Fix NUC8i7BEH overheating

Written By: Vladimir Knobel

Comments: 35

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

30 minutes

Introduction

The small form factor makes the NUC too prone to overheating due dust accumulation in the CPU cooler air outlet fins

Tools

Step 1

Place the NUC upside down and select a PH2 Phillips screw driver bit

Step 2

Start by using a Phillips head #2 screw driver to remove the lower screws on the lower case door.
These screws are held in with retainers, so they won't fall out when you flip the lid.

What are the size of these case screws?

Michael Lepore -

Step 3

Lift the door, and keep an eye on the cables that connect to the NUC's motherboard. These cables are the power and data cables for the 2.5" hard drive bay.
Carefully unplug the cables from the motherboard, and set the bracket aside.
In the last photo, the slot for a blade SSD is marked with a red arrow. This is where you would install the blade SSD, and use a screw to hold it in place.

Step 4

Change the screw driver bit to the PH1 one.
Unscrew the V-NAND SSD and carefully slide it out of its connector.

Step 7

Unscrew the screws marked in red circles

Hello, may I know what is the screw size? I already stripped mine so I'm trying to get a replacement screw when I have the stripped out. Mine was stripped and cannot get it out. Can you please help me? I've already used the rubber and glue method but no luck.

Fitri Suhaimi -

Step 8

Remove the WiFi and Bluetooth antenna cables (be extremely careful when doing this otherwise you risk to rip the base contact terminal off the PCB)
Remove the stereo mic cable from the motherboard connector.
Pay attetion to the WiFi cable hidden under a black piece of tape

Remove WiFi an Bluetooth antenna Cable very carefully. Terminals can be ripped of easily.

Christian Reinhold - 06/09/20

very true, I’ll add it to the guide

Vladimir Knobel - 06/09/20

Added to the step in the guide, thanks for pointing that out!

Vladimir Knobel - 06/09/20

Note that the WiFi and Bluetooth antenna cables lift/pull off vertically (not slide off horizontally, as I presumed from the photo). They are circular connectors with a pin in the middle. Getting them off was okay (I actually used tweezers), but it was fiddly work trying to push them back on.

Carl -

Step 9

Disconnect mic cable

Step 10

Remove padders from the sides

Step 11

Not all are necessary only the two depicted.

Step 12

Use a pry tool to lift the motherboard from the casing
Marked with red circles the dust signs evident on first sight

Amazing! Could replace the fan. Have also removed the 4 screws of the heatsink , and renewed the thermal paste underneath it. That was necessary. It was dried out. THANKS!! It works like new: no overheating anymore. A lot faster.

lutgart.schreyen -

The key for getting the motherboard is to move apart very firmly the two opposite sides of the metal casing, so as to let the connectors move down.

Jan Drouaud -

Thank you Jan for that tip!

I spent 20 minutes trying to jiggle it out before I read that!

Yes, pull it apart somewhat and it comes out (relatively) easily.

Bob Mudford -

Step 13

Remove the 3 screws fixing the CPU fan
Remove the fan power connect from the motherboard

Step 14

You will need to use compressed air, a small vacuum cleaner or something similar to blast off all the stucked dust.

Step 15

I'm using a compressed air can (optional)

Step 16

Video of the procedure

Step 17

Video of the procedure

Step 18

This step is probably not necessary, but for the sake of completeness here it is.
Remove the screws holding the CPU cooler following the numbers on them.

Step 19

Use isopropyl alcohol for this, be careful not to touch the the thermal pads on the chips around the CPU.

Step 20

Be careful not to apply too much of it.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Vladimir Knobel

Member since: 27/03/14

2312 Reputation

26 comments

Very helpful, thank you!

Ray Wang - 15/04/20

Great tutorial, thanks, now my fan is very clean and quiet. Thanks for spending time to create this guide!

Schüszterl Ferenc - 29/11/20

I did see this guide after finding out the same steps myself and having seen this guide before doing so would be very helpful.

Jack Graus - 23/01/21

Great tutorial. Clear pictures, solid instructions. Thanks a lot!

