When I was getting the Sierra Wireless EM7455 LTE modem working in a ThinkPad with Debian 12 Linux, I had to remove the cooling system from my laptop.

And, in doing so, I noticed that the thermal paste was crusty and falling away.

It didn’t surprise me, as the laptop is quite old now, but it seemed like something worth fixing.

I’ve never replaced thermal paste before, so this was a bit of a learning for me.

I:

• cleaned the old thermal paste away using isopropyl alcohol and a cotton wool bud (or three)
• looked at various videos on YouTube on how to apply thermal paste, and everyone had a different idea, so I applied some new thermal paste - a fraction of a £5 tube - across the full area touching the cooling system
• put it back together

Did I get it right? I don’t know.

But it is, I hope, better than what was there before.

Initial testing suggests an improvement of between 3 and 5 degrees, so roughly 10-15%.