[Nexus 5 General] Gorgtech:
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.

Since the Nexus 5 ( 2013 ) is quite old now and many people are already out of warranty, this MOD won´t hurt you much but it will prevent your fingers from burning when the device heatens up after a while.

I want to thank Aquatuning Germany for sending me these premium thermal pads: Alphacool Eisschicht - 17w/mK 120x20x0.5mm - 2 pieces

These pads have a insane thermal conductivity of 17W/mK which promises excellent results, this is why I could hardly await to try them out ;)

Material needed:

- a good quality thermal pad of about 0.5mm thickness

- rubbing alcohol

- a guitar pick or case opener tool

- a precision screwdriver set

Optional Material:

- some piece of metal ( Aluminum or Copper of about 15x15x0.5mm thickness ) ( worst case you could use Aluminum Foil and fold it many times in order to build yourself the needed spacer )

- some thermal paste

- some sanding paper ( optional, only needed if your piece of metal has many scratches and you need to smooth the surface )

Use the optional material if you don´t have a good thermal pad and still want to improve your cooling with scrap material.

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.

Now let´s have a look at the insane thermal pads ;) These look like chewing gum but I have to resist the temptation ;)

In order to open the case you need a guitar pick or case opener tool. It´s in fact very easy to perform once you´ve figured it out. Don´t forget to remove the SIM card tray right after ;)

Remove the screws with a precision screwdriver set.

Carefully remove the black plastic protection and you see the motherboard.

Disconnect all connectors including the Antennas and both cameras. Carefully bend the cables in order to take the motherboard out.

This should look like this ;)

Now let´s have a closer look at the SoC. Ignore the marks on my pictures. I´ve performed this MOD before ;)

Use rubbing alcohol in order to clean the SoC and the metal surface. Cut a 15x15x0.5mm piece out of the thermal pad you want to use and attach it after. Now you need to reassemble the device again ;)

This is what I´ve used before. I´ve cut out a piece of 15x15x0,5mm out of a spare copper plate I had laying around as scrap material. You can also use something like this instead of a thermal pad but expect more effort since you need extra thermal paste too and 2x excellent sides.

In theory, a metal plate is a better thermal conductor than a thermal pad but it also depends on what you use.

In my case, I´m confident that a elite thermal pad will perform better and will also be a lot easier to handle.

Tests:

I´ve overclocked the device up to 2,65 Ghz and tortured it with Benchmarks like Antutu, Vellamo and 3DMark. What can I say? The temperature increase is a straight line and there is no thermal throttling noticeable.

My previous attempt worked out too but the screen felt a lot warmer in comparison to the used pad now.

I´m happy with the results now, even if the Nexus 5 (2013) is not the youngest device anymore ;)