Thermal Paste Removal/Installation Guide - Page 3
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Last response: in Components
amantes
November 10, 2012 7:33:29 AM
amuffin said:
They mean the stock coolers only have 1 application of thermal paste, so that means there's only 1 install. Once you take the cooler off, you'll have to use thermal paste/compound again for the next install.I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in the stock cooler install guide.
Thanks! I was confused because it sounded like the cooler can only work with one type of compound once it's been "set in motion" and I would mess something up if I buy the wrong one.
Always check the date of the articles
That one is 6 years old.
Gabriel Torres writes great articles, but some of the older ones miss the mark with the English. If you look at the pictures in the article, you will get a clue. He's referring to the pre-applied thermal "wax" that you can see there. They are "inconvenient" because they are very thick and harder to remove than thermal paste.
So, the factory paste (waxy) is hard to clean and cannot be replaced. You can buy thermal "pads" that are often used for cooling mosfets and memory and such, and this is similar to the "wax"... but it is not appropriate for CPU cooling.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9420/thr-64/Thermal_P...
That one is 6 years old.Gabriel Torres writes great articles, but some of the older ones miss the mark with the English. If you look at the pictures in the article, you will get a clue. He's referring to the pre-applied thermal "wax" that you can see there. They are "inconvenient" because they are very thick and harder to remove than thermal paste.
So, the factory paste (waxy) is hard to clean and cannot be replaced. You can buy thermal "pads" that are often used for cooling mosfets and memory and such, and this is similar to the "wax"... but it is not appropriate for CPU cooling.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9420/thr-64/Thermal_P...
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amantes
November 10, 2012 10:07:15 PM
mazasrb
November 29, 2012 1:47:47 PM
TamLin
December 4, 2012 4:57:38 PM
Hello,
Recently I had a problem with my Phenom II X4 965 BE as it was going to 65 C under full load and Arctic Cooler Freezer 7. Today I removed paste ( just using tissues no liquids ) and re-applied new paste. At the moment after 2hrs stress test temp was peaking to 47 C ( 18 C difference ! ).
What i did was as it was mentioned placed green pea size of paste in the middle and used weight of the sink to distribute it.
I think that is the best option, thanks.
Recently I had a problem with my Phenom II X4 965 BE as it was going to 65 C under full load and Arctic Cooler Freezer 7. Today I removed paste ( just using tissues no liquids ) and re-applied new paste. At the moment after 2hrs stress test temp was peaking to 47 C ( 18 C difference ! ).
What i did was as it was mentioned placed green pea size of paste in the middle and used weight of the sink to distribute it.
I think that is the best option, thanks.
boyang02
December 21, 2012 9:56:01 PM
boyang02 said:
what If i dont have isopropyl alcohol, are there any other alternatives?Nice sticky you got amuffin
Anyways I used hand sanitizer and Q-tips once when I didn't have any isopropyl around...make sure its alcohol based hand sanitizer. I also hear people used acetone and umm mineral spirits. Though I haven't tried any of those except hand sanitizer and isopropyl alcohol. You could also use coffee filters rather than Q-tips.
You want to use stuff that doesn't leave anything behind. Mineral spirits and hand sanitizer might, as might vodka. That's just theory of course. No one has tested it.
The thing about the isopropyl alcohol is that it evaporates fast and leaves almost nothing behind. Nothing to interfere with the viscosity of the TIM or react with it in unknown ways.
Petroleum based products will usually not evaporate as fully or as fast, although acetone does evaporate fast (as does other such things, all of which are not normally found in homes). You also should worry about how such products might interact with your motherboard, and the FLAMMABILITY of the residue.
I think I have seen small packs of alcohol wipes in convenience stores, next to the pain relievers.
The thing about the isopropyl alcohol is that it evaporates fast and leaves almost nothing behind. Nothing to interfere with the viscosity of the TIM or react with it in unknown ways.
