How far will Gelid Extreme Thermal Paste go?

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tougas

tougas

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As the title describes, I need to mount 2 gpu blocks on asus 980 strix's and a cpu block on my new i7 6700k and not sure how much paste to buy. its been about 4 years since I mounted my last one and I cant remember how much I used. Is it just 1 tube per block to be safe?
 
Solution
JackNaylorPE
Forget peas and follow the block manufacturers written directions. Especially with the GTX 9xx series, performance depends more on the temperature of the VRM than the GPU itself. The GTX 900 series GPus do just fine with air cooling, it's the VRM temps which, if anything, will limit your OC,

EK recommends applying a small drop of electrically nonconductive thermal grease on each phase regulator that is being covered with a thermal pad in order to further improve the performance of the (model no) water block
Click to expand...

EK Supplies Gelid Extreme with all their water blocks. While I tend to use Shin Etsu 751 on CPUs, I prefer Gelid for GPUs as it remains pliable long enough to finish application to all the chips and on both sides of the...
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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Forget peas and follow the block manufacturers written directions. Especially with the GTX 9xx series, performance depends more on the temperature of the VRM than the GPU itself. The GTX 900 series GPus do just fine with air cooling, it's the VRM temps which, if anything, will limit your OC,

EK recommends applying a small drop of electrically nonconductive thermal grease on each phase regulator that is being covered with a thermal pad in order to further improve the performance of the (model no) water block
Click to expand...

EK Supplies Gelid Extreme with all their water blocks. While I tend to use Shin Etsu 751 on CPUs, I prefer Gelid for GPUs as it remains pliable long enough to finish application to all the chips and on both sides of the thermal pads. The little paddle applicator thingie is a big help in the application.

Its going to depend on what you apply it to. Just the GPU ... or according to EKs application directions ?

http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1830159/width/350/height/700

1000


When you do it "per directions", you will use a whole tube per card. Work carefully but quickly as paste pliability reduces over time. Be careful on the 30 or so chips under thermal pad 2 so as not to wind up with a wad of paste between them.

A. Apply to the 30 or so chips labeled (2)
B. Apply to the 8 chips labeles (1)
C. Apply Thermal Pads
D. Apply to other side of thermal pads (1) and (2)
E. Apply to the GPU
F. Install block
G. Apply TIM to back of chips
H. Apply TIM to thermal pads
I. Apply TIM of pack of pads
J. Install backplate

To read directions "full size"

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3831109830338.pdf
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3831109830345.pdf

PLACING THERMAL PADS ON PCB.
Place thermal pads on chips so that numbers on chips match size of thermal pads. EKWB made sure users have more than enough pads to cover all surfaces that need to be covered to make block fully functional). EKWB recommends using small drops of
electrically non-conductive (for example: EK-TIM Ectotherm, Arctic Cooling MX-2 ™, MX-4 ™ or GELID GC-Extreme™) thermal grease on each phase regulator (that is being covered with thermal pad) in order to even further improve the thermal performance of the EK-FC980 GTX Strix series water block
Click to expand...


For the CPU, the application method will depend on the type of cooler used. Great guide on how to apply for each different type here:

http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=1

Most top performing TIMs require thermal cycling to fully cure. Here's how we 'cure" our WC builds.

1. After installing OS and drivers, downlaod:

RoG Real Bench - an application based benchgmark which will test your CPU for stability in ways that P95 or any other synthetic cant w/o presenting significant danger to your CPU (as long as you watch temps and voltatges).

HWiNFO64 - the monitoring utility that makes all others obsolete (run sensors only)

Furmark - GFX card stress test

2. Set fan speed at max and run the CPU stress test at a decent but as this is early, not your max OC. Dial down radiator fan speeds so you can get CPU temp to break 80C. Hold for about a minutes and then stop test and let temps return to normal. Repeat 3-5 times as your patience allows.

3. As above but using Furmark ... try and get GPUs to reach throttling temperature and cycle temps up and down.

4. Set your OCs as you fell appropriate . I look for max core of 75C under RoG Real Bench with rad fans at inaudible levels (< 850 rpm). GPus wont be an issue.... with decent radiator set up your GPUs should be about 40-45C. Your VRMS should run about 52-55C with the thermal pads and TIM..... without about 80C or more.
 
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tougas

tougas

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Thank you for the very well written response. That was very helpful.

 
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4Ryan6

4Ryan6

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@ tougas,

It is always best to trial fit and inspect the TIM footprint before you just assume any application method is OK, you want to use just enough TIM to fully cover the GPU or CPU with zero excess, you are only filling the microscopic imperfections of the mating surfaces, as the TIM is only taking the place of the air between those surfaces, and creating a better thermal conductivity than air does as air is an insulator, and using too much TIM can also act as an insulator.

IMO, Artic Silver 5, is some of the best thermal compound available, many claim it is old school and past it's day, because of it's cure in time, but once the cure in time has completed it's cured performance results surpass some of the so called best of the best.

If you investigate for yourself you will discover Silver AG, is one of the best thermal conductive elements on the periodic table.

And Artic Silver 5 does actually contain Silver where as many of the Silver colored TIMs use aluminum or carbon.

My 2 Cents! Ryan

Edit: To answer your original question, one tube should do it as you are only using TIM on the actual GPU and CPU, dies or heat spreaders, you use thermal padding on the graphics cards memory chips and voltage regulators.
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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There are actually 2 issues with AS5, neither of which is major ... well 3 if ya wanna be picky:

1. Cure Time:
Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.
Click to expand...

That's just an inconvenience in that at 8 hours a day, it's 25 days. I tracked it on my sons build and, accounting for ambient temps, the box showed lower temps with each successive test (monthly) into the 5th month tho the last two were well within the margin of error.

2. Capacitive
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)
Click to expand...

As long as you are careful, not a big issue ... just don't let it drip anywhere, get on ya fingers or over apply.

3. Price
AS5 tends to run $7 - 12 Shun Etsu G751 usually runs $4 - $5 and provides the same thermal performance without either of the above issues to concern yaself with.

http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12

GC-Extreme (0) Aluminum Oxide Low / Thin 37.65°C A+
Thermaltake Grease A2150 (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.65°C A+
Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Thermal Compound (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.55°C A+
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G751 (0) Aluminum Oxide Moderate 37.55°C A+

Obviously, AS5's performance is tip notch, but w/ Shin Etsu being half the price,the curing issue is at best inconvenient and in a novice hands, the capacitance thing while, I'm sure rare, is still a possibility.

Again, the $3 isn't gonna kill anybody, you can always go back and try and tweak your OC after 3-4 months, and as long as ya pay attention, you won't get any TIM on contacts. It's really hard to say you can "go wrong" with any of the top 20 products.

Gonna try Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on next build, just for sheetz and giggles.
 
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