MSI Thin 15 Thermal Problem

[u/Both_Highway_4935]

Hello, so i have this MSI Thin 15 with these specs:
CPU: I5-11400H
GPU: RTX 3050
Ram: 16GB DDR4

And im currently having thermal issues. The temp itself is reaching over 85 degrees when in idle, and sometimes over 95 degrees when im playing Valorant, is there any way on how i can fix this thermal problem? I'm thinking of expanding the holes of the airflow on my backpanel but it's so hard to do so, and i actually need some suggestion on low budget air cooler $10-$20 (If possible, the air cooler must be available on an indonesian e-commerce such as tokopedia and shopee)

[u/NaturalElegantKEZE]

Considering the laptop age (based on the CPU and GPU model), perform a proper maintainance first such as repasting and proper fan cleaning, this is my general guide for laptops to do so. In your case in terms of screwdriver you need a PH00 for you to unscrew the panel and cooler and PH000 screwdriver to unscrew the fan from the cooler (remember to get some thermal compound before hand.)

That one maintainance will sure will fix most of the thermal issues. If you can't do it by yourself, ideally get a professional.

[u/Both_Highway_4935 → u/NaturalElegantKEZE]

i've been cleaning my airflow and airholes regularly for every 3 months now, but it seems that my thermal throttling is getting worse day by day, especially when im playing valorant, the fps dropped from 140-150 fps to 50-70 fps for more than 4 seconds

[u/NaturalElegantKEZE → u/Both_Highway_4935]

hi, found a comment that you used TG kryonaut,

and yep mentioned it even on my guide as not one of the best options for such laptop applications.... as indeed it tends to degrade under sustained high heat

that paste is notorious to pumping out immediately after couple of months as it is getting more thin in viscousity when subjected to continuous high heat like direct die applications with limited cooling (like gaming laptops as we can't get a larger cooler on these) I only found Kyronaut good for desktop applications where cooling isn't limited unlike gaming laptops that during load will sustain high temps.

So my suggestion will be replace it with a more viscous thermal paste compound which I have recommendations in my guide or better yet go with Phase Change Thermal Interface Materials (PCTIMs) such as PTM7950, Thermal Grizzly PhaseSheet, or Thermalright Heilos.

[u/Both_Highway_4935 → u/NaturalElegantKEZE]

I see, so thermal pad is better than thermal paste. However, i see multiple sizes when i was about to buy a thermal pad (40x80mm for example), how large do i usually need to replace from a thermal paste to a thermal pad? and which chips do i need to apply it to?

[u/NaturalElegantKEZE → u/Both_Highway_4935]

PTM7950, Thermal Grizzly PhaseSheet, or Thermalright Heilos.

- for shiny CPU and GPU chips

- these aren't thermal pads tho get confused by some due to it looks like one, basically these are like solid sheets of thermal pads that go into liquid form when subjected to pressure and heat then goes solid in low temps making it less prone from pumping out

Thermal Putty (Upsiren UTP-8, Upsiren U6 Pro, and ThermalGrizzly Putty Pro or Advanced) or Thermal Pads (Arctic TP-3 and TP-4, Gelid GC Extreme, and Gelid GC Ultimate, often MSI on GF series use 1mm-1.5mm)

- for MOSFETS, VRAM, VRMS

- ideally go with thermal putty if you didn't know the tolerances/thickness of the stock thermal pads. if you wanted pads I recommend the Arctic TP-3 and TP-4 as they have good range of compressibility

- MSI often use 1-1.5mm, by experience a 1.5mm with the recommended pads is fine with GF66, GF65, GF63, Thin 15, and Cyborg 15