Petroleum based products will usually not evaporate as fully or as fast, although acetone does evaporate fast (as does other such things, all of which are not normally found in homes). You also should worry about how such products might interact with your motherboard, and the FLAMMABILITY of the residue.
I think I have seen small packs of alcohol wipes in convenience stores, next to the pain relievers.
xtremK
December 27, 2012 12:33:41 AM
Hey guys, is it necessary to remove and replace thermal paste 6-12 months from the heatsink and the processor like you said even if I'm using Antec 25 Kulher 620 H2O liquid cooling system?
Because my case is messy
and it is really annoying to do that
PC specs:
http://valid.canardpc.com/2629249
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/configuration.php?con...
Because my case is messy
and it is really annoying to do that
PC specs:
http://valid.canardpc.com/2629249
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/configuration.php?con...
jakewat97
December 28, 2012 1:09:36 AM
Yuka
December 28, 2012 12:47:41 PM
jakewat97 said:
I will soon need to do this because i think the thermal paste is like 2 years old now and im sure my cooler master v8 should be preforming a little better than what it is at the moment. thanks for some great advice and picsI wouldn't say it's the paste. I'd blame on first instance dust bunnies trapped in between the vents/fins of you V8.
They stop airflow, hence, less cooling efficiency. Don't forget to do a clean up very 3 or 6 months. If you live country side, with a lof of dust around, make it 3. Cities should be good with 6 months or even 1 year.
Cheers!
BathroomSecurity
December 30, 2012 12:25:48 AM
arcticle
January 2, 2013 11:53:34 AM
Yuka
January 10, 2013 9:02:38 PM
I
January 23, 2013 5:59:52 PM
Proximon said:
You want to use stuff that doesn't leave anything behind. Mineral spirits and hand sanitizer might, as might vodka. That's just theory of course. No one has tested it.The thing about the isopropyl alcohol is that it evaporates fast and leaves almost nothing behind. Nothing to interfere with the viscosity of the TIM or react with it in unknown ways.
Petroleum based products will usually not evaporate as fully or as fast, although acetone does evaporate fast (as does other such things, all of which are not normally found in homes). You also should worry about how such products might interact with your motherboard, and the FLAMMABILITY of the residue.
I think I have seen small packs of alcohol wipes in convenience stores, next to the pain relievers.
Isopropyl alcohol may or may not leave water behind. The type bought at a drugstore in a bottle is usually between 70% to 99% alcohol and the rest water. I might use 99% but never use 70%, because most modern computing equipment PCBs have water soluble flux residue on them that can cause damage if water comes in contact with it. It does not necessarily matter if the water dries completely, as the water droplets dry they become smaller and more concentrated pools of flux.
Flux residue is mildly active and leeches metal from component leads, then as this dries it potentially creates a conductive electrical path. This is especially problematic under tight pitch ICs that can trap liquid like CPU, northbridge, GPU, etc... ironically the most common places where heatsink grease would be. You can be rid of this residue with a thorough rinse cycle, but not with only waiting for a small application of water to dry such that the flux wasn't rinsed away.
Silicone oil based greases may need replaced every year or two on very high heat density interfaces, but seldom are these present today as more chips now have heat spreaders on them. These greases are the generic and dirt cheap types, while modern high end synthetic greases should be good for the life of the system.
mjshinde
January 24, 2013 4:58:48 AM
hitme987
January 31, 2013 11:31:29 AM
Cataclysm_ZA
January 31, 2013 1:42:51 PM
For those of you still reading this thread and interested in other application methods, Olin Coles from Benchmarkreview wrote a long guide following lots of experimentation with how thermal paste should be applied.
I used to be a fan of the tiny drop method until I had time to experiment on my own and found that different coolers require a separate application process. When I next open my rig for a quick blow-out, I'm going to use the two-line method since I'm stuck with a stock AMD heatsink.
I used to be a fan of the tiny drop method until I had time to experiment on my own and found that different coolers require a separate application process. When I next open my rig for a quick blow-out, I'm going to use the two-line method since I'm stuck with a stock AMD heatsink.
The link is here
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_conten...
