Thermal Paste + Cooler... Please Help ? :)

foomonkey · 12 Nov 2009 at 23:12

another question coming up... i've just after putting a grain size of thermal paste on my cpu and then the cooler ontop. i tried clicking the cooler into place but didnt think it was in right so took it off again to realign it.

now after coming back here to read the guide it tells me;

Note: If you ever remove the cooler it will break the seal created and the thermal paste will need to be cleaned off both the CPU and cooler and re-applied in the above fashion.

is this true even for the situation i've just created or will it be fine to just reattach the cooler to the cpu??

danb21t · 12 Nov 2009 at 23:13

should be fine tbh

foomonkey · 12 Nov 2009 at 23:16

danb21t said:
should be fine tbh

110% certain it will be fine?... i dont want to have £1k worth of pc destroyed from overheating

deano1863 · 12 Nov 2009 at 23:39

foomonkey said:
110% certain it will be fine?... i dont want to have £1k worth of pc destroyed from overheating

it wont blow anyway, if it gets too hot it will just shut itself down, so if that happens, buy some more paste.

This stuff is good:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-001-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=

foomonkey · 12 Nov 2009 at 23:40

thats the stuff i put on it ^^

ETNiES · 13 Nov 2009 at 01:35

Only if you've turned it on and heated the paste otherwise it will be fine!

Hotwired · 13 Nov 2009 at 01:56

Weeeelll....

When you first stick thermal paste on you spread it out from a point such as a blob or a line. That helps prevent air bubbles.

If you spread it all over the heat spreader to start with or take the cooler off and reseat it you already have paste everywhere and that can't squeeze out trapped air, instead it will trap air.

The difference it makes isn't going to boil your processor but there we go. The air insulates by comparison to the paste which is meant to conduct heat.

foomonkey · 13 Nov 2009 at 13:33

Hotwired said:
Weeeelll....

When you first stick thermal paste on you spread it out from a point such as a blob or a line. That helps prevent air bubbles.

If you spread it all over the heat spreader to start with or take the cooler off and reseat it you already have paste everywhere and that can't squeeze out trapped air, instead it will trap air.

The difference it makes isn't going to boil your processor but there we go. The air insulates by comparison to the paste which is meant to conduct heat.

the computer hasnt been turned on as of yet. literally still building the thing.

so what you are saying is that there will be air bubbles regardless that will conduct heat to the cpu and i would be best just starting over to make sure the cpu is well protected ?

Hotwired · 13 Nov 2009 at 23:16

Well no, trapped air won't conduct heat to the CPU but bubbles are worse than thermal paste for taking heat from the CPU to the cooler.

Ideally you apply paste, squish the cooler and CPU together and reapply paste if you take apart otherwise you're risking air being trapped between them.