Tuniq TX-4 Thermal Paste on a ThinkPad X200

Community Blog
1

So today i took the task of re-applying thermal paste to my X200 lenovo Thinkpad. I've re-applied thermal paste before, but this was the first time it was for me and not the schools computers.

Nevermind the dates on the photos my camera can be silly.

I went for the good stuff- I got Tuniq TX-4

Wtf is this Tuniq? Are you trying to make me use the business card method?

Very few of the pics turned out nice because my camera is so bad :/   Here are some anyways

The paste that was on before hand was dried and crusty, what you would expect from a machine coming up on its 5th year of use. So after reapplication things are running much cooler

Stock:

  • Idle: 32C
  • Load: 82C

Tuniq TX-4:

  • idle: 30-32C
  • Load 65C

*loads were simulated with a 15minute burn on prime95 and temps were measured with RealTemp

If you want to know the full specs of my laptop just head on over to my profile to view them.

 Bonus pics of my mobo-

http://i.imgur.com/wqWpuDs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7ZLmHSU.jpg

 

2

Awesome! Substantial drops in temps are always nice!

3

how did you apply this thermal paste? i hear its pretty thick stuff i was looking at this and the tx2 extreme.

4

They actually made TX-4 because people complained that TX-3 was too thick. TX-3 still performs better than TX-4 but only by about 0.5 degrees celcius. Either way, viscosity really shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't spread the paste yourself. Allow your heatsink to spread it for you, and you'll be fine.

TX-4 is significantly thinner than TX-3 was though.

 

5

I guess the paste has settled out a little bit more. Idle while running foobar (2 spectrum visuals running) I'm getting about 28C. My room hasn't changed in temp. I actually closed the ac vent because it's at my feet and freezes my toes off.

If i run Prime95 I takes about 10-15mins to actually get up to 65. It's a REALLY slow climb from 54C.

I am very satisfied with the TX-4!

6

Suprisingly enough it wasn't that thick. Much thinner than toothpaste that is. It's not thick

I had no idea how much to apply to the die itself (as it is about 1cm^2) so i tested it out on some clear legos by pressing them together to see what amount gave me the optimal coverage. I then applied about that much (little less because it will expand with heat) to the die. I think i did an A+ job for cleaning the die itself for the 1st time.

7

I think it's always a good idea to replace the TIM/grease that comes from the factory.  Good post.

8

Very nice!

I did this with a 2006 MacBook but ended up breaking the pins on the cable that attaches the keyboard to the mainboard when I pulled up on the ribbon to take the keyboard off. :-(

9

http://i.imgur.com/72NKEKC.png

Next day- Still at 65C even with alot of other things running (bottom right)

Roaming the web and chatting with friends I'm averaging about 36C

10

I repasted my UX32vd a while ago, lowered temps a bit but still throttles at maximum GPU load. Nice improvement in your temps though!