Thermal Paste

A

apratim2002

New Member
I have the following PC configuration:
1.Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
2.Motherboard: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3
3.Hard Disk: Western Digital 320 GB 7200 rpm
4.RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 MHz Kingston Value RAM KVR1333D3N9/2G
5.Monitor: Samsung 20-inch SyncMaster B2030 Widescreen Monitor
6.Graphics Card : ZOTAC GeForce 260 GTX
7.PSU : Cooler Master 600W
Today I completely took off the CPU heatsink and reseated it again. Do you think I need to reapply thermal paste just because I took it off and reseated the same thing again? My CPU temperature reached 69 C while gaming. I have no idea whether it used to happen before because I never really tested the temperature for the last 1 and half years.
 
apratim2002 said:
If I buy a new heatsink, will it come with a fan and thermal paste as well?
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It should come with a fan, and many heatsinks do have a small packet of paste, but a tube of quality past like Arctic Silver is fairly inexpensive and will last you forever.

Use a little isopropyl alcohol to remove all the old paste and apply a rice-grained dot of paste in the center of the processor and apply the heatsink. Too must paste is just as bad as too little.
 
Dngrsone said:
It should come with a fan, and many heatsinks do have a small packet of paste, but a tube of quality past like Arctic Silver is fairly inexpensive and will last you forever.

Use a little isopropyl alcohol to remove all the old paste and apply a rice-grained dot of paste in the center of the processor and apply the heatsink. Too must paste is just as bad as too little.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't immediately say "get some AS5 as well", because some of the thermal paste shipped with heatsinks would be better than AS5, so I would wait to see if OP would get one first.

@OP, I wouldn't even use your system before you reapply thermal paste. The max operating temperatures for your quad core Phenom II processors is ~62 degrees, so you have surpassed that by a rather large margin, and carrying on using it at such temperatures, you are risking frying your chip.

For future reference, every time you take the CPU heatsink, or any heatsink, off, reapply thermal paste. By putting it back on, even if it is brand new, fresh paste, you are going to introduce air bubbles, which is as good as having no thermal paste at all
 
Just use this stuff, ArctiClean 60ml kit with Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound. I use it alot and it's about $12 for the kit. It dose not seem like much for $12 but it realy is a good deal.

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Dngrsone said:
It should come with a fan, and many heatsinks do have a small packet of paste, but a tube of quality past like Arctic Silver is fairly inexpensive and will last you forever.

Use a little isopropyl alcohol to remove all the old paste and apply a rice-grained dot of paste in the center of the processor and apply the heatsink. Too must paste is just as bad as too little.
Click to expand...

"rice grained dot of paste"? When i opened the heatsink, i found a rectangular shaped smudge of paste... and any way other thab isopropyl alcohol? where do i get isopropyl alcohol...
 
apratim2002 said:
"rice grained dot of paste"? When i opened the heatsink, i found a rectangular shaped smudge of paste... and any way other thab isopropyl alcohol? where do i get isopropyl alcohol...
Click to expand...

It is paste, so semi-liquid, fairly viscous. Go and get a small blob of jam, mayonaise, butter, any other food stuff of your choice with that soft, almost liquid texture, and press it with a pallet knife, or the back of a knife, or something else flat. Was was a blob will spread, same thing with the thermal paste.

The paste is designed to spread and fill the gaps that did have air, a poor conductor of heat, with thermal paste, a very good conductor of heat in suspension, usually silver.

You can just wipe away the thermal paste, however as it is as old as you say it is, and probably the stock stuff which is ok, but not the greatest, I would say the use of some sort of solvent is necessary.

You can get isopropyl alcohol from a drug store, or if it isn't available, you can get it online
 
Rubbing alcohol will do the job they just like to sound fancy. and deffinately reapply some so you dont fry the chip. trust me thermal paste it way cheaper than a new cpu
 
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