Dell XPS M1330 - nVidia GeForce 8400M GS - Copper Mod

[imzomnia]

Ah so this is the laptop model + the nvidia GPU that has the significant defectiveness.

At the Apple community people were starting to fear that all nvidia gpu's were affected but seems to me that its the dell m1330 and the m1530 that are plagued with the nvidia 8400m GS cards with overheating issues.

All the pieces fit the puzzle as I see this copper mod which nvidia does say that "Certain notebook configurations with GPUs and MCPs manufactured with a certain die/packaging material set are failing in the field at higher than normal rates."

This is because of statistic, you see more GPU issue with Dell because Dell sold more laptop with nvidia GPU than Apple. I recently got M1530 and the GPU is running cooler than the M1330. I used Artic Silver on my M1330 since I got a board replaced. There has not been any issue since.

[Lao]

And maybe Apple found a better way of cooling the nVidia chipset, not like Dell did.

[imzomnia]

I just added copper mod. I used copper pipe coupling which costs $0.67. I split the coupling to flaten it then cut to the size per your guide. The copper pipe thickness is about 1.5mm. Indeed, the GPU temperature is running lower. This is a good mod to keep GPU temperature low.

[johnny13oi]

Hey guys, I have been sanding down an aluminum piece I found with 400 grit wet sandpaper and for the past couple of hours now. Do you think that sanding with 400 grit is good enough to not scratch the gpu or anything? I really wish I had copper but couldn't find anywhere near me that had it. And don't wanna spend $15 on a little piece of copper about the size of a penny. And is there anything around the household that one can use to compare the thickness? A ruler does not seem very accurate down to these sizes.

[imzomnia]

Hey guys, I have been sanding down an aluminum piece I found with 400 grit wet sandpaper and for the past couple of hours now. Do you think that sanding with 400 grit is good enough to not scratch the gpu or anything? I really wish I had copper but couldn't find anywhere near me that had it. And don't wanna spend $15 on a little piece of copper about the size of a penny. And is there anything around the household that one can use to compare the thickness? A ruler does not seem very accurate down to these sizes.

If you have Dremel Tool, you can go to Home Depot and get copper pipe coupling. It costs less than a dollar.

[johnny13oi]

If you have Dremel Tool, you can go to Home Depot and get copper pipe coupling. It costs less than a dollar.

Yeah I thought about it, but you can't really get it to be perfectly flat which the GPU really needs. The contact point of the GPU is extremely small so the piece of copper must be perfectly flat to transfer the heat most efficiently. Hammering it wouldn't work either. And thermal paste does a really bad job at transferring heat if it is thick. It acts as an insulator instead of it is thick (if the piece of copper is not flat).

[imzomnia]

I finished off with a sand paper on a glass surface to make sure it perfectly flat. The thickness is about 1mm after it's all done. The thermal paste will be very thin once you tighten all the screws on the Heat/Fan Assembly. Before the copper mod the GPU was in 70's C during normal usage. After the mod, the GPU temperature is in low 60's C under normal usage. I use Nvidia System Monitor to monitor the GPU temparature.

[Les]

Ok... Ive read almost all of the million entries on this and kudos to all; I am going to move forward and follow it.

Questions...

1. Do you apply the thermal paste to both the GPU/copper sheet and then to the copper sheet/heatsink? Is it poss to avoid gluing it to the gpu so it can be easily removed if necessary in the future?

2. Has anyone found any Canada/US distributors for the precut sheet?

I understand I can get Arctic Silver from Radio Shack so I have no prob there...

oh also... why hasent anyone also replaced that foam with the copper on top of the cpu as well?

[Tricks.]

oh also... why hasent anyone also replaced that foam with the copper on top of the cpu as well?

The CPU has direct contact with the heatsink via thermal paste already.

sorry I havent done the mod so I cant help you with the other questions!

[Lao]

Ok... Ive read almost all of the million entries on this and kudos to all; I am going to move forward and follow it.

Questions...

1. Do you apply the thermal paste to both the GPU/copper sheet and then to the copper sheet/heatsink? Is it poss to avoid gluing it to the gpu so it can be easily removed if necessary in the future?

2. Has anyone found any Canada/US distributors for the precut sheet?

I understand I can get Arctic Silver from Radio Shack so I have no prob there...

oh also... why hasent anyone also replaced that foam with the copper on top of the cpu as well?

1. You apply thermal compound between copper sheet & HSF and copper sheet & GPU. It's best to apply AS5 between copper sheet and HSF unit so you can easily undo the process in case you'll be needing the warranty. NEVER use a thermal adhesive compound or you will never be able to undo the "copper modd".

2. Don't know.