Upgrade Your Steam Deck With A Thermal Paste Makeover!

How to clean and replace thermal paste on a steam deck.
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[@cgbiller]

Don't know when or if at all I'll need this but thoroughly enjoyed nonetheless. I like how quick and concise these videos are.

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thank you so much, I appreciate the feedback 😊

[@blastv110]

Yup. No filler. No lame jokes. No fake nerd voice trying to be funny. Just straight to the point. Loved it.

[@johnboy4955]

@@blastv110gigglebits

[@fairplayer916]

I love how quick and easy you made this

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thank you so much and I hope I could help you if you ended up or decide to do the thermal yourself

[@robertchamberlin2362]

Quick and to the point, perfect video Thanks

[@RetroRepairYT]

I am happy I could help ! Thanks for the support and awesome comment !

[@BenDover-qo9mg]

Important information: if possible, use a spreader for the thermal paste as APUs release heat throughout the whole IHS unlike CPUs which release a majority of it through the middle.

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks so much for the info and knowledge, I'm always happy to take great feedback like yours 😊

[@autraumaton]

i appreciate the concise tutorial on how to do this, i was able to follow along and replace the paste on mine in

[@RetroRepairYT]

You're very welcome, I'm happy I could help . Thank you for the awesome compliment

[@dradis1]

Thank you! Direct and easy to follow, gotta love it!

[@RetroRepairYT]

I'm happy I made it easy, it's definitely a game changer

[@hongerjp]

Best video quick tip video ever. Right to the point 👌 💯

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks so much for your awesome compliment ☺️

[@knoxinzone1983]

Successfully changed my thermalpaste to Kryonaut with your guide. Thanks!

[@RetroRepairYT]

Happy I could help! how are the temps on Kryonaut ? I thinking I want to try it

[@knoxinzone1983]

@@RetroRepairYT I got around 80°c when playing Doom. As I disassembled my Steam Deck straight away when I got it, I didn't have the initial temperature reading. But one thing for sure, the fan noise is definitely less noticeable compared to the video recording uploaded by other people.

[@RetroRepairYT]

@@knoxinzone1983 Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. I am very much going to use Kryonaut now. Have you seen this floating around. I think its an upcoming rev to the steam deck for thermals. I want this heat rn www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/12oit67/pictures_of_new_steam_deck_motherboardthermal/

[@knoxinzone1983]

@@RetroRepairYT Sadly I didn't get the new model, as I purchased my Steam Deck from Komodo (previously known as Degica, which also sold Steam Controller). The Steam Deck adoption rate is really slow in Japan. Tbh, that plate looks dope af.

[@user-cw859]

Thank you for the good information! Hav a nice day!

[@RetroRepairYT]

You're welcome, thank you for the nice comment. I hope you have a great day !

[@DrewskiGaming0]

I'll keep this in mind when I get a steam deck

[@jerryakamuadams6399]

great concise video. straight to the point. reccomendations for type of thermal paste?

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks for the kind words, I definitely appreciate it. For sure, I suggest either Arctic MX6 or Arctic Silver 5. In the video I use Corsair XTM70 . Anyone of them will do well . Thanks for your comment!

[@Elmaku92]

Could you at one point do a steam deck battery remplacement video? I don't think I have ever seen one here on youtube? Awesome content by the way!

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks so much for the suggestion! I will look into it

[@ikizagirl]

Check out Dammit Jeff, his video titled "How much does it cost to fix a Steam Deck" has it covered. Basically takes apart a steam deck and to see how easy it is to replace the components..

[@29031994290]

i never like the videos I watch, but this one really deserves it

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thank you so much for that! I really appreciate that. I know my videos are very straight to the point. I am going to show some more of my personality in my newer videos. But it definitely won't hinder the straight through to the point method I'm doing here

[@jontechie]

Quick, clear and easy to follow. Great job mate you got my sub 😊 hopefully we can reach 1k subs goodluck on us😅

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks for the awesome compliment and thank you so much for the sub! I hope so too! Thanks so much for the luck, I very much appreciate it

[@kalkydra]

Great guide! Thanks. How much it improves compared to the thermal paste that comes already applied?

[@RetroRepairYT]

No problem at all ! from my monitoring only a couple of degrees lower but my fan is not reeving up as much as its use to. Which I am totally happy with that. Thanks so much for your comment !

[@kalkydra]

@@RetroRepairYT Thank you for the feedback, so it does help to replace the original paste. Cool, might try it out. cheers!