Also, this thread has some interesting data and links regarding heatpipe orientation
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1558610
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_conten...
Also, this thread has some interesting data and links regarding heatpipe orientation
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1558610
Cataclysm_ZA
January 31, 2013 7:53:45 PM
Heh, I actually did link to it in my post, but obviously the very dark blue isn't so noticeable. Thanks for that, though. Its an interesting read, even though I'm assuming things have changed slightly due to node process improvements and the IHS used on the chip itself.
Edit: Okay, now I see I was a moron with the linking. I'm more used to vBulletin than this strange forum setup.
Edit: Okay, now I see I was a moron with the linking. I'm more used to vBulletin than this strange forum setup.
Enderegg
February 24, 2013 2:20:30 PM
george allen
February 25, 2013 6:45:33 AM
montosaurous
March 7, 2013 1:51:40 AM
Yuka
March 7, 2013 3:21:41 PM
montosaurous said:
I have a Hyper 212 EVO arriving tomorrow so I can hopefully get my CPU up to 4.8GHz. Anyways, should I remove the CPU from it's socket at any time? I don't want to damage it or the motherboard during the process.No need to do so on AMD platforms, since they don't have the metal plate Intel CPUs have. That lets you clean up properly around the CPU and socket. On Intel might not be entirely necessary, but I'd still recommend to do so and clean up around the metal holder.
Good luck on your OC.
Cheers!
montosaurous
March 7, 2013 10:15:01 PM
austin707
March 8, 2013 4:18:21 AM
Dear members,
I've posted this topic on other threads but haven't received any satisfactory replies.
Please advise.
I have used the cooler master thermal compound that came with the hyper 212 evo on my recent build. The temps in the bios hover around 52C when in idle. This is seriously worrying me as to whether I have installed the cooler wrongly or whether this is normal.
I understand that the bios temps are not completely reliable, but still, given the quality and reliability of this aftermarket cooler, I wasn't expecting these high temps.
I'm not sure whether I have to turn the screws on the X shaped retention holder all the way till they can't turn anymore or just half way through. The base swivels when I turn it. I used the pea size amount of thermal compound.
I was just wondering how much the temps might shoot up if I engage in 4 hours of gaming or if I overclock my cpu. This is freaking me out.
I'm willing to re-install my cooler if required. I'm from India and I don't have a single store in my city that sells any other thermal compound. So I'm sticking with the one that came with the cooler master hyper 212 evo.
Please help.
Thanks in advance.
I've posted this topic on other threads but haven't received any satisfactory replies.
Please advise.
I have used the cooler master thermal compound that came with the hyper 212 evo on my recent build. The temps in the bios hover around 52C when in idle. This is seriously worrying me as to whether I have installed the cooler wrongly or whether this is normal.
I understand that the bios temps are not completely reliable, but still, given the quality and reliability of this aftermarket cooler, I wasn't expecting these high temps.
I'm not sure whether I have to turn the screws on the X shaped retention holder all the way till they can't turn anymore or just half way through. The base swivels when I turn it. I used the pea size amount of thermal compound.
I was just wondering how much the temps might shoot up if I engage in 4 hours of gaming or if I overclock my cpu. This is freaking me out.
I'm willing to re-install my cooler if required. I'm from India and I don't have a single store in my city that sells any other thermal compound. So I'm sticking with the one that came with the cooler master hyper 212 evo.
Please help.
Thanks in advance.
My rule is to tighten the screws gradually, switching from one to the next in an x pattern, until all screws are as tight as I can comfortably turn them with my FINGERS on the screwdriver but not my fist. That's how I measure the proper amount of torque, for myself. Depending on your finger strength that could possibly be too much, but the average male office worker would have similar strength to mine. It's fairly snug.
From your description I suspect the cooler is still too loose.
From your description I suspect the cooler is still too loose.
