g71gx bestbuy version upgrades?

[imported_browsing]

I've got a g71gx bestbuy model, still a little confused on what the specific complete model number for this one is because there seems to be a lot of configurations, that has served me pretty well over the last two years. There are a few specific quirks such as a double typing keyboard that there doesn't seem to be any real fix or or a GPU that runs too hot and originally used to shut the system down randomly. Now if it gets too hot after a few hours of gaming it drops the framerate to unplayable until I turn it off and let it cool for a few moments.

To try to help this, I finally cracked it open and completely disassembled it to replace the thermal compound on the GPU, northbridge and the CPU. It was probably the most difficult to clean thermal paste I've ever seen before.

The only other modification I've made is that I put 12gb of ram in it, even though there are varying reports of success with this, it appears to work and utilize the memory fine.

What I'm curious about now, because I'm still idling at 45C on the CPU and 62C on the GPU, is if anyone has any experience with a mod like I found here. Did he just buy some copper ram heatsinks and use the pull off adhesive to stick them to the aluminum heatsink and copper heatsinks or is there something more elaborate I'm missing? Does that actually help to dissipate the heat enough to make a difference? I'm worried they could just fall off and go rattling around against my mobo.

Also, contrary to some of the stuff on the web, the GPU isn't soldered to the mobo but I haven't found one actual reference to a usable replacement/upgrade for the existing GPU. Don't get me wrong, it still plays games like Skyrim in middle/high quality with no issues beyond the one I reference above about dropping frames over the longterm, but I would like to upgrade it to get better performance. I'd also like to dump the 1440 screen and get a 1920 but I've only found one company who lists a replacement and they haven't returned my contact yet.

As for a CPU upgrade, I've read that quad core would actually bog it down, has anyone done anything like this? For this model, compared to replacing the GPU, a CPU change would be a piece of cake. However, I'm also worried about the cooling since it's already warm with what it has in it already.

Does anyone have any experience with modifications/upgrades on this laptop model? Sorry to sort of shotgun the variety of topics but there's a lot I wish I could get going on this thing. It's been good so I don't really want to shell out the moola to replace it with a brand new machine but...

 

[heymrdj]

Being at work I can't say much, but I will say if the BIOS supports it a quad could be dropped in, just check with ark.intel.com that the wattage is the same. IE if it has a 20W TDP processor in it, get a 20W quad, not a 35W.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Being at work I can't say much, but I will say if the BIOS supports it a quad could be dropped in, just check with ark.intel.com that the wattage is the same. IE if it has a 20W TDP processor in it, get a 20W quad, not a 35W.

There is no such thing as 20w quad core. They are 45w TDP parts, especially those that are available for that computer.

 

[imported_browsing]

Just an update -- I replaced the thermal paste on the CPU, GPU and northbridge with MX-4 as well as lapping them -- I haven't seen a decrease in temperatures at all on the GPU, maybe 1-2C on the CPU. I think the GPU just gets too hot. They used an aluminum heatsink on the GPU ram and it just cooks 100% of the time. I used copper RAM heatsinks with thermal pads all along the GPU ram as well as the exposed copper heatpipes to the fan but I'm not sure if it actually hurt the airflow by removing the clearance above the aluminum heatsink so I removed it. Feeling sort of back at square one here.

Speaking of the bios, I tried to undervolt both the CPU and the GPU and managed it with neither. It looks like the voltages are completely locked. Anyone more experienced with undervolting know a way around it or could someone verify I should be able to undervolt this thing? It's a good workhorse but it's getting to the point where it literally heats up the room that it's in.