I recently got a new RZ717 wifi card for my Framework 13 and it came with a thermal pad.
This may be a silly question, but how is it installed?
It has a specific shape and I imagine it goes under the card but I really want to make sure I know how to apply it correctly otherwise my brain will be paranoid.
The guides on the website here don’t cover anything about a wifi card thermal pad, so that’s no help.
If anyone has any pics of it installed or something, I would greatly appreciate it.
Also I wonder if it is even necessary? The last gen card didn’t have one, at least on mine.
Do the 2025 pre-built and DIY models come with it pre-installed already?
I guess this one must run hotter if they bundle it with a thermal pad, I just wish it was more obvious in how to install it.
I ran into this just now too, while upgrading from Intel 12th gen to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (with 128GB of RAM, wheeee!!)
I spotted that the curve on the pad matched the curve of the metal just next to where the wifi module goes, and also there were some metal contacts on the bottom of the board (unlike with the old module).
So I took an educated guess and it seems to be right. It fit nicely and seems to be working fine so far - am posting this using the RZ717 (although admittedly only a few minutes in, so can’t yet be sure it won’t overheat).
I see, that does look about correct, thanks for sharing.
I ended up botching my first attempt and because of the adhesive it broke into chunks when trying to remove it cuz I’m an idiot lol. I just rage quit and have been using it without any thermal pad since then.
No issues so far, but then I’m not really pushing the module to its limits either.
I really wish there was an official guide from Framework for this or even just them saying its completely optional so I don’t have that nagging worry at the back of my mind.
I’ll keep this thread marked without a solution until then though, maybe your post can help others who come across this
They sent me two thermal pads - one for Framework 13 and one for the 16. If I’d botched the 13 one, I would have just used the 16 one and taken scissors to cut into shape if necessary. Did they send you both?
Oh yeah, you’re right, they did send a FW16 one. I hadn’t thought of that, though knowing me I would probably fail trying to cut it to just the right shape and mess it up too, I’m pretty clumsy with precision stuff like that.
I also wonder if for whatever reason I need to replace the bottom cover, I’d have to peel it off again and risk damaging it.
I’ll just stick to no thermal pad for now tbh, but if needed I have that FW16 backup. A new card is only 30 or so bucks worse case scenario. It’s been fine for me so far at least, I think it’s probably an optional thing. First comment here used a similar card without a thermal pad with no issues either.
Hopefully they do release some more info on the thermal pad sometime though.
Honestly no precision would be needed as there’s plenty of space around that area anyway. The only thing would be to ensure that some of the pad is below the metal contacts underneath. But yeah it’s probably ok without too.
I just installed the RZ717 in my FW16. I ended up putting the thermal pad on top!
The way I see it, the chip on top of the board is where all the heat is. The thermal pad seems just thick enough to reach up to the metal midplate which normally floats above the m.2 slot, so I can essentially use the midplate as a heatsink. The only thing is that the thermal pad is sticky only one one side, and so there’s a sliiight air gap between the midplate and the thermal pad, even after I screwed down the midplate. I’m hoping once the keyboard is plopped in, it pushes the midframe down enough to make contact, though I have no real way to confirm.
If I’d have put in underneath like you did on your FW13, it would just inefficiently draw heat from the back of the wifi board PCB, into the motherboard PCB, and that’s not really a good place to sink heat.
The only thing I’m really unsure of is whether I was supposed to glue the pad to the wifi chip, or to the midplate. I ended up gluing it to the chip, because I didn’t realize the other side wasn’t sticky. After I naturally put it onto the wifi chip with sticky side down, I assumed there was another sticky film to remove so it can stick to the midplate, but there wasn’t. Oh well, shouldn’t matter much either way.
tldr On the FW16, I put the thermal pad between the top of the wifi module and the midplate. I glued it to the wifi module, but I kind of wish I’d have glued it to the midplate instead. There’s maybe a sliiight airgap between the thermal pad and the midplate in my install, but I’m hoping the keyboard pushes down enough to remove the gap.
Yeah so I am like 90% sure I was wrong about that. Should’ve put the pad on the mobo so that it touches the underside of the m.2 board. Oh well, it just gives me another excuse to open up the laptop again!