[@RetroRepairYT]

@@kalkydra no problem at all :) happy I could help

[@abek7108]

Could you do the ifixit speaker replacement when you get the time please and thank you?!

[@RetroRepairYT]

I for sure can, just ordered the part :)

[@isaac7030]

fast and clear. Like and Subscribe!

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thank you so much for your support 😊

[@jerryakamuadams6399]

0:31 what is that adhesive called thats up there by the heatpipe? I removed mine and the adhesive wont stick well anymore can I just use plain ole electrical tape? if not do you know where I can buy some of that? and how about the reflective silver tape thats hiding the screw? where can i get some of that? just curious

[@RetroRepairYT]

Good question, the tape by the heat pipe is not any special tape. I believe it holds as a barrier to have the air from the fan push over the heat pipe so it's more of like an airflow barrier thing so the heat pipe can be cooled down quicker. Electrical tape should work just fine. Any temperature from the heat pipe shouldn't cause any issues with the tape if you're using electrical tape. For your other question. You're looking for aluminum tape. They come in all different sizes. If you purchase a bigger size roll than what you need. You can just cut a piece to size you are looking for. Thanks for your comment and I hope you have an awesome day!

[@jerryakamuadams6399]

@@RetroRepairYT thanks, very helpful info

[@RetroRepairYT]

No problem, happy I can help

[@lionrapperful]

I have a fan replacement coming from ifixit and was going to change the thermal paste, can I just use alcohol whips on a cotton bud to then take off the old thermal paste? Is that safe to do?

[@RetroRepairYT]

Yeah you can definitely do that. But make sure prior you take the battery connector off the board so there is no power running to your motherboard. That is a very paramount step. Other than that you can use cotton swabs and alcohol wipes. Just make sure to clean all the thermal paste off and make sure it is completely dry before connecting the power connector back on your board. I am sorry I'm being very adamant about this. I want to make sure nothing gets damaged in the process

[@lionrapperful]

@@RetroRepairYT thank you very much, I really appreciate it

[@shinitzserizawa]

Nice and simple

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thank you so much for the comment, I very much appreciate it and I hope I could help

[@yuuko2]

Might try this one day, is it better buying a thermal paste or a cooling fan?

[@RetroRepairYT]

I recommend thermal paste for a better cooling method. This way if your thermal paste is old, this would get your temperatures back to like from factory

[@yuuko2]

@@RetroRepairYT thanks 🙏, I'll follow your advice when my steam deck will start overheating

[@davie014]

IPA means Isopropyl Alcohol? 70%? What thermal paste did you use? Thanks!

[@RetroRepairYT]

Correct, I am referring to isopropyl alcohol. If you can get your hands on 90% or higher that's preferable, imo. If not make sure it dries before moving on. The thermal paste I used is Thermaltake TG-7. Thanks so much for your comment 😊

[@davie014]

@@RetroRepairYT Oh thank your very much for your prompt reply. I will now watch your videos and sub ☺

[@RetroRepairYT]

@@davie014 no problem at all. I am happy I could help and thank you so much for the sub!

[@CrayonConoisseur]

what thermal paste do you recommend for the steam deck?

[@RetroRepairYT]

I like using Arctic Silver 5 (hopefully the link works here) amzn.to/4aPUaJC

[@SumraKarmus]

Спасибо:),очень доходчиво

[@RetroRepairYT]

пожалуйста. рад, что смог помочь

[@KENNYOUT3]

is putting tha tape back on entirely necessary

[@RetroRepairYT]

Are you meaning the tape on top of the fan that has serial numbers on it ? If so that's really up to you if you keep it or not. Usually the numbers on the top tape gives information that a repair service needs to understand what hardware is in the device.

[@alfwaibel4773]

@@RetroRepairYT Afaik, the tape is mandatory to control the airflow.

[@SgtKickAzzYT]

I just bought some Corsair tm30 it's all I could find in my area would this work?

[@RetroRepairYT]

As long as it's thermal paste it'll definitely work

[@SgtKickAzzYT]

@@RetroRepairYT dude if I could give you a heart for the reposne I would! THANK YOU yo the quickness is & was appreciated!🙏

[@RetroRepairYT]

@@SgtKickAzzYT I got you man :) Thanks for the awesome feedback on that! I appreciate you !

[@reverieanimates887]

Thermal pads would be like the same right?

