Heatsink mod! Must read it if you use Fan control!

Getting the bottom to heat up is probably an indication of the heat sink having good contact with the cpu/nb as neither of those chips should be in contact with the plastic. You say that your heat sink touches the bottom casing and this is probably why it gets hotter.

 

After reading this I felt like doing this mod right away. After going through bunch of PC junk in storage i found an old Intel i486sx processor with black aluminum heatsink, which looked to be just the right height for Aspire One. So i took apart AAO, removed OEM heatsink. And noticed the thermal pads:

I replaced them with thermal paste just in case. I have also measured and cut a piece of heatsink from that old processor. I have attached it to OEM heatsink board by the thermal paste (white colour) and it seemed to hold quite well so i decided to leave it as it is. Here is the end result:

So then i put it back together and viola!
First thing I noticed was that fan runs a lot quieter even at max.
Then I ran some CPU intensive applications (1.6Ghz on 100% load) for about 45 minutes with fan set to AUTO the max temperature was 68C, but most of the time it stayed around 65C (before it would have been 75-80C. Maybe more, I never took the risk).
Also, if I set fan on AUTO and browse web, listen to music the max temp is 52C-55C (65C before mod). If i just leave it to play APE (High) lossless music via foobar2000 temp would be at constant 49C.
I must also note that with heatsink mod it takes a lot longer for it to heat up, but it also takes longer for it to cool down.

To sum it up, the heatsink mod was well worth the trouble. It took me less than 45minutes to do and it resulted in 10-15C drop and silenced the CPU fan. Highly recommended :mrgreen:

 

mine still seems to get rather hot, just as beffore.

with the AC adapter pugged in, watching full screen HULU, I get about 78C MAX, it has never gotten any higher than that.

I did insert a shim from a pop-can made of aluminum, didn' seem to help it any as far as temp is concerned.

I have linpus and no fan speed mods or anything.

I am a major tweakaholic, I want to replace the fan with another more effecient one.


Now I want to take out the shims and check the temps again..... one of these days I am gonna kill a computer. I have already killed two graphics cards on my main PC by tweaking them beyond safe levels and destroying bios's.

btw NICE PICS

*EDIT* I removed the shims (there is no hope for me... save yourselves) and the temps went wayyyy down, I am getting 64C MAX now. and I mean MAX, 15 minutes with full screen HULU sitting on a pillow blocking airflow.

 

@speekergeek:

What did you use for add-on heatsinks? Wanting to do this mod, as my One gets pretty warm when playing FPS games, and want to be sure what I am getting will work. Actually, it gets pretty warm even doing an Av scan, or anything CPU intensive. I am using aa1ctl, but have it set very conservatively (on auto at 57, on low at 50). Mainly just to keep it quiet at idle.

What kind of thermal compound do I need, if I get the self-stick type heat sinks? Any?

There is no hope for me, either...or my poor One...poor thing is my guinea pig; it's the first computer that I have had sole ownership, and therefore free reign to destroy :shock: ...errrr, modify...

Thanks for any advice, from any of you...

 

I didn't post any pix of mine cause it is JPL (just plain ugly).

I cannibalized an old heatsink from a 1999 DELL computer's southbridge. I didn't use any heatsink "glue" I just sanded it down and bent the hell out of it to fit.

The heatsink is thick enough to hold itself firmly against the chassis AND the fan shroud, thereby pressing the stock heatsink firmly against the CPU and other vital components.

given a second shot and some $$$, I would order up some RAM heatsinks and use thermal tape. Who knows what is better..

I know that after shim-removal I run 10C cooler, do yourself a favor and don't add shims, just bend the tabs where the screws hold the sink on to the motherboard to get better contact.

Mike

 

On a side note, CPUBurn is a good test for maximum temps, you need to install Wine for it to work though.

I pushed mine up to 73C even after the mod, not good. could be better. Maybe the heatsink is not fully in contact.

Other possibility is that some here are exaggerating their temp claims.

 

Has anyone tried the approach taken by this guy?



I'm not sure what material he's using for the fins, but I'm thinking of trying a soda can -- perhaps sanded to remove the paint.

So it sounds like the thermal paste will keep these things from coming off? ... or would one have to be careful swinging the laptop around after this mod?

