Thermal paste

I own a SXPS 1645 that is about 14months old. Lately I've been experiencing screen and sound crackling about 1hour into MW3. I've took off the bottom case and see if that help and it lasted about more or less 2hours. I was still wondering what can cause this similar to throttling-like symptoms. So I removed the fan and the heatsink, and there were some dust, not a big issue there. But when I saw the CPU and the GPU, my god I was shocked. The thermal paste was melted and the residue was flowing outside of the CPU, GPU, and any further heat would cause some major damage.

So, I need a VERY GOOD thermal paste, price doesn't matter. Please tell me which one is the best one and how I can clean up the residue.
I got 2 bad pictures, quality because the only camera I had was from a nokia phone... but you get the idea.

 

Well, those pictures are bad and it's hard to tell what the paste job did look like, but regardless of the paste job, you are now in need of a repaste . Any good thermal paste like MX-2, OCZ Freeze, ICD7 (my favorite) will work quite nicely.

 

I bought Arctic MX-4. It cost me about 5 EUR. On idle my temps went maybe 2C max 5C lower, but when system is under load, instead of 85C I get around 70 for GPU and from 75ish C to 60C for CPU. Not bad at all.

 

ICD7 +1. it will do the job!

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try ICD7. Any idea how I can clean up the residue on the CPU and GPU?

 

Rubbing alcohol 90% and q-tips, less than $10 at your local drug store.

 

I have one silly question: Is there a Canadian retail store or online store that sells ICD7?

nvm, I found one

 

Arctic Silver sell a two-step cleaning compound. Its pretty cheap... but have to be honest, not 100% sure if its necessarily worth it. See how much you can get it for, I daresay it will barely be more than alcohol rubs.

 

I've never had any issue with the old-fashioned Q-tip and rubbing alcohol method, either on bare-die laptop CPU's or desktop models with heat spreaders.

 

Care must be taken when using Q-tips to remove old TIM as you can still scratch CPU heat spreaders and copper-based CPU coolers.

 

^Fair point, but if you're pressing down even close to hard enough to scratch those, you're doing it wrong. If the tip is soaked in alcohol, you should barely need to brush the surface, the thermal gunk should melt right off.

 

Share your experience with the temps.. I am confused in between Mx-4 and IC 7

 

The paste is not what matters the most, it is how you apply it. ICD7 is highly viscous and easy to work with in laptops. I got a 2-3C difference between MX-2 and ICD7, mostly due to the paste job rather than the paste brand itself.

 

Artic Silver 5, and from artic how to apply it to Intel cpu's,,I used AS-5 when I upgraded my cpu,,repasted cpu and gpu.

Arctic Silver, Inc. - Intel® Application Methods

Cheers
3Fees

 

as5 is good but it's ancient and there's at least 10 better thermal pastes.
ic7 is better then mx-4. but there's better then ic7 like coollaboratory liquid metal ultra or indigo extreme.

 

I think my sxps 1645 came with silicon as a default. I don't think it was even a paste. It looked like a piece of a silicon that would fit the shape of my CPU and GPU. But alcohol should take care of removing them right?

 

You wouldn't want to use a metal alloy based solution on a notebook.

 

I use MX-4, found it really good. I get around 45-50 on a 920xm when only used for surfing or something light.

 

I used it several times without any problem. In fact I'm writing this on a notebook that has it on the cpu.

 

then you are lurking around the danger i guess...its not recommended to use metal alloy in notebooks..|

 

I got the same temps with MX-4 when my lappy is on idle. What temps does your reach when you're gaming?

 

I use arctic silver 5. My desktop (9650) runs at 30*C, and my notebook (T5800) run at 40*C.

 

Okay my IC Diamond 24 arrived. I know how to apply, but once the applications is done, do I put the laptop together right away or wait until the paste solidifies (or something)?

 

Just put it back together and you're done. You don't have to wait for anything.

 

ICD has no cure time so once you're done, time to stress to see the temps. Just make sure to tighten the heatsink enough and as evenly as possible.

 

just of interest but why not?? i'm thinking or dismantling my laptop soon to appy some paste and due to the small case i want the best of the best but if theres a solid reason for omiting metal alloy based compounds i kinda want to know it

cheers

Ben

 

Metal-based pastes are electrically conductive, and there are lots of sensitive circuits very close to each other in laptops. Laptop CPU's also don't have the large heatspreaders that desktop models do, so it's much easier to use too much paste and spill some over into places where it shouldn't be.

 

so thats it? its just a conductivity thing?? nothing in terms of degradation of the open die with application of metal paste or anything else? just purely if your hamfisted with the application you'll short the bad boy out?

 

There's also the fact that the metal alloys they use will eat aluminium. If you get any of it on some aluminium on your heatsink (most laptops have some very close to the central heat pipe), then it'll basically turn into something along the lines of a tooth filling.

 

For amateurs I won't recommend IC Diamond, the stuff is very hard to work with. However if you still willing to give it a try then be sure let the tube stand in a cup filled with warm water for 5 minutes before working, this way the paste will be a bit softer and easier to work with.

If you want an easier paste to work with that is also easy on your wallet with great temps (only second to IC Diamond overall IMO) then AC MX-3 is a also great choice.

 

What's the difference between various MX-Xs?

 

The time at which they were released. I assume there are differences in composition too, but i don't think we'll get to know the exact formulation for the various MX pastes.

 

i presume that lab grade isopropyl alcohol will be fine for this sort of task? considering dismantling my laptops to repaste

 

Drug store grade IPA is more than fine. There is no way i'm going to use expensive HPLC grade IPA for a repaste . If you have some handy at the lab, but none at home, it will do the job, just avoid any other solvents like acetone, chloroform etc. I haven't tried any of those, but i'm pretty sure there are solvents that eat PCB for breakfast.

 

In a pinch you could use no-clean flux...just don't use the water-soluble kind without rinsing it off or it will eat the board.

Probably a moot point, though, as I'm sure you won't have flux lying around if you don't even have rubbing alcohol.

 

provided lab grade is good as anything else i will use that.....no comment on where its coming from

 

Why, from the lab obviously . Working in a lab gives you access to all sorts of products you might not have access to otherwise . IPA from the lab will work like a charm, it'll probably work better than the one you can get at the drug store as i'm assuming it is ACS grade (99%).