Koen Veys - 22/02/21

you are welcome

Vladimir Knobel - 22/02/21

Thank you. Awesome video! How often do NUC's get heating issues from average use? Is this also Intel's troubleshooting method, or would they ship a replacement NUC?

UTuberoni - 29/05/21

Thank you very much! This seems to be problem with NUCs because the first one I had was replaced under warranty after the fan quit but glad I was able to clean this to hopefully keep it running longer.

Patrick McNamara -

Glad it helped!

Vladimir Knobel -

Just what I needed and couldn’t find elsewhere! Thank you.

Nikolay Cholakov -

Great guide. Super useful, A+

Brad Thelad -

Hello,

Thank you very much for this tutorial.

What is the thickness of thermal pad?

L B -

Hi @L+B I don’t know which one you mean but I’m afraid I don’t possess that information.

Vladimir Knobel -

I own the same model as yours (8i7BEH).

I have bought thermal paste for CPU but not yet the thermal pads (for eDRAM and PCH) and was wondering what to buy before disassembling my unit :-)

L B -

Incredibly helpful, thank you! My NUC started blowing like a jet engine and thermal throttling and I realized it was hitting 100C temps. Followed this guide and found my heatsink / fan slots were completely blocked with fine dust - no hair or dust bunnies, but just plugged completely. Blew it out and am back down to 75C at max (transcoding) usage.

Answering two questions above:

- antenna connectors pull straight out from the motherboard. A pair of tweezers is a good tool for this.

- thermal pads are 1mm. came up as 0.7 on my calipers so assuming slightly compressed.

My personal mistake - if you find any of the screws connecting the outer case to the unit won’t screw down, check where you put the screws connecting the motherboard to the base. I had accidentally put a motherboard screw into a case screw hole and then couldn’t screw in that case screw until I moved the motherboard screw.

Taking photos as you go is a good idea!

solstyce9 - 25/09/21

Awesome guide. Helped me a lot!

trajche.manev -

Can you measure the distance betwen the holes that hold the cooling radiator ? I’m planning on upgrading it with a regular CPU cooler. Thanks !

Lucian Pop -

Great, thx! Works for Intel NUC8BEB / Wortmann Terra PC-Micro Sielent 6000 almost identical. After disassembling the unit, I applied a little WD40 to the noisy fan. Did the trick!

Tobias Baumhauer -

Thank you so much. I was able to strip the fan out and blew it out with my compressor. It still made a noise when I moved it with my finger (like it was almost off-center) sprayed a bit of WD-40 into it and more air. It is quiet (for now).

But, thank you very much again

regards

Aubrey (aka cyber7, Cape Town, South Africa)

Aubrey Kloppers -

Very helpful! I followed this for the NUC8i7BEK: the thin version of NUC8i7BEH without space for 2.5" drive. It was the same except for step 3, and I didn't need to remove any padding in step 11; could take motherboard out and back in whilst keeping them attached.

Step 17: I believe it's not good for the fan to make it spin fast like that. Better to hold it stationary while blowing with canned air.

I made the same mistake as another commenter with not putting in the motherboard screws back in the same spots, and then not being able to tighten the screws in the lid.

I skipped steps 18-20 as it was not needed for now.

Thanks again! NUC sounds much healthier now (quiet).

Bauke -

Excellent tutorial!

Have you ever thought of publishing this along your other services as a PDF poster, on paper? As a

modest ontology?

If interested, please mail,

Wolfgang

Wolfgang Bock -

Thanks for the guide. I was able to clear the dust blockage. Without the guide I would not have attempted it. I am still amazed at how poorly fan and cooling design is in 2022. It should be a simple thing to clear dust out of a system with filters properly placed.

Shaun Potts -

Great instructional!

It was indeed the cause of overheating.

Thank you man

Tzachi Halimi -

Has anyone tried something simple like a vacuum with moderate suction agonist th vent grill? J E Barnes, 11/29/22

John Barnes -

Thank you.
Very useful

Vadim Vadimych -

Perfect! Less noise, less throttling now. Performance improved by about 10% under load.

Yuri Kritsky -

Thank you for the help!

Kristi Farinelli -