Like some other folks I've read from, the fan in my AOA150, 160Gb One was nice and silent when I got it, but it suddenly started making a louder noise when spinning full-speed. (I use fan control under linux.) It's not the worst sound I've ever heard from a fan, but quite annoying nonetheless.

I'm hoping to minimize this annoyance with the mod, but really it seems there would be a market for a complete replacement fan/heatsink unit for these things!

 

Believe less that %50 of the stuff you read on the net, I read in the comments on that video a guy put AS5 instead of normal thermal grease, and his temps went from 50C average to 25-30C average :roll:

I would like to see some after market cooling for it, maybe on the order of 5400 CFM, doubles as a hairdryer or a leafblower :lol:

I think I get too obsessive about these kind of things though, best to leave well enough alone UNLESS you have a noisy fan, which many reportedly have.

Mine buzzes if i rotate it quickly towards, then away from me, I get a little buzz from the fan (maybe hitting the shroud), but my temps are under control overall, I'm just a tweakaholic.

Mike

 

I've already got some generic thermal grease that I'll probably use. It must already be way better than the thermal pads(?) that are stock in the One. The Arctic Silver must be only a tiny bit better than this generic stuff.

I just hope it holds onto the fins well enough.

And speekergeek, mine makes that minor buzzing noise if I tilt it quickly also, and it stays pretty quiet most of the time... But when I do some halfway heavy stuff and that fan comes on (high), it now makes a pretty displeasing noise.

 

There are two type of heatsink compound;

The CPU type (Artic Silver) where you plan to remove the heatsink at some time and the heatsink has a fastening device. It has not adhesive properties.

and

The two part adhesive (Artic Alumina Thermal Adhesive), where you don't plan on removing the heatsink, and the adhesive is the device which holds the heatsink in place. This two part adhesive is what you want to use for adding heatsink(s) (Fins) to the existing AAO fan assembly.

 

I attempted to change the thermal pad with a thermal paste and it really does make a difference!
I was surfing the web at 30C and less..
I might try other cooling tricks...
P.S, I used SpeedFan for measuring the temperature

 

A white bezel is a freakin awesome idea!

I too can get 30c during web surfing, but it varies sooo much, I average 50c with a few programs running (Kooldock, openoffice, Kontact, firefox)

I still believe that many claims are overstated, it happens in many forums such as overclocking and video card modding forums.

The usual response I see is "show pics or it didn't happen!"

I believe your 30C without a doubt, I did not measure the difference between thermal pads and not having them, I just removed mine, I don't doubt the temps went down, there is like 2mm of thermal gunk the heat had to dissipate through before, now the contact is nearly perfect.

Keep on tweakin!

Mike

 

do you have any pictures of exactly where you put the thermal paste? or is it pretty much where the other guy put it previously? how come you get 35 and the other guy gets 50?
you have a printscreen?

 

I had a HOT Toshiba laptop that had a loud, almost non-stop fan. It was not a pleasant experience, so I am planning to modify the cooling system of my soon-to-be-in-my-possession AA1. I did some digging around at some computer shops and found a couple of candidates for heat sinks:



The blue one is 4.4x1.25x.6cm and the black one is 2.5x2.5x.5cm. The material is probably aluminum, and definitely not copper. I like the blue one due to the high exposed surface area and I think it could cover both hotspots in the AA1. Also, it's slim so it won't restrict much airflow.
Any opinions?

 

I opened a new thread about this.
I got a screenshot, but I didn't take any pics while taking it apart.

 

link?

 

Here: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=11277

 

Here is my mod, i never goes under 52°C in standby....
need to make more tests however



The heatsink is recycled it from an old pc and fits very good with some adjustement, it is cave so the air should pass well, but i will move it (and re-adapt) a little bit on the right (see pic), because how i have seen into some pics that the chips are a little decentered respect my actual position (northbridge in particular)

 

I saw that very same heat sink during my own hunt, but I passed it over due to size mismatch. Apparently, I underestimated available space! It seems like a tight squeeze, however.
Well, post results if you can. I may or may not install one of my own, depending on the results of others.
*edit* I see the results were posted elsewhere. Nice work.

 

the site seems like a good source for a wealth of laptop fans and assemblies - could be good for looking for mods and perhaps a more efficient fan.