Thermal Paste

good or bad?

 

Bad. Too much. When I did it, I put a little bit less. Also the paste should be spread even on the surface.

 

well, at least I can say it looks ugly...

 

=( i tried so many times.......
so i just let the heat sink press?

 

a line down the middle of it about 1/2 the length of the die, put the heatsink down on top of it, screw it back in place, and the paste should spread evenly.

 

????

Put a small blob in the corner of the die, spread it out with a plastic card like credit card keycard ruler anything thin flat, another blob if there's not enough.

Make sure the die is completely covered but try and use as little as possible the less paste there is the more efficient heat transfer will be.

Also is that white between the resistors more thermal paste? I hope you're not using arctic silver because it conducts electricity so keep it the feck away from anything except the die surface. Mask the surrounding area if you're finding it difficult.

 

no no no no. do not do this. this will result in more air bubbles than anything.

How Thermal Compound Spreads - YouTube

 

The white paste was from the previous paste. Should i clean it out completely?

 

Yes, the surface has to be completely cleaned before applying a new bit of paste. Do NOT spread the paste out yourself using any sort of spreading device. The pressure applied when you attach the heatsink is all you need to spread it. A pea sized dot should be enough...

Oh, and clean that surface using 99% isopropyl alcohol. You've got one heck of a mess there that, if that paste is conductive, will make you will regret you ever tried to mod your computer. Dunk a Q-Tip into the alcohol and use that to rub the paste off. You'll need quite a few Q-Tips to do this so have a box of them ready.

 

there is fiber of the Q-Tip , is it okay

 

Sorry to sort of derail the topic, but does thermal paste make a difference? What makes "IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound" better than the stock stuff?

 

^^^Yes.
10char.

 

I find that just placing a small drop the size of a BB and spreading it only by force of the heatsink being mounted, does the trick.

 

It takes a several times to get it right. I used to be very cautious then realized I was using too little (pea sized), and had to do a peasize x 3 or x4 in a line to ensure proper spread and thickness. Use something like IC Diamond so you don't have to worry about conductive paste. And if it's stuff from the factory (i.e. HP, Dell, Acer, etc) let it soak in alcohol for ten minutes before even trying to remove it. I always just use paper towel and alcohol.

 

well, I did my CPU just 3 days ago, followed a few guides in youtube and the one in my sig (thanks to SlickDude), just watch a few videos and then it is (at least looks like) piece of cake.. put a pea sized thermal compound in the middle, and then spread with a business card, very straightforward (cleaning was tougher, use high percentage rubbing alcohol and I used cotton swabs to apply it)

 

why spread it when the heatsink will do the same thing with less air bubbles? spreading it yourself and then installing the heatsink causes more air bubbles than anything. i recommend re-applying without spreading the paste yourself.

from my other post in this same thread....

How Thermal Compound Spreads - YouTube

 

But then you will never get full connection with the entire die, if you get it then the thermal paste will spread on the chip causing chip to get hotter... using a business card and spending the extra 15 minutes you can get a thin layer without any bubbles evenly spread, seriously..

nice video btw (+rep)

EDIT: this weekend I will apply the dot method and give detailed temp comparisons here in this thread (this video indeed looks interesting, curious )

 

Just remember that you only need a wide area coverage, not total coverage of the thermal paste.

 

DOT MOD > SPREAD MOD!!! I will post detailed temps soon..

 

You would think with all of the geek-brain-power that handles it, there would be a real paste spreader engineered that works out there..

 

Sorry, the product you are looking for is unavailable.

 

Not necessarily.
I did both methods, and the dot method actually turned out to produce more problems than the spread method (especially when one is working with paste that's very sticky).
The spread method seems to work best for me and provided best results.

 

I used spread method too. Worked like a charm.

 

Spreading it is too much work to make it even for the difference in temps... I rather just let the heatsink spread it and not think about it at all.

I thought it was already proven that spreading it yourself wasn't as good as the dot method?

 

Some TIMs are quite runny, while others are thick and abrasive (IC Diamond). For the latter group, pressure from the heatsink will provide the optimal spreading since it's actually required. You could use a plastic spatula to spread the paste, at least with the former group, but then you might end up with uneven patches of thermal paste that don't make proper contact with the heatsink. When applaying paste in the center of the CPU and exerting force equally, the paste will force its way into the textured surface of the CPU and heatsink. Naturally, this method is therefore usually recommended. Problems might arise, however, if the person who's trying to apply the paste is using conductive paste and too much of it. This problem isn't entirely specific to the 'dot method', but some find it easier to apply the right amount of paste if they spread it before mounting the heatsink.

 

I did a very thin layer of spread working on it for 15 minutes (no kidding) and still with the dot mod (well 3 little dots, as you can see in the guide by slickdude), my temps went down by 5C! same stuff everything except for the method, and I am thinking I did a very good job spreading a thin layer.. dunno

 

^^^Lol 15min. It took me no more than a minute to do each chip and it was my first time too.
Maybe next time I'll try a dot method, see how it goes.

 

This is 10 minutes of prime95 at blend, previously max temp was 87, now it is 83, but current temps are similar, it was also previously hovering around low 80s

 

and to think the manufacturers spend all that time getting it right the first time round, look at my lovely Toshiba OEM effort............sublime and clearly the work of pro's.......rofl!!!!

 

^^^ lol...the stock paste jobs are normally AWFUL. And from your pics, they are disgusting

The stock paste job on both GPU and CPU on my alienware were terrible. Actually, terrible is too kind a word. They put way too much GOOP on the dies and the GOOP is subpar paste to begin with lol

Grazt, you are showing good results bro! Letting the heatsink spread the paste is a better way to go and your results prove that.

 

oh yeah, looks that way thanks Slick! but I am scared I put a little more than I should have, I guess I will do another paste in the weekend btw, this is FUN!!!

 

Grazt, what paste are you using? Prolimatech PK-1?

 

Actually, it only demonstrates that for his particular laptop the dot method works a bit better.
Other people had issues with the dot method and it didn't work out for them too well (myself included) temperature-wise.
Different people = different results.

 

Definitely Prolimatech PK-1