Thermal pasted...stripped screws on the heatsink, GPU temps higher, CPU temp lower

[Kalmah]

So I had everything ready to go today. I followed a YouTube video on the basic thermal paste replacement of an ASUS gaming laptop. What I didn’t like was that after I had everything opened up, I had issues with 2 of 8 screws for the heat sink, specifically over the CPU. *Now they are stripped and no philips head can grab them, I decided to use my leatherman‘s pliers which did work.

I go it all put back together, ran HWiNFO and found that my core temps and core package temps were lower after playing some Modern Warfare. *Easily 15-20*C lower.

But... my GPU *temps are now about 6-10 degrees hotter than average...maxing at about 82 degrees*

*Where can I get more tiny machine/electronics screws?

How do I assess my thermal paste is working for the GPU? Take it apart and see how it spreed, then adjust from there?*
*
Lastly, how do I know if the thermal pads are the proper thickness? I imagine they’d have marks on them from the tightening of the heat sink

Stripped screws



Factory paste / pads



cleaned vram, GPU, CPU, etc. *



Underside of heat sink before cleaning (mirrored for proper thermal pad application)



Applied 0.5 mm arctic thermal pads...I felt like a surgeon after this.*

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Usually any hardware store can match items or order.
Might also try watch or lock repair shops they deal with lots of small screws...

[Kalmah]

Hi,
Usually any hardware store can match items or order.
Might also try watch or lock repair shops they deal with lots of small screws...

DRI

I was able to salvage some through an old laptop, fit perfectly, better quality too.

I'm still having issues with the repasting, I don't think my heat sink makes full contact with the die of either CPU or GPU...