XPS 17 Repaste Step by Step

[ironnerd]

A couple weeks ago the motherboard on my XPS 17 stopped charging the battery so replacement was up and I figured what better time to re-paste the cpu and gpu.

Here is what was needed:

1. Small phillips head screwdriver
2. 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
3. Coffee Filters / Lint free cloth
4. Your favorite thermal compound. (There is lots of debate over which is the best to use. I used Arctic Silver 5 as it has served me well over the years)
5. An old card to spread the thermal compound. (I used an empty home depot gift card)
6. Patience

Before we get started, read the whole guide and make sure you are comfortable performing this task. While I don't beleive this will void your warranty (I don't know for sure), it will void your warranty if break it. I take no responsibility for your actions.

Dell provides excellent service manuals for all of their machines freely online. This is one of the things I like best about Dell support. The XPS 17 Manual is available at this link

The first thing you are going to want is a large clean work area. I have a piece of shipping foam with labels on it to keep track of the screws. Use what works best for you, but keeping them organized with make reassembly a LOT quicker.

I apologize for the lousy pictures, my camera seems to have disappeared and all I had was my blackberry.

Start by unplugging the A/C adapter and removing the battery. Leave the laptop upside down like shown here.



Next, remove the any media card you may have installed or the blank in the slot. Now unscrew and remove the module cover over the RAM and hard drive bays.



Remove the memory modules by carefully pushing the side clips away from the module. It will spring up on an angle when released. Note this angle as that is the same angle you will need to re-insert it on. Carefully slide it out and repeat for all memory modules.



Next Remove the hard drive(s). If you only have one, remove the extra caddy, if you don't have an extra caddy then don't worry about this step. Remove the screw for the optical drive at the same time. Screws highlighted in red. When the screws are removed, grab the tab that says 'This side up' and carefully slide the drive away from the plug, once its out remove it. The optical drive should slide out the side now too.



Now, unscrew the 3 palm rest screws that are accessible now that the optical drive is out of the way.



Once the screws are out, find the clip in the HDD1 bay shown below. You will need to unhook that and then press it down. Now it gets tricky. You need to turn the laptop over and open the display while keeping that clip from re-attaching. Once the display is open, push up on the clip and the palm rest should come up a bit. Get your finger under the edge and slowly start working your way around. Be very careful. I think if anything is going to be broken, this will be it. Go slow, it took me about 10 minutes to get it off the first time. When its about to fully release, go slow as there are cables connecting the touchpad to the motherboard as well as another cable for the strip with the power button in it. Once out, turn it over and lay it down without putting any pressure on the cables. I didn't get a good picture of this, so take a look at the Dell guide if you don't understand.



Here are the cables connected to the motherboard. You need to flip the little tab on top of each one up, then they should come right out. Set the palm rest aside. (see keyboard cables for an image with the clip up)



The keyboard now needs to come out. Remove the 4 screws attaching it at the top then slide it towards the screen slighty to get the tabs at the bottom out, then flip it over.



Disconnect the cables. Mine is backlit so there are two cables to remove. Yours may only have one. These are the same as the palm rest cables, flip the tab up, then pull the cable out. Notice the clip on the keyboard is up in this picture.



Next disconnect the antenna cables on the mini cards. I have the WLAN and TV Tuner in mine. Then unscrew the single and remove the card. Make sure the antenna cables move freely or taking the display off will be a pain.



Disconnect the display cable. Unscrew the screw in the top corner.



Next remove the 4 screws on the display hinges. Note: Only one side shown.



Then close the lid and turn the laptop over. Remove the remaining two display screws. Then turn the laptop back over, carfully open the display then lift up. The display should slide out easily. Watch out for the cables.



Now, disconnect the bluetooth cable if equipped and then lift the card out.



Now flip the laptop back upside down and remove the 10 screws holding the top cover on. Note: RAM and HDD are installed in this image, they should already be removed.





Then turn it back over and remove the 10 screws holding the bottom on. Also carefully disconnect the speaker and subwoofer cables. (Shown in yellow)



Carefully separate the top and bottom and you will be left with the access to the heatsink. Now would be a good time to clean the fan if needed.



Now, remove the heatsink by loosening the screws following the number pattern written on it. There is a number beside each screw.

