How to check if heat sink is working as it should ?

ChairmanSaab

Honorable
Feb 8, 2013
21
0
10,560
Hello guys,
My laptop was is overheating and cool air is blowing out of fan. I am sure it's heat sink, is there any way by which one can increase flow? (There is adequate TIM so don't ask please). Because why I touch on top of the heat sink (where CPU spreader is) it's very hot but not the heat pipe!

Is there any physical way to test heat sink? Like with boiling water?

Thanks!
 

geofelt

Distinguished
Too much tim can act as an insulator.
The purpose of tim is to fill in microscopic pits in the mating surfaces that can trap air.
It is hard to use too little.
Over time, tim can lose it's effectiveness. You might want to consider remounting the cooler.

It is always possible that the heat pipes have lost fluid or otherwise become defective.
It sounds like that might be the case. It would be unusual, but possible.
If so, your only remedy would be to replace the cooler.
 

geofelt

Distinguished
It was the description "sufficient" that suggested that you might have use lots of tim.

If the cooling fins are not at least warm, it suggests that there is no heat circulating to them,
and that the cooler is defective. I don't know if putting the base in boiling water and touching the fins would prove anything without also rigging up a van to remove the heat. Wouldn't hurt to try.