I didn't take pictures and I'm not writing an essay (Sorry) others can and will do that. I was having a lazy Sunday afternoon with plenty of time to kill and thought this would be a great way to have some bonding time with my new Mini. I had already done the RAM upgrade with no issues but when I did that upgrade I hadn't even powered on the freshly delivered Mini. I had screws flying out of the thing before UPS had left my driveway! So although careful, my main goal was to get the RAM in and button it up so I could play with my new toy.
It's been working great for a few weeks now and I really wanted to do a complete, slow teardown and spend a little time examining the innards. I figured while I was at it I would clean the stock thermal paste and apply some Arctic Silver 5 to the CPU.
It was no more difficult than swapping the RAM but it took much longer because pretty much everything needs to be disassembled. Plus, I was taking my time carefully observing everything. The RAM has to be pulled, the fan, the speaker, heat-pipe and all. Eight screws attach the heat-pipe from the bottom of the motherboard. All T6 Torx.
Anyway I finally had the motherboard completely stripped of components. I cleaned off the existing thermal paste (It looked very dry) and applied the fresh Arctic Silver 5.
I did not do any pre and post benchmarks and I have no idea if it's better in any way but I do know it didn't hurt anything to do this. I like to think it may have helped a bit. Plus, it made for a very fun Sunday afternoon project!
It's been working great for a few weeks now and I really wanted to do a complete, slow teardown and spend a little time examining the innards. I figured while I was at it I would clean the stock thermal paste and apply some Arctic Silver 5 to the CPU.
It was no more difficult than swapping the RAM but it took much longer because pretty much everything needs to be disassembled. Plus, I was taking my time carefully observing everything. The RAM has to be pulled, the fan, the speaker, heat-pipe and all. Eight screws attach the heat-pipe from the bottom of the motherboard. All T6 Torx.
Anyway I finally had the motherboard completely stripped of components. I cleaned off the existing thermal paste (It looked very dry) and applied the fresh Arctic Silver 5.
I did not do any pre and post benchmarks and I have no idea if it's better in any way but I do know it didn't hurt anything to do this. I like to think it may have helped a bit. Plus, it made for a very fun Sunday afternoon project!
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