The heat sink works in tandem with the fan to cool the laptop and offset the heat produced by the central processing unit. The heat sink sits directly over the CPU, and funnels heat to the fan unit where it can be dispersed. Since the heat sink is bonded to the CPU with thermal paste to ensure good thermal transfer, you will need to reapply the thermal paste during reinstallation. Be sure to clean both the heat sink and CPU with isopropyl alcohol and follow our [guide|744|How to Reapply Thermal Paste] guide for best practice on reapplication.

Since the heatsink is a static rather than dynamic component, its failure most likely involves aging or faulty thermal paste. If the fans of the device still function properly, excessive heat may not be obvious, so instead look to the heatsink when the processing of the computer seems to have issues. If your computer experiences regular freezing, trouble handling intensive tasks, or crashing after substantial use, replacing the thermal paste of the heatsink may help. The heatsink should only be replaced completely if there is obvious physical damage, but you should check out the [[Dell XPS 15 9575 Troubleshooting|Dell XPS 15 9575 Troubleshooting page]] for more details.

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