How to Upgrade a Notebook - Reducing the Heat
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This part will drastically reduce the heat problems many notebooks face. Conversely, this may also explain why your computer's fan might be on all the time or how loud it gets. Many manufacturers use some rather crappy thermal pastes. Gateway is no different.
I removed what they call thermal paste from the Intel chipset/GPU, which was some stick pad (I don't know how great it is, but it clearly wasn't helping any) and anything left on the copper cooler. I used some rubbing alcohol and a razor blade on the copper cooler. Be careful not to scratch up the bottom of the copper cooler. I used Arctic Silver, which can be found for roughly $5- $8 online. This is one of the better thermal pastes out there. I applied a small coat to both cores, and then put the cooler back on. Again, I was very careful to slowly tighten both screws so not to apply too much pressure on one side at a time.
After all is well, you should remove it again and take off the cooler. This time make sure that the copper cooler has the dark silver imprint of the cores on it. If not, you should reapply the thermal paste and make sure it is seated correctly, maximizing the surface area to which the heat is transferred. If it isn't making complete contact, you are going to be trying to cool the core with only ˝ of it being able to transfer heat. This is going to cause overheating or even kill the CPU!! When you're finished don't forget to plug the fan back into the motherboard. This is often forgotten and not good for the computer.
If everything is good at this point, you're basically done. You just have to put all the screws and covers back in. Make sure you don't have any thermal paste outside the cores. Also check to see that nothing is loose and that anything that doesn't belong is gone. After you've checked carefully, screw the cover back on. Now plug in the battery and power cord and you are ready to go!
I hope this little how-to has helped you understand that upgrading a notebook yourself isn't out to the question. While it will require more attention to detail, it is no different in principle than a desktop PC. As always take your time, be careful and it will turn out fine. Doing the few upgrades listed here has turned this run of the mill PC into a machine that is up to multitasking -- it runs cooler, too. If you have any questions or need help with any upgrades to your notebook, visit the Dev Hardware Forums where very knowledgeable members or myself can help you get your questions or problems answered.
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