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application of thermal paste

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
20,374
If a CPU and Heatsink are completely flat, then should no thermal paste be needed?

If there are any small or even microscopic gaps though, then air will fill spaces and transfer heat a lot worse meaning higher temps

I have a lapped cpu with H50 cooling so I was thinking of leaving it with no paste then booting to windows and monitoring temps, then applying a thin layer and seeing how they change

At the moment I have a blob in the middle and think i have way too much for a lapped cpu
 
IMHO thermal paste is ALWAYS needed.

Unless you can lap it entirely smooth on a quantum level.
Which I doubt. :D
 
I have lapped my h50 and i5 but for the sake of a small blob of thermal compound its probably worth it. I haven't tried it with and without tho.
 
I will check tonight - test temps at stock with the current pea sized blob of paste in the middle, then remove and check temps without

My feeling is that a very thin layer of paste will be required to keep the contact where the surfaces are not quite touching
 
I've found that spreading the paste into a thin layer works best for me, but things are a bit tight in my case and I don't have much room to move the cpu block around with a blob in the centre. I'd say either way you want a pretty even covering. More surface area = better heat transfer
 
bridder said:
You only need a "blob" the size of a couple of grains of rice, pea sized is too much...

J.
Click to expand...

single grain of rice if your coolers are decent and dont have big gaps/convex surfaces etc. Pea size is needed on direct heatpipe ones as you need to fill the gaps basically.

am interested in the results though, if it works. I expect you will be best off with a tiny amount of TIM, as you have smaller/less holes in the surface you shouldn't need as much as a normal cooler, so try it with just a tiny bit, install cooler, take it off and see how well it has spread out, repeat until you get it covering the right amount/areas then boot up.

TBH though, I havent managed to notice the difference in temps between three brands of paste and re applying the paste in varying amounts (lots, normal, and not much). Since any excess seems to get squidged out the sides onto the edge of the cooler anyway, although I wouldnt recommend that, I was just testing different methods of application.
 
Just done a few tests -

Blob in the middle of the q6600@stock about the size of 2 rice grains next to each other

17-24c idle
36-39c load

no paste at all
20-27c idle
44-50c load

spreading thin layer
16-23c idle
32-35c load

Testing was not done for very long but it shows a thin layer of paste seems best (for the q6600 anyway)

This cpu used to run 3.6ghz all the time but i dont game now, or havent for ages, so its staying at stock until I decide to get back into it. Pitty really, as my GTX 570 superclocked it sitting around losing value :(
 
You need to leave the paste in place for several days to get accurate readings.

Also, it would have been much more sensible to do the "no paste" test first, before putting any paste on then cleaning it. It's possible there'd be tiny amounts of paste remaining in the pits.
 
maybe a thin layer of paste on both the PROCESSOR AND COOLER, not just on one

the trouble with a blob in the middle is it might not squeeze out evenly across the whole surface, i think you have to de- grease first too
 
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Thats some good skills there!

I have never heard of people putting paste on the processor and the heatsink. I've left it running prime overnight and all today at stock settings
 
Has anyone succesfully re-applied paste to their corsair/antec water kit? When new its already applied (H50 in my case), wondered how well it would perform if you had to take it off (for ivy bridge update), clean, then put your own paste on
 
shuffle said:
Has anyone succesfully re-applied paste to their corsair/antec water kit? When new its already applied (H50 in my case), wondered how well it would perform if you had to take it off (for ivy bridge update), clean, then put your own paste on
Click to expand...

Did you read the first post?

'I have a lapped cpu with H50 cooling so I was thinking of leaving it with no paste then booting to windows and monitoring temps, then applying a thin layer and seeing how they change'
 
shuffle said:
Has anyone succesfully re-applied paste to their corsair/antec water kit? When new its already applied (H50 in my case), wondered how well it would perform if you had to take it off (for ivy bridge update), clean, then put your own paste on
Click to expand...

It will probably perform better, and I'm quite sure a good number of people have. Why is that even a question ? I'm going to do it tomorrow and have absolutely no doubts about it.
 
Mookzen said:
It will probably perform better, and I'm quite sure a good number of people have. Why is that even a question ? I'm going to do it tomorrow and have absolutely no doubts about it.
Click to expand...

Well its performed really well (my H50), so with Ivy Bridge around the corner, its got me thinking how well another paste would do on the H50 seeing as it came with its own paste in already applied pad-like form.
 
shuffle said:
Well its performed really well (my H50), so with Ivy Bridge around the corner, its got me thinking how well another paste would do on the H50 seeing as it came with its own paste in already applied pad-like form.
Click to expand...

Quite a few air coolers come with pre-applied paste, as do the stock CPU heatsinks. There is nothing special about that particular paste if the stock fans that come with the units are any indication. Take it as an opportunity to use a higher quality thermal compound, I know I will.
 
Mookzen said:
Quite a few air coolers come with pre-applied paste, as do the stock CPU heatsinks. There is nothing special about that particular paste if the stock fans that come with the units are any indication. Take it as an opportunity to use a higher quality thermal compound, I know I will.
Click to expand...

good to hear your advice Mookzen, I'll keep the H50 for my cpu upgrade, and choose some good paste. as i said, ive been very pleased with the H50 last few years, so a little bit sorry to have to take it off.. but as you say put some good paste and all should be ok
 
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