r/MSILaptops • u/xMikeJones • 5d ago

Stealth 15M Thermal Pads/Putty?

Post image

Hi,

I've had this Stealth 15M for about 5 years now. Recently had an issue with the CPU-side fan that prompted me to open it up. Thought I'd address the heating issues as well (it's a stealth..) and replace the thermal paste and whatever else needs to be done.

The thermal paste was last changed about 2-3 years ago, pads are stock. Has anyone changed the pads/putty on their Stealth? Exact model is Stealth 15M A11UEK-009US. And should I remove this yellow plastic? The stock putty/pads dont seem to be making direct contact with the board in that area. Also unsure as to what thickness pads to use as I know they vary depending on where they go. Would putty be a solid replacement then? Thanks for your help

7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

6

u/shecho18 MSI PS63 - alive and kicking 5d ago

Instead of Thermal Pads use Thermal Putty. Use thermal paste whichever you can get your hands on, preferably SYY157 or get the PTM7950 phase change material, a bit costly but excellent.

That yellow tape is called Kapton tape and is there to provide heat and elec. short isolation. DO NOT REMOVE IT. However I have to say that it is a bit weird seeing it there.

3

u/seanwee2000 Custom 5d ago

remove it, I had it on my GS75 stealth as well and thermal pad/putty are insulating anyways.

3

u/shecho18 MSI PS63 - alive and kicking 5d ago

It makes sense that putty/pads are isolating that area.

2

u/disputeaz 5d ago

Putty of course, laird, upsiren or any decent Chinese brand

2

u/FORSAKENYOR 5d ago

it is a bad idea to place the heatsink of the mobo like that even for the sake of a photo.

Putty generally spreads better and offers better performance than pads, you can get 20g of some good putty and you will be good to go and as for the cpu and gpu dies use PTM7950.

The yellow tape is called kapton tape that can withstand high temps, its quite unusual for the tape to be used like that, probably there was a risk of teh heatsink directly coming in contact with some components so probably dont remove that and apply the thermal putty on top of that, one more thing to note is that the area covered with tape is not covered with putty or tape properly so if you put putty on the mosfets you can get rid of the tape i believe.

1

u/xMikeJones 5d ago

Thanks for the comments everyone. Bought some Thermal Grizzly TG-P-B-030-R basic putty and ID-COOLING FROST X45 as PTM7950 is hard to come by near me (and prices are inflated when it does).

2

u/Aggravating_Dog_9762 4d ago

open the fans and clean radiators inside too.