spread or not to spread?

scottmorley

scottmorley

scottmorley

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Location
kent
hi guys and girls,
not sure if this is the correct part of the forum for this but i'll post anyway :)

since i received my system back from ocuk, the cpu has been getting very hot compared to what it was before i sent it back.
i have an amd fx-8350@ 4.6ghz(with a corsair h80i) and the max temp prior to sending the system back was 46degrees but now it's hitting 56-58 on a daily basis whilst playing games such as battlefield 3 and skyrim. this for me, is far to high and i don't know the safe temps for my chip so i'd like to get it back down to what it was before.

not sure what paste ocuk used but it must have been quite poor quality or they just neglected to reapply the paste which to be honest.. wouldn't surprise me.

back to the point, i've never actually put thermal paste on a cpu before and have very little knowledge of building computers. should i spread the thermal compound over the cpu or just let the h80i spread it on its own when put it back on?

many thanks.
 
Safe temps for Piledriver (if i recall) are below mid 60's. Most people seem to pull back at 65C though most hit the voltage limit by that time.

Just wondering, why was it sent back to OCUK?

The best method is to clean the CPU and apply a 'pea sized dot' in the centre and let the cooler spread it. (this is what a lot of people do)

I tend to just put a splodge on the centre(ish) the CPU, a cross between a line and a dot, and let the cooler spread it.

I have read of others putting a dot on a spreading it with a plastic bag before appliying the cooler.

I'd personally let the cooler spread the Paste as it is a flat surface which should be applying equal pressure over the whole CPU giving you an even spread. :)
 
Doomedspeed said:
Safe temps for Piledriver (if i recall) are below mid 60's. Most people seem to pull back at 65C though most hit the voltage limit by that time.

Just wondering, why was it sent back to OCUK?

The best method is to clean the CPU and apply a 'pea sized dot' in the centre and let the cooler spread it. (this is what a lot of people do)

I tend to just put a splodge on the centre(ish) the CPU, a cross between a line and a dot, and let the cooler spread it.

I have read of others putting a dot on a spreading it with a plastic bag before appliying the cooler.

I'd personally let the cooler spread the Paste as it is a flat surface which should be applying equal pressure over the whole CPU giving you an even spread. :)
Click to expand...

thanks for the quick reply, i've had to send this machine back multiple times it's been an absolute nightmare.
on this occasion i sent it back as my psu fan was failing and making a horrendous noise and my h80i's led on the block had packed up so ocuk said they would replace it, and now i have high temps.

now that my cpu gets a lot hotter i'm so paranoid over it. constantly checking the temps to see what its doing, its ruining playing games for me. but i cant help but feel paranoid lol.

my lack of knowledge is whats making it worse as i'm also worried about doing something wrong in regards to reapplying the paste.although it seems straight forward, i've never done it before and to do it on a £1,300 machine for my first time is a daunting thought.
 
also, could anyone recommend a good quality thermal paste and the best cleaning product to remove the thermal paste thats already on there.
thanks.
 
£1300 for an AMD machine?

Can you list your full spec please?

If you sent it back for the PSU fan, they really shouldnt of changed the heat sink on the CPU at all!

Are u positive you had lower temps before? have you made sure the CPU fan is working when turned on? Silly i know but sometimes it is the case :P
 
fan is 100% working and all settings are exactly the same as before.
it wasn't just the psu that was faulty they also replaced my h80i watercooled heatsink hence why i'm now getting higher temps as i think they used a poor quality thermal compound or just neglected to clean and put fresh paste on.

my system has, obviously my [email protected], sapphire hd 7970 3gb boost edition, 32gb kingston hyperx 1600mhz ram, asus crosshair v formula z mobo, corsair h80i cpu cooler, nzxt phantom enthusiast case, seasonic m12 II 850w psu, 256gb samsung 840 ssd, 2TB seagate hdd and a lg blue ray dvd/rw, think thats everything lol.
 
Yeah that probably sounds about right from OCUK lol.

Well sounds like they have skimped out and used crappy thermal paste or did a bad job at it.

The thing is sending the pc back and forth doesnt help either, things move in transit and it can get damaged easily.

Id ring them up or post in customer service because i wouldnt be happy with that, but you have no proof really, you best find someone with a similar OC and cooler and see what they get?
 
The point is he shouldnt need to do it himself he paid OCUK to build it and maintain it for 2 years, but they have screwed it up. Well from what hes saying it sounds that way.
 