Rora
March 8, 2013 8:42:25 AM
montosaurous
March 8, 2013 2:52:31 PM
Annisa Mivo
April 17, 2013 9:51:13 PM
ankydu
May 30, 2013 9:14:42 AM
I recently upgraded my cpu (AMD Phenom 2 x2 555 BE unlocked to 4 cores) cooler to the hyper 212 evo, I just wiped off the old paste with a soft cotton cloth and it became completely clean without any particles or paste on it, then I applied a dot at the center with the paste that came with the heatsink, then used a visiting card to spread it evenly, next I apply the heatsink and now I dont see any diff with idle temperatures which are around 44. Only diff is the load temperature with prime 95 benchmark were around 64-65* C earlier are now around 53-54*C, Is it normal???
OldtimeGamer
June 4, 2013 8:17:37 PM
I always clean old paste off with medical alcohol prep pads. My cats diabetic, so I give him insulin injections every day... so I have lots of sealed square little pads on hand. I generally use about 3 pads to get the job done right...until the pad shows no signs of gray old paste.
I just redid the thermal paste on a computer tonight for a family member. That paste was the worse I ever saw. It was so dried up and old..10 years since it was 1st applied.
This is off track but worth reading....(Funny thing is it had been at "Best Buy" for Geek Squad service... because the CPU was overheating and shutting the computer off within 1 minute of operation. Two weeks in the BB store that's how they returned it yesterday...claiming they couldn't get replacement parts and couldn't fix it. Thirty minutes later, with a spare CPU fan and new paste and it is running great again. Makes me now wonder if they even bother to do new thermal paste when servicing CPU's)
Anyway. I always form a little square in the center of the CPU about 1/3 the size of the CPU itself... taking care not to make bubbles. It might be a little more than I need but it always works good for me doing it that way,
I just redid the thermal paste on a computer tonight for a family member. That paste was the worse I ever saw. It was so dried up and old..10 years since it was 1st applied.
This is off track but worth reading....(Funny thing is it had been at "Best Buy" for Geek Squad service... because the CPU was overheating and shutting the computer off within 1 minute of operation. Two weeks in the BB store that's how they returned it yesterday...claiming they couldn't get replacement parts and couldn't fix it. Thirty minutes later, with a spare CPU fan and new paste and it is running great again. Makes me now wonder if they even bother to do new thermal paste when servicing CPU's)
Anyway. I always form a little square in the center of the CPU about 1/3 the size of the CPU itself... taking care not to make bubbles. It might be a little more than I need but it always works good for me doing it that way,
MiDNiGhT2903
June 25, 2013 9:48:59 AM
AMKANMBA
July 10, 2013 3:02:42 AM
Ken Su
July 25, 2013 10:08:50 PM
Right after I apply the thermal compund on the heatsink and place it on top of the CPU. Can I take it back out or will that damage anything.
Because I put the heatsink on and realize that the bracket doesn't match the screw so I take it out and wipe the thermal compound off the CPU and heatsinker. Is that OK?
And what happen if I touch some metal parts at the bottom of the motherboard. Will that shock the motherboard and other parts on the motherboard already?
Because I put the heatsink on and realize that the bracket doesn't match the screw so I take it out and wipe the thermal compound off the CPU and heatsinker. Is that OK?
And what happen if I touch some metal parts at the bottom of the motherboard. Will that shock the motherboard and other parts on the motherboard already?
Ken Su said:
Right after I apply the thermal compund on the heatsink and place it on top of the CPU. Can I take it back out or will that damage anything. Because I put the heatsink on and realize that the bracket doesn't match the screw so I take it out and wipe the thermal compound off the CPU and heatsinker. Is that OK?
And what happen if I touch some metal parts at the bottom of the motherboard. Will that shock the motherboard and other parts on the motherboard already?
if you take out the heatsink after applying the paste then it won't damage anything. but if you put it back in the CPU without reapplying the paste your CPU will probably overheat due to poor thermal conductivity as there will air bubbles between the paste and heatsink plate.
MiDNiGhT2903
July 26, 2013 2:44:32 AM
AMKANMBA
July 26, 2013 2:55:29 AM
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