Repaste GPU on G73 or send it to Asus?

[Noxian]

I am stuck with the hard decision of shipping off my G73 too asus for them to diagnose/repair my GPU due to the laptop going into hibernation as it reaches +109C while running intensive 3D application, games, furmark, etc.

I have many years of experience repairing laptops at work and for personal. And I have never taken apart a laptop and ever had a problem with damaging components while performing assembly or disassembly. I also have extensive experience applying thermal compounds on desktop computer cpu coolers.

My options are

1. Ship the laptop to Asus, Shipping time + repair time (quoted 14 days for repair time only), and be out of my laptop for at least a week.

2. Disassemble the laptop, removing the factory thermal paste and applying Artic Silver to the GPU. Potentially voiding the remainder of my 2 year warranty.

What would you do?

[Travelor]

I am stuck with the hard decision of shipping off my G73 too asus for them to diagnose/repair my GPU due to the laptop going into hibernation as it reaches +109C while running intensive 3D application, games, furmark, etc.

I have many years of experience repairing laptops at work and for personal. And I have never taken apart a laptop and ever had a problem with damaging components while performing assembly or disassembly. I also have extensive experience applying thermal compounds on desktop computer cpu coolers.

My options are

1. Ship the laptop to Asus, Shipping time + repair time (quoted 14 days for repair time only), and be out of my laptop for at least a week.

2. Disassemble the laptop, removing the factory thermal paste and applying Artic Silver to the GPU. Potentially voiding the remainder of my 2 year warranty.

What would you do?

Noxian,
I am in a similar boat as you. I am an test engineer for a different (NOT ASUS) notebook manufacturer, and I've done CPU/GPU replacements on those notebooks with no problem.

My solution is to wait until they have fixed the issues being discussed regarding the BIOS,vBIOS, and ATI drivers before I decide. When there is finally something "stable" to work with, then, for me, I can feel comfortable that the repaste is necessary.

My 2 pennies worth..

In Peace and Agape,
Trav...

[ziddy123]

109C to me is not something that will be fixed by a vBios update.

You have seen the pictures. Some of the G73s have horrible thermal paste jobs. They used way too much of it so the heatsink doesn't sit properly and practically all air pockets.

I don't think the paste itself is the issue. But on SOME it was applied horribly. Now I say SOME because there are many G73's that have the same temps as those who have redone their thermal stock.

Evan for example who doesn't post here often has the best idle and load temps I've seen and his are completely stock.

[bertio]

Send an email to asus and get an email back from them saying it wont void your warranty then you have something to stand on...

[Travelor]

109C to me is not something that will be fixed by a vBios update.

You have seen the pictures. Some of the G73s have horrible thermal paste jobs. They used way too much of it so the heatsink doesn't sit properly and practically all air pockets.

I don't think the paste itself is the issue. But on SOME it was applied horribly. Now I say SOME because there are many G73's that have the same temps as those who have redone their thermal stock.

Evan for example who doesn't post here often has the best idle and load temps I've seen and his are completely stock.

Hi Ziddy,

I hear ya... (read ya)
I have yet to break the 95c mark in my gaming usage, I play a older game (Joint Operations) - I'll be honest with you, I am still in the "baby" stage and a bit aprehensive to full throttle my "baby".. So I haven't ran through the "Furmark" testing to see just how hot she'll run. Maybe I am scared to find out that I've got a bad paste job on my "baby" too. What's the saying? "Ignorance is bliss"? Laugh - I do fully intend to throttle her up, but right now, I am just gonna baby her and wait for some stability on the GPU driver side. (excuses maybe). Besides, I don't have the time to tear her down right now, and I am thinking I'll take the other advise given and get a "won't void warranty" email from the ASUS Service people before I decide to take the plunge...

In Peace and Agape,
Trav...

[Noxian]

It appears the only time I am able to get my GPU up to +109C is when I run furmark, I tested running BC2 and couldn't get it to get past 95C.

[ziddy123]

For stressing your G73. Stick to playing games. See how stable your temps and performance is, making sure the HD5870M isn't downclocking at high temps etc.

I am in complete agreement with Gary, Furmark is useless. Just because you can run Furmark stable now does not mean your GPU didn't suffer damage in the long term. Furmark stresses GPU's beyond what they were designed for. It tells us nothing from a practical or actual usage view.

This is a great post from Gary and I agree 100%
Updates from Asus

[HeavenCry]

All it does is stress the GPU 100% to see the peak temperatures youre going to reach so you can see if youre within safe temperatures and not overheating. So were not supposed to do that? SC2 can bring the GPU to similar temperatures so i guess were not supposed to run that either.
If you have any more insight why Furmark is so bad please go ahead and offer some reasonable arguments.
All you keep saying is "Furmark is useless, dangerous and unrealistic". Tell my WHY. It certainly doesnt work any different than any high end game. The only difference is this software keeps the load at 100% at all times so you can see the peak temperatures faster instead of having to game for hours.

These furmark "arguments" really remind me of the movie Idiocracy;
[cabinet has been debating putting water on the plants instead of Brawndo]
Pvt. Joe Bowers: What *are* these electrolytes? Do you even know?
Secretary of State: They're... what they use to make Brawndo!
Pvt. Joe Bowers: But *why* do they use them to make Brawndo?
Secretary of Defense: [raises hand after a pause] Because Brawndo's got electrolytes.

Sounds similar?

BTW. the movie is worth watching if you havent watched it yet.

[Travelor]

It appears the only time I am able to get my GPU up to +109C is when I run furmark, I tested running BC2 and couldn't get it to get past 95C.

Noxian,

That's partly why I am still a little unsure about the whole repaste thing. Granted, those who do the repaste have been successful in getting lower temps when running Furmark, but that app was built to "push" the GPU beyond that which is normal use, and as such, I am not terribly concerned with my current daily use is going to "damage" the GPU and cause a meltdown. I don't get the ?SOD screens because I remain at stock level and the one game I am into, plays just fine, except for the "Creative" audio problem. No biggie, the Realtek HD Audio has pretty much the same capabilities, just called something different.

As I stated before, I am in a "holding pattern" with the repaste issue - And I will be sending an official request over to the ASUS support people regarding the warranty and opening/repasting the GPU heatsink.

In Peace and Agape,
Trav...

[Dkumagai]

I agree with HellCry. We're paying for a chip that should be able to perform at full load for a few hours without overheating. FurMark just saturates the GPU with work, that's all. If we were overclocking it 25% and stressing it for a few hours then I would say that Gary has a point, but we're not. Your argument that we're pushing the 5870m harder than it was meant to be is to imply the chip is not designed to operate at full load, which is false.

To Noxian. If you're fairly comfortable working with computer hardware, disassembling the g73 isn't a huge stretch. This was my first laptop disassembly, and it went without a hitch. It sounds like you wouldn't have a problem managing without having to RMA.