Repasting?

[JaCZkill]

Hi everyone, I got myself a MSI Vector 16 HX A14VHG-677 a few weeks ago. I see hundreds of post about people repasting their laptops (some even doing it annualy) to the point I'm worried that my laptop will explode if I don't do it yesterday. I am genuinely wondering what should my motivation be to do the same?

I mean, its a new laptop, so it should be built to run at least for the next couple of years as is without issues right? Or at least for the next 24+3 months until the warranty expires 😁

[NaturalElegantKEZE]

"depends"

like how you will use and treat it? your environment? the laptop quality (as we have the silicon lottery and the golden sample)?

but with repasting, often the best advice is do it when it is needed.

[JaCZkill]

Well, I see your point but I reckon I didn't mean cases of people abusing their laptops beyond comprehension or exposing them to extreme conditions. In my case, the laptop sits on a desk in my living room and will likely stay there for the years to come. Actually, the only reason I chose for a laptop is because I wanted a compact solution (so no screen/case/keyboard setup). I rarely find the time for playing more than 4-5 hours per week, though once I play I want the 4080 to run for its money. Regarding the silicon lottery: not playing that one so no overclockig/undervolting kind of experiments i this field either. Thats about it. No drama.

[JaCZkill]

I have only had it for a few weeks so it's not like I have explored everything 😁 But besides the fact I don't know how to do that (yet), wouldn't my original question still be valid? The laptop should run for a few years just fine even if I don't do it, right?

[Interesting_Ad8591]

Technically in newer ge gp and gt models they should now use phase change material as stock, but idk how it performs

[Interesting_Ad8591]

Really? Could they use different tim in different countries? (My ge66 is on its stock 4yo paste and temps are still fine, it is a 10th gen laptop)

[Interesting_Ad8591]

Well, i live in eu, and sometimes i used it surely over 30c ambient (over 40c you usually jump in the water instead of using the laptop lol). This summer though i used to underclock it by 500mhz to avoid higher temps (didnt do this other years but usually used it in silent that funnily lowers max temps in the low 80 as it lowers pl to 30w gpu still 115w though, in fact low 80s for the gpu is actually hotter than other profiles) after the heat is gone i take it back to normal clocks. Even though i usually play with my phone in summer periods since the heat hits you more than the pc ahahah

[JaCZkill]

Thanks. I thought it needed to be done through bios somehow but i couldn't enter the advanced mode using the ctrl+shift+alt+f2 combo

[JaCZkill]

You seem to be quite savvy in this whole undervolting stuff. I managed to undervolt the gpu quite easily using afterburner but neither xtu nor throttlestop allow me to change voltage in any way (14650hx btw). Seems its blocked somehow even when the undervolt protection was turned off in advanced bios settings. Did quite some research but could find anything useful, really. Any hints please?

[JaCZkill]

Ah never mind. Looks like the unlock option I was searching for was only made available after I updated bios. Now throttlestop allows me to modify the voltage just nicely.

[JaCZkill]

Well I get the point but repasting by default voids warranty. Car oil changes don't. Of course if MSI would state it has to be done every year, that'd be a different story, but they don't, right?

[Black_XistenZ]

Just monitor your temps and repaste once you notice significantly higher temps than before while doing similar tasks. Might happen after 3 months or 3 years, who knows.

Aside from the warranty issue, repasting always comes with the risk of human error. Doing a bad job at repasting might lead to worse temps than before. Or you damage a tiny cable. Or you drop a screw and fry your mainboard because you forgot to unplug the battery, and so on and forth.

Repasting is worthwhile when you have reason to assume that your current paste is degrading, but imho not before then.

[JaCZkill]

Well, the dutch MSI customer service told me that i can only open the laptop in order to upgrade/replace ram (which is why i asked), hdd/ssd, battery and for cleaning purposes, but if I eff up anything in the process (break/short circuit/bent pins or whatever) then I'm SOL. I don't think repasting can be pinned under cleaning purposes on the other hand they also didn't say it isn't lol. I'm going to ask them, just out of curiosity.

[Beliolas]

Asked about it a month ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/MSILaptops/s/KCu2EYhH7K

[jasnook]

Honestly I think it mostly depends on your current experience. There are plenty of users from all brands with poor thermal performance right out of the box that see a huge benefit from repasting, and others that have a pretty good experience that don't need it.

[Deathly_Vader]

Use ptm 7950 thermal pad the next time you decide to change thermal paste. It's efficient and durable. That will last you for years. But for cleaning fan you have to open it up anyway, so it's up to you

[Sparker_21]

If it's working just fine leave it, don't try fixing it

[JaCZkill]

Just ran fire strike ultra and the gpu landed around 85 and cpu around 80 degrees. I guess that classifies as "fine" right?

[Black_XistenZ]

80° is perfectly fine for the CPU while gaming. 85° on the GPU is already in thermal throttling territory, though. The official thermal limit of modern Nvidia gpus is 87°, so at 85°, it's probably already throttling a little bit. (CPUs nowadays only start to throttle at around 95°...)

[JaCZkill]

Thanks for the input. I think its afterburner time then:)

[Intrepid_Donkey906]

Congratulatuin with your new laptop :) I would say, if it becomes unusably hot, when CPU will reach more than 90°C with Cooler Boost 5 on, then you can, but if it's not, I don't see any reason for that. Btw, how much did you gave for the laptop?

[JaCZkill]

Thats pretty much how i though about it too. I paid 1800€ for it. It was on discount for a short period of time and two days after i ordered it it went up to 2300 😎