Tornado F5 Cooling mod

Semmy · Dec 7, 2020

Hello For a long time I wanted a laptop like the Tornado F5, but I already had a MSI GT62. I had the idea to replace the motherboard from the Tornado F5, but they are very expensive in new condition. And I accidentally found an MS-16L1 motherboard for sale for a small price. So I decided to buy it and restore it. The problem was the lack of image output on the laptop display, the rest of the board was working. I found a repair service that was able to restore it (it was not easy).

Installing the motherboard, and mini-board
Next, I needed to install it in my laptop. But in the repair service I was warned that the GT62 (MS-16L2) mini power-on board is not compatible with the MS-16L1 main board, and may cause a short circuit.
Then I compared another mini audio board and it was also very different from the GT62 variant. I decided not to risk it and look for all the necessary mini-boards for the MS-16L1.
I searched for the right ones for a long time and found them. I also found a Top-case with a complete set of mini-boards for the Tornado F5. It's hard to find it.. It is mostly sold without mini-boards, just a keyboard, touch pad and top case.
If you want to buy new mini-boards from Eurocom, it will be very expensive. The Eurocom representative told me that the inclusion fee costs 299 Euro.

Cooling
Obviously, the cooling of the MSI GT62 does not fit the Tornado F5. Therefore, you have 2 options - either buy a separate set of heat sinks for cpu and gpu Tornado F5. Or make it itself.

Copper block

I decided to make a custom heat sink for the processor because it was difficult to find it. I searched for a long time and went through different options. I found a separate custom copper block on sale that is easy to disassemble and can be customized to suit your needs. There are blocks for 4 and 6 heat pipes. I bought 6 heat pipes. Then I started looking for suitable heat pipes with a diameter of 6mm, round, there are also flat ones. It's good that I ordered them with a margin, 2 sets of different lengths, 250mm and 300mm, because when assembling the heat sink, heat pipes of different lengths were needed. Since it is impossible to install tubes of the same length along the outer and inner radius when bending the heat pipes. They will either be too short on one side or too long on the other.

Heat pipes
After I received all the parts, I needed to bend the heat pipes. This can be done, but only with special devices, otherwise the tube may be damaged and it will not work. You can find on YouTube how to do it right. The challenge was to precisely position the heat pipes in the laptop and bend them precisely so that the heat sink would fit in the right place, and so that they would not touch anything in the laptop. The amount required is limited, so a test sample is required first. Otherwise, you can ruin all the pipes.
I took a thick copper wire. I bent it with a pipe bend and got the shape I needed approximately. I tried it on in a laptop and now I knew what shape and length I need a heat pipe, great.

Radiator
This turned out to be the hardest part of my cooling off. There are no separate heat sinks needed for my laptop. Soldering the radiator to the heat pipes is too difficult for me. Therefore, it was necessary to find another option.
There was an idea to find a ready-made cooler from a desktop, in which there are holes for heat pipes. After a long search, I settled on the Zalman CNPS8000 variant. It was perfect because the heat pipes were close to each other.
And I needed 2 such coolers, the required part was small, this was not enough from one cooler.
Then I had to disassemble them and remove all the ribs from the heat pipes - it was very difficult and time-consuming.

I got ready-made fins with holes for heat pipes. Now it was necessary to accurately measure their size so that they fit in the laptop case. Then it was necessary to cut off all unnecessary (for this we need scissors for metal). We deliver the necessary shape and put everything together.

Now you need to put the radiator on the heat pipes. It was not very easy. Later it will be necessary to glue the lower and upper parts of the radiator so that air does not escape through them. We check the finished heat sink by heating - everything works, heat goes from the copper block to the radiator.
Done.

Heat sink mounts
Another difficulty was finding the right mounts, because the complete ones did not fit my motherboard. It was decided to trim them using the Angle Grinder. And also cut through the places for the screws.
I also needed to bend them a little. Done.

Isolate
Since this is a non-standard, non-factory heat sink, there was a possibility that in some places it could cause a short circuit. So I decided to insulate the bottom of the heat sink mounts, one heat pipe, switch board, LAN connector and one hinge, as well as part of the processor fan.

Cooling the video card mosfets
The difficulty lies in the fact that the cooling plate is located on the processor heat sink (stock option). I had to do it myself. It was difficult to find a solution so that it would not simultaneously cause a short circuit on the video card. It was necessary to fix it and provide a clamp.
I cut off part of the plate from the GT62 cooling, then glued it with thermal glue to a part of the heat sink. This part of the radiator, together with the plate, is pressed by the heat sink of the video card to the mosfets video card's. And from above it is additionally pressed with two pieces of rubber under the lid.
This is not the best solution. I think you need something more reliable.

Heat sink of the video card
For the most part, it didn't need to be tweaked. Only a small part is the heat pipe going to the processor. I decided to gently bend it in several places to fit the new processor heat sink. I also had to cut off part of the old plate on it, which then went to the mosfets. Grind some part at the bottom so that the screws on the processor heat sink do not interfere. And attach everything through a thermo-pad.

Start
It remains to get the processor and assemble the entire system. I first decided to test this with a Pentium G5600F processor so as not to risk a more expensive processor. And it turned out that this processor does not require a pin-mod. It has a Kaby Lake underlay.
Now it remains to completely disassemble the GT62 and assemble the Tornado F5. It was very difficult.
Done. Now the first launch, it's a little long. And .... we see the picture. The Tornado F5 cooling mod is complete.

Photo of the finished assembly

A little check, the system is stable and you can install a more powerful i7 8700 processor (and pin-mod)
The processor is working fine.

A small test.

The whole process took a very long time, since there were financial constraints and a significant part of the time was spent restoring the motherboard. If it's easier for you to pay money and buy a ready-made Tornado F5 heat sink, then you'd better do it. Some also put liquid cooling on their own.
I am planning to additionally install CPU VRM cooling. And it is possible to return to the stock fan. They are needed to completely cool the entire system.
(Sorry for possible translation mistakes)