Thermal paste

Are you using thermal paste between your CPU and heatsink?

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xBoom

xBoom

New Member
My CPU temp before using thermal paste:
MAX LOAD: ~72C
IDLE: 44C

After thermal pasting:
MAX LOAD: 59-59.5C (never go any higher)
IDLE: 44C

I thought thermal paste doesn't have any effect. But it has! My worry about CPU temp decreased by 60%.

The CPU is :
Intel Pentium 4 Northwood Single-core 2.66GHz @ 2.68GHz
Heatsink: Intel P4 with HT stock heatsink (with copper in the middle)
 
it really depends..for you it made a huge difference.. it can just make a minor difference on other people's pc tough.

anyhow.. i would suggest you always put thermal compound between the CPU and heatsink ;)
 
lol. Something is definitely wrong there. Thermal paste makes a difference of what? 4C at most as compared to the thermal paste supplied on the HSF? If you don't use ANY thermal compound, then yes, those numbers might make sense.

Otherwise there was a huge flaw in the testing procedure.
 
SirKenin said:
lol. Something is definitely wrong there. Thermal paste makes a difference of what? 4C at most as compared to the thermal paste supplied on the HSF? If you don't use ANY thermal compound, then yes, those numbers might make sense.
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he never said he still had a thermal pad on the Heatsink.. and even if he had,.. if there is air trapped in it,.. it would isolate the CPU instead of conducting the heat. If you dont know the situation, dont say someone is wrong or whatever.. because it can be true definately.
 
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Can you show me an instance of this "air being trapped between the pad and the CPU", because I believe that to be impossible. However, I'm willing to be learned (except from the occasional person who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about).

So some links would be great. Any kind of website testimonial that would include statistics would be fantastic.

And if he didn't have a thermal pad or paste on the heatsink then he shouldn't own a computer. Any way you look at it, the conclusion he arrived at is seriously flawed. The test should be done with a pad or paste first, then with the new paste second. Otherwise you get ridiculous figures and you don't make yourself look very bright. ;)
 
SirKenin said:
Can you show me an instance of this "air being trapped between the pad and the CPU", because I believe that to be impossible. However, I'm willing to be learned (except from the occasional person who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about).

So some links would be great. Any kind of website testimonial that would include statistics would be fantastic.

And if he didn't have a thermal pad or paste on the heatsink then he shouldn't own a computer. Any way you look at it, the conclusion he arrived at is seriously flawed. The test should be done with a pad or paste first, then with the new paste second. Otherwise you get ridiculous figures and you don't make yourself look very bright. ;)
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That doesnt need proving, its true, and its common knowledge, its not massive air bubbles, we're talking tiny atoms of oxygen trapped between the pad and CPU. Usually occurs when your pad has dents or scratches in it, obviously when you use a silicon based or water based thermal grease, its a lot harder for air bubbles to get trapped, and this usually helps out a lot.

If you insist on disagreeing then try wikipedia, they have a lot of ino on there about these kind of things, im pretty certain you'll find what your looking for.

dragon

*EDIT* - Heres a starting point - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_grease
 
When you say NOT using thermal paste, I assume you mean using the Thermal Pad or something that comes on many retail CPU heatsinks?
 
You are talking the difference of a couple of degrees!!! Even with a thermal pad. Show me ONE test where the difference between a thermal pad (or grease) and thermal paste (no matter how expensive) was more than a few degrees.

You can't. They don't exist. The loss in conductance is relatively miniscule. For one, the thermal pad disintegrates under the heat, creating a seal between the CPU and the HSF.

Sorry, there is absolutely NO way that tiny little air bubbles can create that much of a difference. NONE. Now, I don't deny that they will create a couple of degrees difference. That's standard fare. NOT the difference that is being alluded to here.

The only explanation for this so-called "test" is that the methods were flawed or the tester didn't know what they were doing. Either way it cannot stand as testimonial for the effectiveness of a product. Perhaps the incompetence of the tester, but that's about it.
 
SirKenin said:
Under max load they only hit about 60C on a bad day. An overclocked (2.0 to 2.5) Northwood only hits 40 at 1.7V with a stock HSF in one article I've read.

The guy obviously has no clue what he's doing.

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/intel-processors-30/pentium-4-temperatures-the-basics-33207.html
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well.. luckily we have you one the forum,.. you notice problems from the other side of the planet, and know exacly when someone isnt doing something right an what the problem is..
I mean cmon,.. btw.. the biggest difference i had with thermal pase applied was with my 1400MHz AMD Thunderbird C.. it was running at 65*C without.. and at 48*C with thermal paste ( alluminium heatsink ) so yes.. it can make a BIG difference
 
Again, what did you put on the HSF? Nothing? Because you are abnormal. There is absolutely no data that I could find on the internet to back up these absurd claims.

All it shows is that you don't know what you're doing, whether it be in measurement or application.. Obviously I can't tell that from here.


EDIT:

Incidentally, you can use toothpaste and get far better results than you had Archangel, so who are you trying to kid here?

http://www.dansdata.com/images/goop/nofibgraph2.gif

At absolute WORST case scenario. And I do mean the ABSOLUTE worst, Arctic Silver 5 can effect a change of 12C. That is the worst possible case scenario, and it is also official Arctic Silver marketting propaganda. Expect real performance to be significantly less, as demonstrated by the review sites I read.

Your results are still outside that range.
 
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SirKenin said:
I vote for toothpaste... it's cheaper and works better. :P
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I'll have to try that...lol

What version of Arctic Silver do you use? Oh, I use toothpaste on my processor. That sounds ever so slightly strange...:D

Next thing you know we'll be brushing the CPU's teeth(pins).....
 
Bobo said:
I'll have to try that...lol

What version of Arctic Silver do you use? Oh, I use toothpaste on my processor. That sounds ever so slightly strange...:D

Next thing you know we'll be brushing the CPU's teeth(pins).....
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Oh you're funny...

Use the thermal paste,it'll make a difference...i doubt a difference that big,but a difference that will help.
 
You have to see where Kenin is coming from, if he comes from there rather strongly. :)

That said, for results like that I think the person has to be talking about using NO barrier (HSF-to-processor) then using a paste like (HSF-AS5-Processor) to get these sorts of results. This still doesn't explain the same idle temperature from both. I agree that this is an invalid experiment, something was not done right.
 
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