Rookie mistake

[Norbster]

Hi,

I'm working on my first build and I make a rookie mistake of putting on my Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and then taking it off right after.

My question is do I need to clean off the CPU and AC 7 Pro of the thermal compound and apply some new stuff on? Or will I be ok since the thermal compund hasn't been used yet (I haven't tried to boot yet).

Thank,

Norbster

 

[jitpublisher]

It only takes a minute to clean and reapply, the stuff is cheap, you only need a little, better safe than sorry.

 

[The_Prophecy]

It's never a bad idea to replace each time, but since you haven't booted up, I wouldn't worry about it.... no heat has been applied to the paste yet.

 

[Zorg]

The only concern that you should have is if any air bubbles get trapped because of the uneven surface left by the remaining thermal compound. Smooth it down and apply additional if needed.

 

[Norbster]

Thanks for the advice all.

I'll see if I can salvage what I have by smoothing it down. If it looks like things are too hot when I boot up I'll go out and get some stuff to reapply.

 

[do_it_anyway]

Made the same mistake, like an idiot I positioned the fan facing the rear of the case not realising that the fan blows air through the heat sink, it doesn't suck air through and exhaust it out the back.
My temperature sensor on my RAM blocks showed about 50 degrees under load as all the hot air was blown onto them.

I took a chance even though I had heated up the paste and just repositioned the heat sink. I now have CPU temperatures of 29 degrees at idle going upto 36 degrees under load.
So it worked fine for me.

Having said that, I only did it while I waited for some new thermal paste to arrive, and I will be reapplying the paste ASAP.