Thermal paste (T.I.M.) quick question.

Doctor McNinja · 17 Jul 2010 at 18:40

I'm just about to fit the heatsink to the CPU. It's my first build and I'm not sure how to apply TIM (which has a texture almost like soft blu-tack) to the grooves on my HDT heatsink. Can someone please explain it to me?

[EDIT] it seems to me like what I'm asking has a pretty obvious answer but I don't want to make any assumptions.

HW91 · 17 Jul 2010 at 19:21

grooves?

there shouldn't be any grooves on a heatsink, at least not on the part which TIM should be in contact with,

plus you put TIM on the CPU then put the heatsink on, not just the heatsink or both

anyway the main method for cpu's is one pea sized blob in the middle, you can spread it out or not, although it doesn't really matter providing you're using a non-conductive TIM like MX-2 or MX-3, which you should do anyway

Doctor McNinja · 17 Jul 2010 at 19:36

HW91 said:
grooves?

there shouldn't be any grooves on a heatsink, at least not on the part which TIM should be in contact with,

plus you put TIM on the CPU then put the heatsink on, not just the heatsink or both

anyway the main method for cpu's is one pea sized blob in the middle, you can spread it out or not, although it doesn't really matter providing you're using a non-conductive TIM like MX-2 or MX-3, which you should do anyway

It's a HDT heatsink-

I want to know how I should fill the grooves between the Copper pipes and the Aluminium block.

MadMatty · 17 Jul 2010 at 20:30

Heres a little article that may be of some help

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=5

When I applied paste onto my Xigamatch 1283 some 2 and abit years ago, I put a thin lineon all 3 pipes. No idea how it spead, but ive not had any temp issues with the cpu so im happy (even with pushpins ! )

Doctor McNinja · 17 Jul 2010 at 21:08

Thanks for the link but it just shows you where to put the paste, not how to physically apply it. I tried using an old credit card which worked well. I then used the two stripe method. Fingers crossed I got a good spread.

gilgamesh · 18 Jul 2010 at 00:22

In all the years i have been doing this, i hav never once spread the compound..

My compound of choice is IC7 Diamond and that stuff is even thicker than Shin-Etsu

I never spread the compound, simply get your lasses hair dryer and put it on to the FIRST warm NOT hot setting. Heat the compound then straight away mount your HSF/water block. It spreads easier and an addaded advatnage is KNOCKS down the curing time on relevant compounds:d

gilgamesh

mayebaza · 18 Jul 2010 at 17:26

Like most direct touch CPU Coolers you can clearly see that there are gaps in the contact area of the Cooler, which may hinder its cooling potential. To get round this and get the best performance from my Xigmatek Dark Knight and OCZ Gladiator Max with AS5, I have to thinly coat both surfaces Cooler and CPU. Nevertheless Gilgamesh is correct, if the TIM you are using is very thick, the gaps should not be a problem.
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Helios1234 · 3 Aug 2010 at 01:08

MadMatty said:
Heres a little article that may be of some help

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=5

When I applied paste onto my Xigamatch 1283 some 2 and abit years ago, I put a thin lineon all 3 pipes. No idea how it spead, but ive not had any temp issues with the cpu so im happy (even with pushpins ! )

I agree with this. Just apply a small line at the base of each heat pipe. You don't need to spread it yourself.

Simply install the cooler and let the pressure from the mounting mechanism do the rest.

EDIT: I should really check out the dates before posting...