Reapplying thermal paste... Did I mess up?

austin0209

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Feb 19, 2015
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Because of high CPU temps, I reapplied my thermal paste for the first time. I followed a guide and did everything it told me, but when I replaced the fan, I slid it around quite a bit (I was not expecting it to be that slippery). The computer turns on and everything, and the temps went from 70C idle to 50C idle.

I was just wondering if I messed up by sliding the heatsink across the CPU too much when reapplying.

P.S. I used the line method.
 
Solution


the line method doesn't work for AMD CPU's so I assume they made the APU's the same way, the CPU cores are in clusters around the outside of the heat spreader, while intel have theirs in a line in the middle, look up a review for the cross method, and reapply the paste.

austin0209

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Feb 19, 2015
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Yes, before the reapply it was 70 and now its 50 (these were taken from HWMonitor). I actually have an AMD APU.
 

yatys93

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the line method doesn't work for AMD CPU's so I assume they made the APU's the same way, the CPU cores are in clusters around the outside of the heat spreader, while intel have theirs in a line in the middle, look up a review for the cross method, and reapply the paste.
 
Solution

yatys93

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main one is don't use too much so that it spills over the side of the CPU and into the socket, that's a pain in the ass to clean out the socket, I would hate to even try to clean the CPU pins off as they are so fragile, the cross method involves stating in 1 corner and going diagonally to the on opposite, thin lines, then repeat with the other two corners to you have a X sort of shape on your CPU heat spreader, try not to slide the cooler too much but it can't be helped as AMD's locking method is a pain, is it the stock cooler you are using? or have you bought an after market one?
 

austin0209

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Yeah, people are saying the dot in the middle works best, I think I'll try that and see what happens.
 

austin0209

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I'm using stock. Should I try the X or the dot?
 

austin0209

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Feb 19, 2015
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I'm using stock. Should I try the X or the dot?
 

yatys93

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to be honest either works with AMD, I personally prefer the cross as that's just what I found works better, its harder to judge how much to use though as you start quite close to the edge of the heat spreader, dot works nicely in some cases, but I didn't get nice temps with it when I did it.
 

austin0209

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Alright I'll try the cross then...
 

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