Remove heatsink - rub paste off both CPU and heatsink with kitchen towel - clean up remnants with lighter fluid on kitchen towel - apply small blob (think pea sized) - reapply heatsink. The pressure of the heatsink mounting mechanism will spread the paste where it needs to be. There is very little difference between branded pastes, though most old hands have their favourites. Toothpaste or mayonnase will do in a bind - see this article if you don't believe it! Myself, I am partial to Arctic Cooling Céramique, MX2 and Coolermaster standard stuff.

Also note, the weather has improved considerably in the past couple of weeks, a different cooler may have a slightly different efficiency and the box could have had a hard impact on the way back, "cracking" the contact between IHS and HS. All of those could account for you 10 or so celsius, which is still more than safe. BTW you computer will shut down if the CPU really doesn't like the temperature.
 
d_brennen said:
Remove heatsink - rub paste off both CPU and heatsink with kitchen towel - clean up remnants with lighter fluid on kitchen towel - apply small blob (think pea sized) - reapply heatsink. The pressure of the heatsink mounting mechanism will spread the paste where it needs to be. There is very little difference between branded pastes, though most old hands have their favourites. Toothpaste or mayonnase will do in a bind - see this article if you don't believe it! Myself, I am partial to Arctic Cooling Céramique, MX2 and Coolermaster standard stuff.

Also note, the weather has improved considerably in the past couple of weeks, a different cooler may have a slightly different efficiency and the box could have had a hard impact on the way back, "cracking" the contact between IHS and HS. All of those could account for you 10 or so celsius, which is still more than safe. BTW you computer will shut down if the CPU really doesn't like the temperature.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply,
thats a good point about it taking a knock and perhaps breaking the contact.
and according to ocuk the cut off on my cpu is 90 but i would have thought it would fry before it hit that lol.
 
Last edited:
Silly question, but are you experiencing any 'real world' effects as a result from the higher temps? I.e when playing Skyrim? any artifacts? lockups? random reboots?

I know there's a principle here but if all you're worried about is the temperature of the CPU then I really wouldn't let it bother you unless you're experiencing any of the above.

As was said above also, it has been hotter this past week so this could be a contributing factor.

Play your games and enjoy your system :) we can all get hung up about core temps but what's the point if everything is running fine.

Just my two cents



Posted from Overclockers.co.uk App for Android
 
SirChumpalot said:
Silly question, but are you experiencing any 'real world' effects as a result from the higher temps? when playing Skyrim? any artifacts? lockups? random reboots?

I know there's a principle here but if all you're worried about is the temperature of the CPU then I really wouldn't let it bother you unless you're experiencing any of the above.

As was said above also, it has been hotter this past week so this could be a contributing factor.

Play your games and enjoy your system :) we can all get hung up about core temps but what's the point if everything is running fine.

Just my two cents


Thanks for the reply,
Funny you should mention that. On skyrim I do get the occasional graphic spike, things will blur in loads of different colours and Occasional flickers will occur. It doesnt lagg and it isn't too common but its definitely noticeable it's never crashed whilst playing skyrim apart from when I hit the windows key once by mistake -.-
I've not noticed this in battlefield though, and my temps actually get hotter whilst playing battlefield





Posted from Overclockers.co.uk App for Android
Click to expand...
 
scottmorley said:
Thanks for the reply,
Funny you should mention that. On skyrim I do get the occasional graphic spike, things will blur in loads of different colours and Occasional flickers will occur. It doesnt lagg and it isn't too common but its definitely noticeable it's never crashed whilst playing skyrim apart from when I hit the windows key once by mistake -.-
I've not noticed this in battlefield though, and my temps actually get hotter whilst playing battlefield
Click to expand...

Then I would look to resolve that by re-seating the heatsink on the CPU to see if your temps improve.

Have your graphics card settings changed since getting the system back?
 
SirChumpalot said:
Then I would look to resolve that by re-seating the heatsink on the CPU to see if your temps improve.

Have your graphics card settings changed since getting the system back?
Click to expand...

re-seating as in, go with my original plan and replace the thermal paste?

nope, graphics card is still running the exact same settings and speeds. i dare not overclock it as i have no idea how lol (amateur i know)
 
BarKeep said:
Will a bit of DIY affect the OcUK warranty?
Click to expand...


yeah i was going to ask ocuk about that before i bought the cleaner and paste
shouldn't see it being a problem unless its something like me getting thermal paste on the mb.

i should imagine ocuk are getting annoyed with me sending my system back to them so they might be funny about it so they dont have to come and collect it again lol.
 
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