how do you spread your thermal paste?
- Thread starter viet_Cong
- Start date
Aastii
VIP Member
hey im wondering what you people here what type of thermal paste you use and how you put it on your cpu?
im asking becuase im wondering whats the best method to do.
I don't spread, I put the paste on and then seat the CPU. The pressure will spread the paste out on its own and it will find the cracks and gaps on its own. Idle @ stock I am sitting a whole 3 degrees above ambient, so it can't be bad. If I overclock, even with a 1GHz bump (up to 3.8) on air I am still well below 40, so it works clearly.
Some people like to spread it with a credit card or other flat, plastic edge, but that just seems like a waste of paste to me, I want it on my chip, not my old credit card.
As to what I am using, I am a little embarassed to admit here I am using some cheap, no brand silver paste, but clearly it works bloody well. Was a hell of alot cheaper than any of your more reputable thermal grease brands, like AS5 or Shin Etsu, and 2 tubes of it (2.5g each) have lasted me 2 and a half years now, half way through the second tube
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Remeniz
New Member
I do the same, put a drop in the middle and stick the heatsink on. It spreads it out quite well. I'm using Noctua paste that came with my heatsink.
G25r8cer
Active Member
Aastii
VIP Member
Seems it is even less, at the minute, with just browsing the net and listening to music, I am at 15-16 degrees (so says HW monitor). When gaming that rises to at most 20 degrees, and stress testing the highest I have seeen it is 29 (at stock clocks that all is)
Xigmatech S1283 and good airflow
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linkin
VIP Member
Seems it is even less, at the minute, with just browsing the net and listening to music, I am at 15-16 degrees (so says HW monitor). When gaming that rises to at most 20 degrees, and stress testing the highest I have seeen it is 29 (at stock clocks that all is)
Xigmatech S1283 and good airflow
I have that one too. you probably get better mounting pressure with the AMD mount... I have stupid pushpins... until I go AM3 (1/3 of the way there, just bought mobo for $65 shipped!!!)
As for paste spreading, don't do it. put a rice grain sized amoutn in the centre of the CPU, then fasten the heatsink on top as it will do the rest.
Aastii
VIP Member
I said at stock
You know what my chip is like, have already said about it in Super Pi thread, highest I can get it without going to silly high voltages is about 3.6, but even then the highest I have seen it is 41 when stress testing and low 30s when gaming.
And yea I know the i7's aren't the best for heat, but I'm still happy with having a chip that is near ambient temperature at idle, can't exactly complain, be it any AMD or Intel chip, that is still good going
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bomberboysk
Active Member
I said at stock
You know what my chip is like, have already said about it in Super Pi thread, highest I can get it without going to silly high voltages is about 3.6, but even then the highest I have seen it is 41 when stress testing and low 30s when gaming.
And yea I know the i7's aren't the best for heat, but I'm still happy with having a chip that is near ambient temperature at idle, can't exactly complain, be it any AMD or Intel chip, that is still good going
When you have c&q or speedstep enabled, idle temps don't count nearly as much as load temps. Also most reputable thermal interface materials are relatively cheap to come by, here in the states anyhow. A 2.5 gram syringe of arctic silver matrix(TIM Consultants TC Grease 0098) can be had for $4.99 here, and will last you a decent enough number of uses. Or if you want to be cheap, a 22 gram syringe of ceramique can be had for $7-8.
kobaj
VIP Member
Wow...apparently I'm the only who uses a credit card to spread it out?
I havn't checked my temps in quite a while (because they were always so low, I just stopped caring). But I do remember, it was miles lower than with the stock application/pad on my setup. Mate of mine did the drop technique on his CPU, and his temps barely went down. I redid his by spreading at it was nearly 20C lower! (He had a broken push pin, its a long story).
Regardless, I use AC5, sure there are more expensive 'pure silver' or whatever out there, but 1-2C doesn't matter to me.
I havn't checked my temps in quite a while (because they were always so low, I just stopped caring). But I do remember, it was miles lower than with the stock application/pad on my setup. Mate of mine did the drop technique on his CPU, and his temps barely went down. I redid his by spreading at it was nearly 20C lower! (He had a broken push pin, its a long story).
Regardless, I use AC5, sure there are more expensive 'pure silver' or whatever out there, but 1-2C doesn't matter to me.
bomberboysk
Active Member
It has been tested and proven multiple times, even by arctic silver themselves, that the spreading method introduces foreign contamination as well as air bubbles. A broken pushpin would explain why the thermal interface material did not spread properly, but under normal circumstances letting the pressure of the heatsink mounting system is the ideal way to do it.
kobaj
VIP Member
O rly?
Their tutorials recommend both actions. Spreading on the heatsink AND wait...that's not a dot...your move.
bomberboysk
Active Member
O rly?
Their tutorials recommend both actions. Spreading on the heatsink AND wait...that's not a dot...your move.
Read that a bit closer, "tinting" the heatsink is not the same as applying the thermal paste for actual use, as you are to remove most of it as soon as you are done tinting it. Tinting is just spreading thermal paste as to let it flow into the microscopic valleys and ridges of the heatsink, and all surface thermal interface material is removed using isopropyl alcohol or arcticlean. Also, the act of "tinting" has never shown to actually improve temperatures, and it is somewhat of a common believe that "tinting" is recommended only to make the user use more thermal interface material, and therefore need to purchase larger amounts of it.
Also, that "vertical line" method was only recommended for the non monolithic quad cores such as the Q9xxx, Q8xxx, and Q6xxx processors as they were two separate dies. However many tests have shown that the dot method has outperformed arctic silvers recommended line method even on the non monolithic core processors.
bomberboysk
Active Member
There is no one single source, google for plenty of tests, as well as the manufacturer recommendations of many products. As far as i am aware, GELID is the only company that actively supports the spreading method, but even then most users had better results with letting it spread itself.
Here is a good video that displays different spread patterns, and will show the large amount of air bubbles(air for all intents and purposes is an insulator) that incur when using the spread method:
[YT]EyXLu1Ms-q4[/YT]
Remember, you are only looking to mainly cover the actual area where the processor die is, as that is where the heat is going to be mostly transferred.
So, if I understand correctly what you are saying, it's not as important to cover the entire CPU (square shape) but more or less a circular pattern in the center?