[@RetroRepairYT]

That's what I hear. But I haven't tried it. Let me know what some results are if you try thermal pads

[@prinzseptimii9660]

NO! Do not use thermal pads. They are not designed for cpu/gpu thermal transfers. They don’t have the necessary thermal transfer ratings. I’ve seen people who used thermal pads in CPUs and said the cpu got HOTTER! Thermal pads are for mosfets, ram chips etc. unless you are getting specific pads made for CPUs like the honeywells used in Legion laptops or Thermal Grizzly Kyrosheet do not use standard thermal pads on CPUs/gpus!

[@cow77cow]

After replacing the thermal paste, (battery disconnected) my deck won't turn back on. Just the led turns on for 1sec and off 5sec and again. Any idea?

[@RetroRepairYT]

I would try putting a wall charger to it then turning it on and see if it boots. Could wait up to a couple of mins for the boot to go through

[@QueckSilber87]

U fix it?

[@cow77cow]

no valve replaced it @@QueckSilber87

[@goorthiss]

You should try phase-change material Honeywell PTM7950. It comes in as a sheet, lasts longer, performs works better than traditional pastes and there is no pump-out effect.

[@RetroRepairYT]

Interesting, I'm doing to do a shell swap soon and thanks to your recommendation and additional videos I watched and the material you suggested I ordered some and will install it next 😊 thanks again for your suggestion

[@Meninem_]

@@RetroRepairYTMake a video and please notify the community if your deck dies. I got a RMA unit to replace my launch deck and it died 30 minutes after testing the PTM7950. I don’t want to put all the blame onto the PTM since the deck was faulty from muffled boot chime and very strange trackpad motors that could be heard if you were inside the same room as it. I’m worried that PTM7950 and Thermal paste spilling onto the tiny little rectangles might cause them to heat up too much and kill them which kills the APU. Brand new unmofided decks have randomly had hardware failures and I believe its due to too much thermal paste. There isn’t much information online but it would be nice to get second thoughts/options on this. I want to see before and after pictures of PTM7950 on steam decks. Since none exist, I’m trying to see factory thermal paste applications for similarities.

[@RetroRepairYT]

@@Meninem_ I see what your saying, I will keep you updated about the PTM 7950 if mine goes down after 30mins. If you're looking for a photo of what the original thermal looks like when removing the factory heat sink for the first time I can check my raw footage to get a pic for you without my hands in it. I'll get it to you tomorrow here as a reply, most likely a imgur link.

[@RetroRepairYT]

here is the factory thermal image right before I cleaned it off of the heatsink imgur.com/gallery/jjDRW1D

[@SzymonL8]

Thanks.

[@RetroRepairYT]

No problem, happy I could help

[@eliranbenami2125]

Where can i get this thermal paste

[@RetroRepairYT]

Amazon has it and best buy too Thermaltake TG-7 Extreme Performance CPU GPU Heatsink Cooling Thermal Grease CL-O004-GROSGM-A, Gray a.co/d/4vcyrNs

[@albaniapascal7102]

New Steam Deck out boys!

[@RetroRepairYT]

I want that OLED so bad ;-;

[@JozieKS]

Results?

[@RetroRepairYT]

Yeah the thermal paste I use got my temperature down by 2° and it did make my fan not rev up so quickly. It's been a while now but it's still running about the same one. I installed the new thermal paste

[@sleepup7931]

would liquid metal work better?

[@RetroRepairYT]

Yes but imo not worth the couple of degrees. Safety wise this way is ideal. Using liquid metal can short the CPU or other components if much too much is added. In addition it will corrode the chip and the heat sink.

[@goorthiss]

You will get a similar result to liquid metal using a Honeywell PTM7950 phase-change thermopad.

[@RetroRepairYT]

@@goorthiss 👀

[@RichardSanchez137]

That's A LOT of thermal paste.

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks, my guide is a help tool. Please tweak to your liking. If you would like to use less then use less

[@sasuke082594]

Warranty void

[@RetroRepairYT]

thanks for pointing this out. that it does

[@amperemam5713]

You said take out both mounting screws when I see 3 screws 😒😒

[@RetroRepairYT]

There are three spots for screws you are correct. But in the previous step of removing the heat shield one of those screws got removed. And then two are left for the mounting screws ☺️

[@opalbeifong9591]

Removing battery isn’t necessary if it’s just applying new thermal paste

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thanks for that tip. I know it's mostly a personal preference on undoing the battery for this procedure. Personally, I like all the safety precautions I can get when working on a personal device such as this

[@unknown8372]

mm🤨

[@UAVier]

thats how a vid is done.

[@RetroRepairYT]

Thx for the awesome compliment 😊