thermal paste nightmare

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 11:03

I was installing an i3 today for my new pc.

I didn't realise I had a smear of thermal paste on one of my fingers. As I picked the CPU up I smeared thermal paste on the back of it. I softly wiped it off but when I held it to Tue light I could see discoloration where the paste was.

I'm scared to try it, will it be OK?

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 11:12

Yeah on the contact side.

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 11:24

I didn't have any cleaning solutions at hand so I gave it a go and it seems fine.

Did I get a lucky escape?

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 11:57

The CPU really has been through the wars. As I took it out the packaging it dropped on the floor luckily carpet.

All seems well though what sort of thing should I keep an eye out for?

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 12:04

PhillyDee said:
It exploding.

If it works it works. CPU's generally work, or not.

That's really good to hear. I get paranoid about stuff like this though.

dLockers said:
lol, I hope you dont any warranty claims later on.

Me to. I think everything is fine though, I'm worrying that something I've done might affect the performance of the CPU or would that be impossible?

Cheers

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 12:30

Guys this is what the product description of the thermal paste says

Description
Cooler Master HTK-002 thermally conductive compounds are grease-like silicone materials, heavily filled with heat conductive metal oxides. This combination promotes high thermal conductivity, low bleed and high-temperature stability. These compounds resist changes in consistency at temperatures up to 177C (350F), maintaining a positive heat sink seal to improve heat transfer from the electronic device to the heat sink or chassis, thereby, increasing the overall efficiency of the device.

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 12:59

So even with the thermal not being wiped off with alcohol (Just gently rubbed it using tissue, could still see a dark streak where the thermal had been)

Everything should be OK? As said it's working pretty fine right now...

Cheers

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 13:46

Oh well it's working I guess that's all that matters. The thermal paste thing does worry me a bit though but it seems the type I used doesn't conduct electricity.

Just hope everything will be OK in the long run.

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 16:39

Is their any risk of the pin side getting burned? As said I made sure all the thermal was wiped off it but when I help the CPU up to the light I could still see streaks of where it had been.

Cheers

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 17:37

Curio said:
Quit worrying! If it's working fine then all is good - if it was going to cause problems you would know it by now.

True.

Guess I could always check in a few weeks to see if their has been any blackening or anything.

Cheers

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 20:04

PhillyDee said:
Nah, leave it be. Why risk damage to those damn sockets!

So the sockets could be damaged if I take the CPU out?

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 21:23

PhillyDee said:
Only if you drop it on it again, and lets face it, track record aint that great

I smudged thermal paste on the back of the CPU, not in the actual mobo socket.

Drake5 · 24 Apr 2012 at 22:28

aln said:
Then you placed it in the socket. Like he said, your record with the socket is not good, never mind your disastrous record with the CPU.

Yes but I made sure their was no excess paste on it before I placed it in the socket obviously.

Drake5 · 25 Apr 2012 at 01:07

Buchanan0204 said:
I've seen a smothered CPU (contact side) with paste and some in the socket. Friend used a full tube of the stuff and brought it round to me asking why temps were so high.

Wasn't fun when I took off the heatsink and seen 4 litres of paste. Spent about an hour with cotton buds and the orange smelling stuff (arcti clean I think)

Anyway... it was fine As long as it was 99% clean and you never left any residue at all on the CPU and there was obviously none in the socket. Nothing to be worried about.

P.S. I also dropped my first Intel CPU years ago, they package them stupidly IMO in the side, so easy to slip out!! Mines hit the tiles and it's still going strong 6 years on.

The only thing that does worry me about it is that I could still see some streaks of where the thermal paste had been.

I imagine in a few weeks it's going to end up fried or something.

Drake5 · 27 Apr 2012 at 01:38

Been looking at the thermal paste description again tonight

Description
Cooler Master HTK-002 thermally conductive compounds are grease-like silicone materials, heavily filled with heat conductive metal oxides. This combination promotes high thermal conductivity, low bleed and high-temperature stability. These compounds resist changes in consistency at temperatures up to 177C (350F), maintaining a positive heat sink seal to improve heat transfer from the electronic device to the heat sink or chassis, thereby, increasing the overall efficiency of the device.

Got me thinking, it says it contains 'conductive metal oxides' does this mean as the pin side of the CPU wasn't properly cleaned with alcohol the pins/socket could burn out over a long period of time? Not sure if that means that the paste is conductive? Just some early morning thoughts.

Cheers

Drake5 · 27 Apr 2012 at 11:10

Cheers guys - Yeah I'm just going to leave it alone now.

One last question, when I initially dropped the CPU it picked up a bit of a scratch on the left lip, took an image on Google to explain:

A tiny bit of the silver surface scratched away from it but alls this does is protect the underside of the CPU anyway I think?

Thanks

Drake5 · 28 Apr 2012 at 02:48

Anyone know if that scratch will likely cause me any problems down the line?

Seems to be that the silver 'topping' has been removed a tiny bit and you can see a kinda copper underside.

Drake5 · 28 Apr 2012 at 12:29

Krono5 said:
No problems whatsoever. Infact some people (lap) sand down the IHS (top side) to improve temps by making it flatter/smoother.

That's what I thought.

Just concerned me a bit with it being on the side part though and not the actual top of the CPU.

Cheers

Drake5 · 28 Apr 2012 at 18:14

kmax86 said:
that scratch comes from the flip lock of socket also have those in my cpu

Yeah I thought thats where it might have come from as my brother had it in his PC for a bit first but I also think it might have appeared when I dropped the cpu.