it back apart and I'll submit pictures of my actual work.

I would check your mounting pressure, verify TIM coverage, and try reseating the heatsinks again. Also, you might need more than a tiny drop of Conductonaut; certainly the photos in guide show a bit too much thermal paste but there is a happy median. Liquid metal also might need a bit of help spreading around the heatsink. If you do end up completely removing the whole heat sink assembly again, check how far the liquid metal spread around the heatsink. If it's not covering >95% of each die, add more and don't be afraid to spread it around a bit with a lint-free q-tip (one should have come with the Conductonaut). Finally, some mounts won't put enough pressure; the screws bottom out before the heatsink is fully pressing onto the die. If you are finding a gap between the die and the heatsink when fully tightened, you need to use more TIM to fill in the gap. No air. Air doesn't conduct heat. Keep adding TIM until you've covered the whole die with full mounting pressure.

You probably didn't need to conformally coat and liquid e-tape the motherboard. These measures are usually taken when you are concerned about moisture (i.e. from sub-zero cooling/liquid nitrogen) or conductive dust/shavings. It will do no harm though, so don't try to remove it now that it's on there. You might break something and it's not worth the risk.