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.
... 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.
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
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.
3'C above ambient?!? I'm struggling to get 10'C above ambient.
How?
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![]()
You don't have much overclock, and an I7 pumps at twice as much heat at stock clocks as yours does overclocked. All I7's run terribly hot.
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
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.
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.
O rly?
Their tutorials recommend both actions. Spreading on the heatsink AND wait...that's not a dot...your move.
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Still waiting for source...
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.