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Will replacing thermal paste void my warranty?
Inspiron 5515
I have a 5155 and it is getting pretty warm at times. The warmth is coming from the center back of the bottom. The plastic gets pretty warm. When I plug the charge cable in the temp spikes into the 90c range before the fan brings it down. I was thinking of replacing the thermal paste to see if that helps or would that void the warranty? Or is there a way to bump the fan curve up? I would like the underside of this laptop to not get so hot so I can actually set it on my lap once in a while without it feeling like I was going to get roasted.
Thanks.
Gargamel314
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August 8th, 2022 21:00
Not necessarily. They do warn that repasting your CPU/GPU will void your warranty, but really it's only if something goes wrong while you're doing it. If you break a part, if you use something like liquid metal and it leaks out and shorts something out, overtightening the screws (remember there is no IHS on laptop CPUs to protect the die), etc. If repasting your CPU breaks something, then your warranty is voided, and you can kiss a bail out from Dell Tech Support goodbye. Now generally if you know what you're doing, no harm, no foul.
You can adjust the fan curve slightly by using Dell Power Manager and selecting "Cool" or "Optimized" profiles. These are usually found in the BIOS also. They will throttle the CPU so it won't try to get so hot, and also fans will come on slightly earlier.
I really recommend Arctic MX-4 or MX-5 for Dell CPUs because it has high durability. Dell likes to keep their fans off until the CPU gets to be in the 80s or 90s, and because that's where your CPU wants to be most of the time, other thermal pastes (including their own) will dry out after a few months. MX-4 is supposed to last a long time before it dries out, and will work almost as well as the Thermal Grizzly at keeping your CPU cool. I actually tried Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, it is awesome stuff, brought my temps down about 25C, but it it dried out after about 6 months and I was back to high temps.
Zarich
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August 8th, 2022 22:00
Dell power manager doesn't have any fan controls on this laptop. It only allows the adjustment of how the battery is used. Is there another way to reduce the heat? It seems odd that there is so much heat in that spot.
Gargamel314
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August 9th, 2022 19:00
In BIOS you can always disable turbo boost. To me, that's not an acceptable solution, and I'd instead go the thermal paste route, but it will keep your temps under control.
You could also look into undervolting with Throttlestop. There are plenty of how-to videos on YouTube, but a lot of people do this to reduce temps without losing performance. These CPUs are mass produced, so often they are not specifically tuned to their voltage needs, so the manufacturers just give them way too much so that they all work fine. Voltage creates heat, and your CPU probably doesn't need all the voltage it's being dealt. Supposedly undervolting was disabled on 11th gen CPUs, and Dell apparently disabled it on many of its laptops, so there's a chance undervolting won't work. There are workarounds.
filbert
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August 12th, 2022 07:00
I agree with @Gargamel314 . Arctic MX-4 is an excellent choice for two reasons: