bn20

Thanks! I tried your advice with the alcohol.. I removed enough to make a good seal with the AS5, but my temperature still idles at around 90.. even with a cooler pad. At this point, I'm not too sure it actually was a thermal pad. It looked like a harder plastic piece that gapped between ASUS's thermal paste and the headsink. Does anyone know if they're okay to have direct contact? I'm thinking of switching to the copper shim between the headsink, but I'll try to find some resources.

Hey guys, sorry to bump this thread, but I have an issue. I had the same overheating issues as you.. the GPU was especially a problem, since it would cause slowdowns in my games after a few minutes as the temperature got up to around 109. It idled between 80 and 90, since the fan would turn on at 90 and bring it back down. So I'm following your guide, I have my AC5 and the know-how. I cracked it open and took a look. ASUS apparently uses thermal pads.. the problem being, the thermal pads had literally melted! For both the GPU and CPU, the thermal pads had holes burned into the middle of them. I removed the bit of thermal paste residue from the CPU and it seems to be fine. Idling around 45. Not good, but acceptable. In terms of the GPU, I tried to scrape away what was left of the thermal pad, but it's hard plastic and I can't get it off. I applied the AC5 but I don't think the seal is good enough to be effective, as my GPU temps are still super high. So, I'm kind of at a crossroads here. Are there any tricks or tips to removing the melted thermal pads? Or should I even bother? Thanks