CPU with heatsink removed



GPU with heatsink removed



Now we need to clean these up. It will likely be hard and crubmly, use coffee filter / lint free cloth to wipe off what you can, then start using the isopropyl alcohol to really clean it up. DO NOT SCRAPE IT OFF! Take your time as if you don't get it clean you've wasted your time. You want a mirror finish on these. If you look carefully at the next picture, you can actually see the blackberry logo from the back of my phone when I was taking the picture. It has to be that clean.



Also, clean up the paste on the heatsink. I was really disappointed with the quality of the heatsink. The surface was not near perfectly smooth and mine even seemed to have a gouge in the corner. Hence I felt it was absolutely necessary to tint the heatsink. You do this by applying a small amount of AS5 to a corner and then working it in with a flat edge (remember that gift card?) and once you feel all the cracks are filled, gently wipe off the excess. Do not use any more solvents on the heatsink once you have completed this step.

Next, apply a small amount (about the size of a grain of rice) to the corner of the cpu.



Using your flat edge tool (gift card), carefully spread it out. It's very easy to use too much. Go very slow and don't add more, you want a very thin layer.

This is the only picture that turned out remotely well of this part.



Do the same with the GPU.

Once the paste job is done, clean up any extra that is not on the die. This is not shown in the images. Use the same cleaner you used to remove the paste. A clean Qtip works best for this. I didn't have any on hand, so I tried my patience with a coffee filter a toothpick. Be careful and make sure not to get any solvent onto the paste that is on the die.

When you are finished, carefully replace the heatsink on top and tighen the screws in the order listed on the heatsink.

Now you are ready to re-assemble. Just follow the steps in reverse.

I'm sure some of you are wondering about temperature changes. Well this isn't an apples-apples comparison as the the whole motherboard was replaced so the gpu is different.

After about a week of break-in.

CPU:
Idle: 43-52C
Load: 62-64C

GPU:
Idle: 52C
Load: 63C

Previous Temps:
CPU:
Idle: 49-55C
Load: 69-73C

GPU:
Idle: 58C
Load: 69C

Load temps are a combination of 3DMark06 and Furmark 1.8.2.

I'm hoping to have some time to get some further temperature information as well as some overclocking info but it may be a little while as I'm quite busy these days.

[Iiyamsx1]

Fantastic guide. Well written and just what I was looking for
I am surprised they are using only one copper part to transfer the heat away for each chip.
It's a shame the heatsink isnt smooth either but at least the paste is there to fill the larger gaps!

Thank you

Its probably a good idea to clean the fan as well if needed. May as well while you can :-)

[splinterpc]

wow, great work iron nerd, very professional guide! i confess that i'm little afraid to repaste gpu and cpu, for now my temps are fine

[sprtnbsblplya]

Nice!
Glad to see others posting up repaste guides, well done!

[RoosterRed]

You Rock!
Seriously, Nice work and great attention to detail. Considered this copied and in my favorites. I foresee this in my future from my playing around with Afterburner and the crappy job that was done in factory.
+1
Rooster

[yukinok25]

Amazing guide!! Very clear indeed!!

I am a little scared too, to do it, but I am VERY tempted...

[ironnerd]

Its probably a good idea to clean the fan as well if needed. May as well while you can :-)

Good point. Guide has been updated!

Thanks

[mourningstar62]

I wanted to say very thorough guide, just one small gripe with the thermal paste, its very messy on the GPU.

A little pro-tip from my many thermal paste installs put the dot of thermal paste in the center of the chip and spread outwards. If you get any off the sides of the chip use a CLEAN q-tip dipped in a little isopropyl alcohol (go to your drug store) and remove excess paste along the sides of the chip.

[ironnerd]

I wanted to say very thorough guide, just one small gripe with the thermal paste, its very messy on the GPU.

A little pro-tip from my many thermal paste installs put the dot of thermal paste in the center of the chip and spread outwards. If you get any off the sides of the chip use a CLEAN q-tip dipped in a little isopropyl alcohol (go to your drug store) and remove excess paste along the sides of the chip.

I've updated the guide as this was a glaring omission. The image was the only one I had showing the spreading, but I missed the info about cleaning it up afterwards. I wish more of the pictures had turned out.

As for middle or side, middle means less cleanup (perhaps none if you are careful enough), but I find it always takes me longer to spread evenly that way.

I normally end up having to do cleanup regardless as I have extremely unsteady hands due to an essential tremor. It can be a real pain at times!

[RedlanceEQ]

Awesome thread! Thanks a lot for posting it in such details. I'm looking forward to doing it myself as well to get my XPS 17 to run cooler.

+1 on rep!