Swapped thermal pads with a cheap roll, Mark's advice held up

My buddy Mark who runs a repair shop in Phoenix told me to skip the OEM thermal pads and just buy a cheap roll of 1mm stuff, cut to size. I thought he was crazy, figured it'd be too soft or slide around, but after replacing the fan and pads on my launch Switch last weekend, it's running cooler than it ever did. The trick was he said 'use a hole punch for the screw holes' and yeah, that stopped the pads from bunching up under the heat sink. Anyone else tried the generic rolls instead of the precut kits? I'm curious if the 1.5mm works better for the OLED model's bigger die.

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olivia_carr726d ago

Cut the pads a hair wider than the chip so they compress a bit when you clamp the sink down. I did the same cheap roll thing on my V1 and the hotspot dropped about 8C, but the fan still ramps because the die itself runs hot. Did you measure actual temps before and after with a probe or are you going off how warm the exhaust feels? Curious if the 1mm actually makes good contact on the Switch's uneven die or if it's just filling the gap.

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