[GUIDE] [INSANE HARD MOD] Improve Nexus 7 ( 2013 ) cooling and overclocking potential

Warning: This MOD will void your warranty. You will have to open the device and leave traces behind by performing it. Only perform this Mod if you´re willing to take a risk.

While you´re at it, you might consider having a look at this too

Since the Nexus 7 ( 2013 ) is quite old now and many people will be out of warranty soon ( or are already ), this MOD won´t hurt you much but it will prevent your fingers from burning when the device heatens up after a while.

Improving the cooling of the SoC will reduce thermal throttling intervals and also enhance overclocking potential while still keeping your fingers cool.

Material needed:

- some thermal paste
- some piece of metal ( Aluminum or Copper of about 0.5mm thickness ) ( worst case you could use Aluminum Foil and fold it many times in order to build yourself the needed spacer )
- rubbing alcohol
- a thermal pad of about 0.5mm thickness ( optional , if you prefer to use one of these, you can skip the piece of metal and the thermal paste )
- some sanding paper ( optional, only needed if your piece of metal has many scratches and you need to smooth the surface )

You need to open your device and to make sure that you lay down your display on a soft surface in order to prevent it from being scratched.

This is the area we are interested in:


Now you need to carefully remove the copper foil without destroying it since you will need to reattach it later ( it serves as a EMI shield too ).

Once removed, you will see 3x closed containers, we´re only interested in the middle one since there is the SoC we want to cool. Use gentle force and use eg. a screwdriver in order to remove the lid, make sure not to bend it. You will need to reattach the lid again since this one also serves as a EMI shield. Be patient while trying to remove the lid and make sure not to damage the PCB.

Once you have removed it, we can see the SoC and the 2x RAM modules ( 2x are on the back of the PCB ).
Since I forgot to make some pictures, I had to borrow one from ifixit in order to show you how it will look like The SoC is marked red.



Now you need to either a) attach a thermal pad on the SoC and carefully attach the lid back or in case you don´t have one, b) use the other ingredients mentioned..

Attach a thin layer of thermal paste on the SoC ( I used Arctic Silver 5 but any similar paste will do the job equal ).

Cut a small piece of metal ( about 16mm x 16mm x0.5mm will be enough but it would be ok to cover the SoC completely ), make sure to clean it with rubbing alcohol and carefully put it on the SoC.

Hold it in place, attach another thin layer of thermal paste on your piece of metal and make sure to put the lid back on. It´s ok if it bulges a little, just make sure you don´t use too much pressure.

The result:

While the SoC was designed to be used without a heatsink, it can use the EMI shield now as a heatsink :good:

Now all you need to do is to carefully attach the copper foil again, make sure that your Touchscreen Connector is still in place and put the back on.

You can use Antutu to perform a stress test now and check your temperature. The device won´t run as hot as before while remaining stable, even if you overclock the SoC.

I´m really happy with this MOD and I use it for a while now without any negative experiences The temperature increase remains constant and the back of the device as well as the touchscreen don´t feel as hot anymore.

Feel free to tell me your experiences

Advanced MOD : give the RAM and the NAND storage some love too



As you can see, I´ve also attached some coolers on the RAM

Material needed :

- a sharp knife ( you´re right, I mean it )
- rubbing alcohol
- cue tips or toilet paper or whatever you find
- screwdrivers

Basically you need to make some extra spacers out of scrap material, I used eg. this junk :



Now comes the tricky part, you need to remove all the small screws which hold the mainboard in place, carefully disconnect the Touchscreen connector, Speaker connector and the side buttons.



You see the ugly sticker on the display metal ? Guess what, now we need the knife but we only have to remove a part of it because it needs to maintain a electrical connection. Don´t forget to carefully remove the sticker from the NAND storage too. Did I mention that handling these things require you to be extra careful ?

This can look like this:



I went through the trouble of removing the glue with alcohol.

Now you need to proceed like you know and the result can look like this:



Carefully attach the mainboard and make sure not to use too much force when you tighten the screws.
Make sure that all connectors etc. are set in place now, close the back and enjoy

Here is a Screenshot after having performed the Antutu Stability Test:



The back of the device feels warm but not hot at all and also the screen has a mild temperature too.

I´ve overclocked the CPU @ 2Ghz and the GPU @ 477 Mhz

@Everflow yes this is correct. The Graph below indicates the battery Temperatur and the button graph show how well the soc operates under stress, linear would be optimum. I've applied the mod days after Gorgtech release it. Trust me it's working well. No more throttling and better soc tepmeratur under stress. My Antutu stability graph is now near linear .

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 5 mit Tapatalk

You´re welcome, I´m glad you could improve your device too

Seth1334 said:

Did the same mod on my Nexus 7, using a piece of scrap brass sheet (0.3mm thick) and some thermal paste.
After I refitted the shield lid, I removed it again to confirm the paste had contacted with the lid - all good.
Reassembled and there is definitely a decrease in running temp from power-on.
I have tried overclocking and it works fine to about 2GHz.
In the end, I have underclocked my Nexus as I am not playing games and everything runs very smooth, even at lower speeds (1.2GHz).
One thing to note is that when I set the minimum clock to 81 Mhz, the tablet failed to catch my attempts at unlocking the screen (via pattern unlock), so I upped it to 200MHz and it's fine.
One thing to remember is that this mod only really increases the mass of your heatsink, so the CPU will eventually get as hot as before (just takes longer). You do get more surface area to dissipate heat (the shielding boxes on the CPU and the copper foil) but it does not radiate far, given the plastic housing is right next to it (OK, and the case will absorb a small amount).

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Quick update:
I still use my Nexus 7 (2013) regularly and it has never missed a beat. I don't often stress the CPU as I am mostly browsing or using it for email or telnet to my TV box, so it doesn't really heat up. I've got it set for min of 384 MHz and max of 1512 MHz.
I also have been in the habit of using it until it drops to around 35% of battery life before I put it back on charge, and the battery life is still very good.
The nice hi-res screen is sharp and clear and I haven't found myself wanting to upgrade. Also it fits in a jacket/suit pocket just fine!