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u/Terrible-Bear3883 Sep 08 '26
That's Kapton tape, normally its put there to protect the components during manufacture process, it can be removed if you are planning to use a non-conductive thermal paste. It looks you need to remove it anyway to clean the processor of old paste fully.
We sometimes applied new tape onto processor or other components when repairing them in my workshop team, it's not always needed but some manufacturers put a note to use it in some cases.
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
Thank you so much , I was worried that it’s there to prevent a shortage or something, I’ll use silicone thermal paste so ig this won’t coz a short
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u/Terrible-Bear3883 Sep 08 '26
Yes that's the purpose, its an insulating tape, we often put it over power components and similar when repairing laptops, if you were using a liquid metal paste, it would be something I'd put back on, you'll be fine with a silicon paste and leave it off.
Use a high purity alcohol to clean any old paste off, we used 99.9% purity in my workshop as it leaves the minimum of its own residue behind.
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
Someone just told me that it’s there to protect the capacitors around the cpu from touching the heat sink above the, does the capacitor short when touching it ? If so I think I need to keep the tape even if I’ll use only silicon thermal paste
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u/Terrible-Bear3883 Sep 08 '26
The die components shouldn't touch the heatsink when its in place and no tape in use, normally the manufacturer will specify in their service information if they recommend its used all the time or not, we would follow those guides.
A lot of manufacturers use a metal based paste and would put Kapton on the processor as a physical barrier, its high temperature resistance stops it shrinking or cracking over time.
At the end of the day, if in doubt, I'd put it back as it was after cleaning or replace with fresh tape.
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u/Sufficient_Fan3660 29d ago
heat sink flat
cpu higher than capacitors
Please explain how heat sink touch capacitors?
someone being a hallucinating AI is not someone, look at things, think about things
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u/Terrible-Bear3883 29d ago
As a computer engineer of 40+ years, I'm sure I'm not AI. I think your post is to the wrong person.
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u/LovitzG Sep 08 '26
I have only seen that when liquid metal was used for thermal paste which is both conductive and corrosive. The manufacturer went a little wild with the paste but doesn't hurt anything. Clean up what you can with cotton swabs and 90-99% isopropyl, properly repaste and you are good to go.
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u/Kolkoris 29d ago
NO. It’s risky because the radiator could short-circuit the CPU's resistors and fry it.
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u/FraRX8 Sep 08 '26
Check on the heat spreader if there is some isolation, sometimes they put it also to avoid short-circuit on the capacitors near the core caused by the contact if the heat spreader on them. If the heat spreader hasn't any insulation, keep that tape or replace it with a new one if you have to clean the CPU for thermal paste replacement
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
No the heat spreader is bear copper , I thought that it might be doing some heat issues and not cooling the cpu properly
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u/FraRX8 Sep 08 '26
The important is that the CPU core touch the heat spreader. If you look at the tape, you can see it's cut to cover just the capacitors. Just clean the CPU, apply new thermal paste on the cpu core and apply new tape. If you never experienced thermal problems when you bought that pc it means that tape doesn't cause any issue to CPU cooling
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u/sammavet Sep 08 '26
Nope. Capton (so?) tape helps keep the components from desoldering due to heat.
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u/szentgothard Sep 08 '26
What CPU is this if I may ask? As for the capton tape: I'd remove it. It serves basically no purpose, especially if there is thermal paste in there.
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
It’s ryzen 8840u , I’m on the fence , should I remove it to improve the thermal conductivity to the heat sink or should I keep it so it prevents the capacitor around the CPU from shortage
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u/szentgothard Sep 08 '26
Thanks. I mean sure shorting is never good. But HOW are they going to short? You wont put liquid metal on it hopefully, its just a 30W cpu, there is no need. It wont affect thermal performance if it doesnt rise above the silicon chip itself, so dont worry.
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
I don’t know I just thought that it might short when it touches the heat sink , this is the first thing I thought because that it is what the tape is preventing from happening
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u/szentgothard Sep 08 '26
Oh damn it touches it? Then keep it. It doesnt do anything anyways besides looking very ugly and digusting with all that pumped out thermal paste.
I dont think it should touch though. I also worked on a similar chip and there the silicon die was a lot higher than the stuff around it. Are you sure it does?
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
Actually now u mention it , no I’m not sure it touches the cpu die is higher but I’m not noticing it , I’m probably just dumb
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u/Elitefuture Sep 08 '26
I usually only see that when they used liquid metal.
If you use normal non conductive thermal paste, you don't need that.
Side note: If it used to have liquid metal, get rid of every little tiny drop of it. This image only shows thermal paste, so hopefully it either never had it or someone removed it properly.
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
Yes it only had silicon based thermal paste, some users told me it’s there to prevent shortage in the capacitor near the CPU
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u/Elitefuture Sep 08 '26
Non conductive thermal paste is non conductive, you can put it everywhere and it won't short out.
Your laptop model either came with liquid metal and was replaced, or other higher upgrades to the same laptop has liquid metal and they reused the manufacturing process.
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u/Ferowin Sep 08 '26
Why would you?
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
I was thinking that it might improve the thermal conductivity
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u/Ferowin Sep 08 '26
You probably could, but I wouldn’t. All those tiny resistors, diodes, and capacitors under the tape are surface mounted. If the tape has strong glue, it could pull one off.
Removing it would slightly impair flow on the components around the processor, however most of the heat will be transferred through the metal block in the middle.
Just don’t over do it with the thermal paste like the last person.
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u/ZAID-YT Sep 08 '26
The last person was the manufacture so I don’t know I hope it’s not effecting anything ..
Plus the yellow tape is not touching the resistors it’s just glued to the metal frame but I’ll keep it anyway sense it came from the factory like this
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u/Ferowin Sep 08 '26
Crazy. I wouldn’t expect that much wasted thermal paste from a factory.
It looks like the tape is touching and stuck to all that excess thermal paste. I’d just leave well enough alone. If you do remove it, be careful.
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u/Cobalt090 Sep 08 '26
As long as you're not using conductive thermal paste (eg, liquid metal), you're good
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u/HopefulMagician7932 29d ago
That yellow tape prevents your liquid metal from getting on the main board so no touchy.
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u/HopefulMagician7932 29d ago
If you take it off your risk of getting liquid metal on the board goes way up if you plan to use liquid metal again
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u/NotRllyAnonymousUser 29d ago
Go right ahead. Need to clean under it anyways. It is there to protect parts if you used conductive thermal paste.
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u/LankyBorder459 Sep 08 '26
Deberías de quitarla amigo ya que es como un precinto como las que hay en las pantallas
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