Hardware Switch thermal mod made cooling worse?

[carcalal]

In an attempt to reduce the temperature of my V1 switch's electronic components and prolong their life I did a few thermal mods on it:

1. Removed the factory thermal compound (almost the consistency of dried up toothpaste)
2. Removed the metal shim between the heatpipe and CPU and the thermal compound there
3. Applied thermal pads to ram chips so they come directly in contact with the metal shield
4. Replaced thermal compound between heatpipe and metal shield with thermal pad.

Now my logic was that drawing heat away from the components will help cool them, but I think I did more harm than good. The back of the switch now gets much hotter than before and it idles at around 40C and in Mario 3D World it gets to 47-50C (as per status monitor reading). I'm concerned that the better thermal interface draws heat away from the path of the airflow (aka the radiator) and puts it into the shield where it is actually harder to dissipate.

I was curious if anybody else has attempted similar mod, and if so what were the results. If not, what are your regular V1 switch idle/game temps?

 

[RMaSTeR]

I want to performe this to my Switch too, and Ive no clue

 

[RMaSTeR]

I want to performe this to my Switch too, and Ive no clue

 

[nashismo]

If you think 50c while playing a game is HIGH then you have no idea what you are taking about. The Switch easily reaches 60c and that is completely safe and fine, and NORMAL.

For real temps, play Mario Oddysey on Metrpolitan area, or Crysis 2, each game for at least 40 minutes, and then tell us your MAX temps in celcius, also, leave the fan speed in stock speeds.

 

[Cooler3D]

I want to post my overclocking mod, but looks like i need 5 messages for opening threads... This is fifth message. Done.

 

[driverdis]

Any cooling mod works fine. I removed the shim and tried a fun project where I use Thermal Grizzly Minus 8 0.5mm pads instead of thermal paste and I get ~58c overclocked on BL2 with the 60FPS mod.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

In an attempt to reduce the temperature of my V1 switch's electronic components and prolong their life I did a few thermal mods on it:

1. Removed the factory thermal compound (almost the consistency of dried up toothpaste)
2. Removed the metal shim between the heatpipe and CPU and the thermal compound there
3. Applied thermal pads to ram chips so they come directly in contact with the metal shield
4. Replaced thermal compound between heatpipe and metal shield with thermal pad.

Now my logic was that drawing heat away from the components will help cool them, but I think I did more harm than good. The back of the switch now gets much hotter than before and it idles at around 40C and in Mario 3D World it gets to 47-50C (as per status monitor reading). I'm concerned that the better thermal interface draws heat away from the path of the airflow (aka the radiator) and puts it into the shield where it is actually harder to dissipate.

I was curious if anybody else has attempted similar mod, and if so what were the results. If not, what are your regular V1 switch idle/game temps?

The back getting hot is actually good. That means the heat is escaping.

 

[TheGioGrande]

Any cooling mod works fine. I removed the shim and tried a fun project where I use Thermal Grizzly Minus 8 0.5mm pads instead of thermal paste and I get ~58c overclocked on BL2 with the 60FPS mod.

Fan is at 100% though. That Switch must be SCREAMING. And it's odd because usually the SoC maxes out at around 60c before jumping up on the fan curve. Your Switch for some reason is maxing out fan speed before even reaching that temperature.

I'm guessing that temp is much higher than normal for handheld play and that's why the Switch is freaking out with fan speed? I wonder if that speed would drop down if you docked the Switch instead.

 

[driverdis]

Fan is at 100% though. That Switch must be SCREAMING. And it's odd because usually the SoC maxes out at around 60c before jumping up on the fan curve. Your Switch for some reason is maxing out fan speed before even reaching that temperature.

I'm guessing that temp is much higher than normal for handheld play and that's why the Switch is freaking out with fan speed? I wonder if that speed would drop down if you docked the Switch instead.

When you overclock the Switch while in handheld mode, the fan curve is different than docked mode. The switch ramps to 100% at 55C+ and even with thermal paste would be at similar temps at 100% fan speed.

 

[PlasticSquid]

Applied thermal pads to ram chips so they come directly in contact with the metal shield

Replaced thermal compound between heatpipe and metal shield with thermal pad.

What thickness thermal pads did you end up using for the RAM and heat pipes?

 

[Rodel]

What thickness thermal pads did you end up using for the RAM and heat pipes?

i use 0.5mm pads on ram and heat pipe.

 

[GameSpate]

i use 0.5mm pads on ram and heat pipe.View attachment 327144

I basically never cared to post to this forum, but I finally made an account here just to say that this mod specifically is not ideal. Thermal pads running on top of the heat pipe to connect it to the heat shield impedes both the heat pipe and shielding’s function.

Heat pipes work by having two distinct areas where the transfer of thermal energy occurs, the hot end to evaporate the water in them and the cool end to condense it. You’re eliminating the two areas. You run the risk of potentially ruining/bursting your heat pipe if temps ever get too high and pressure builds, which isn’t as unlikely as it sounds.

Additionally, the heat shielding in this case was added to prevent extreme hotspots on the back plastic and instead spread it into more thermal mass so the temperature is lower over a larger area. It is NOT to dissipate more heat, though adding thermal mass will always do that. It is NOT a heat sink. It does help in ducting air, and it’s surface area does offer heat exchange, but that additional.

I would recommend removing the thermal pads on top of the heat pipe. Everything else is fine.



Side note: do the RAM modules get hot enough to even justify putting pads on them?

I ask because if they aren’t typically warmer than the heat shielding they’re touching, they’re only gonna end up taking on heat making that also counterintuitive. In that case, passive cooling from fan pressure would do more for the memory.

 

[Rahkeesh]

When I had to swap out a noisy fan, I had to replace Nintendo's purple paste with grizzly kryonaut. It did raise the apparent temperature on the backplate of the switch, to the point of being slightly uncomfortable, although fan speed and internal measurements were still good. My "fix" is to use hori split-pad for handheld since its large enough you won't touch the backplate while playing. The stock Nintendo experience would probably involve using something less heat-conductive like Nintendo's original paste but I would not know what product is safe to use.

That said adding pads to connect the RAM to the shield sounds like bad news, its probably heating them more than cooling them, with the RAM picking up extra heat from the CPU, especially when overclocked. I would remove them ASAP.

 

[Cooler3D]

Nintendo Switch consoles are equipped with an excessively efficient cooling system.
If you use the console in a portable format, at stock frequencies, you probably will not experience overheating even if you turn off the power to the cooler completely.
If you are concerned about acoustic comfort, you can use the cooler speed curve configuration - supplied with 4IFIR. The operation of the cooler will be almost inaudible, while the temperature will increase slightly, by ~ a couple of degrees under OC.

If, after replacing the thermal paste with a more efficient one, the temperature of the back cover has increased, and the temperature of the console components has not changed much, you may have violated the principle of the evaporation chamber. This can be done either by accidentally depressurizing the tube (by bending it unsuccessfully), or by smearing it with thermal paste along its entire length (I often observe the latter with users).

The memory modules in our consoles do not require heat dissipation.