The importance of Thermal Paste on your Processor

[vivalarevolución]

I just wanted to take a moment to discuss the importance of thermal paste on your computer's processor.  I removed the original thermal paste on the processor in my Lenovo T420 and added a dollop of new thermal paste. 

This T420 is now running 20 degrees Celsius cooler than it was just a few minutes ago.  Even I am shocked.

Boy and girls, make sure you have decent and sufficient thermal paste on your processor.  It makes a world of difference.

[tp4tissue]

What happens with Laptop cpu is..

Because it's delidded,  the smooth surface squeezes out the thermal paste between the die and cooler..


This is the reason why they put so much of the crust-over type thermal paste on laptops when you buy them.



So, if you swap out the stock thermal paste,  you might get cooler temps,  but you have to constantly refresh it, because on the bare die surface, the normal pastes you're using will get squeezed out within 6-8 months.



I've switched to liquid ultra.. and this is the type that stays put..  But you do need to seal the chip's surroundings, because liquid ultra is conductive.

[SpAmRaY]

Dollop and thermal paste shouldn't be in the same sentence.

[vivalarevolución]

Dollop and thermal paste shouldn't be in the same sentence.

I meant that in the figurative sense, not literal.

And noted, tp.

[MandrewDavis]

Same thing with my buddy's Dell workstation laptop (with a trackpoint!), always complaining about fan noise. Gelid Extreme (also rebranded as Phobya HeGrease), my go-to, fixed it right up.
 
I have a one of those big ass Phanteks PH-TC14PE tower coolers I ran my stock 4690k without thermal paste for a month when i didn't have a GPU. Highest temp it ever got to was maybe 45°C with like 20 tabs open in Chrome.

[Halverson]

I like thermal paste.

One time, I reapplied mine to my video card. Forgot to plug the fans back in. If I wasn't monitoring my temps, it would have gone critical

[tp4tissue]

I like thermal paste.

One time, I reapplied mine to my video card. Forgot to plug the fans back in. If I wasn't monitoring my temps, it would have gone critical

I've done this at least 50 times..   used to upgrade my graphics card every 6 months as a kid..


Anyway.. pretty much just turns off,  never had actual damage..


The only time I've ever burned something was my Athlon XP, when I forgot to put the heatsink on, and it boot it up and smoked.

[Halverson]

I like thermal paste.

One time, I reapplied mine to my video card. Forgot to plug the fans back in. If I wasn't monitoring my temps, it would have gone critical

I've done this at least 50 times..   used to upgrade my graphics card every 6 months as a kid..


Anyway.. pretty much just turns off,  never had actual damage..


The only time I've ever burned something was my Athlon XP, when I forgot to put the heatsink on, and it boot it up and smoked.

With my luck....FIIIIRRRAHHH

[the pokemon kid]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

[tp4tissue]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

what.... lies..  are you on liquid cooling ?

[the pokemon kid]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle! 40C at delta!

[MandrewDavis]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

what.... lies..  are you on liquid cooling ?

Coollaboratory liquid metal scares me, but 18C at idle, must have a radiator outside in the snow 

[the pokemon kid]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

what.... lies..  are you on liquid cooling ?

That I am. One 240mm Monsta rad and one 360mm Monsta Rad.

[the pokemon kid]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

what.... lies..  are you on liquid cooling ?

Coollaboratory liquid metal scares me, but 18C at idle, must have a radiator outside in the snow 

A few factors, Two huge radiators filled with Static pressure fans. I am also using a dynamic overclock, so the processor goes down to 1200mhz when at idle and pushes hardly any power through it at that time.

[SpAmRaY]

I repasted my laptop over vacation but it's still not acting right

Currently building/fixing up a really old workstation to use for a while.

[the pokemon kid]

I repasted my laptop over vacation but it's still not acting right

Currently building/fixing up a really old workstation to use for a while.

A friend of mines laptop was acting strange, it would  heat up very quickly under any load and would take ages to cool down. He re-pasted the processor and it did nothing. I had a look and he had cracked one of the heat pipes coming from the processor. Swapped the whole cooler out and it was back up to full strength!

[ideus]

I just order a new heat sink and thermal paste to replace them in an old X61t. The fan makes a bold noise now. It is interesting to read about how important the thermal paste could be.

[tp4tissue]

I just order a new heat sink and thermal paste to replace them in an old X61t. The fan makes a bold noise now. It is interesting to read about how important the thermal paste could be.

Liquid pro FTW.. or Liquid ultra.. either one..

make sure the heatsink  contact plate is NOT aluminum if you're going to use liquid pro/ultra.


make sure to lube the fan, even the new fan.. you'd want to lube it


Although fixin' up an x61t is kind of a waste, too slow... hahahahhaha

[Spopepro]

And, as a friendly reminder, thermal interface solutions are many times less thermally conductive than the metal on either side. Like many engineering problems, the best paste is no paste, but surface irregularities in both the lid (or die) and the sink make the paste/film mandatory. Because while it's way less conductive than metal, paste is much more conductive than air. Don't over do it kiddos.

[ideus]

I just order a new heat sink and thermal paste to replace them in an old X61t. The fan makes a bold noise now. It is interesting to read about how important the thermal paste could be.

Liquid pro FTW.. or Liquid ultra.. either one..

make sure the heatsink  contact plate is NOT aluminum if you're going to use liquid pro/ultra.


make sure to lube the fan, even the new fan.. you'd want to lube it


Although fixin' up an x61t is kind of a waste, too slow... hahahahhaha

IKR, but it still gets the job done and for less than twenty bucks is a no brainer.

[chyros]

Supercritical helium would be an even more effective coolant.

[noisyturtle]

ugh but it's so much wooooork to replace thermal paste

[atarione]

meh.. that is what the thermal throttle is for =p


j/k.... man I use to just constantly have temp monitor stuff going ... now I just don't give a f*ck..   but since cpu upgrades have yielded so little gain for sooo long now..suck a d*ck Kaby Lake... I probably should actually pull my i7-4770K's heatsink and reapply thermal paste I guess.. or at least dust out my case I guess... meh...

[SpAmRaY]

Had a Xeon jump to 105C last night then the system shutdown....apparently it didn't like my thermal paste application or the heatsink didn't sit right....oops

Now I gotta figure out how to fix it tonight.

[fanpeople]

Had a Xeon jump to 105C last night then the system shutdown....apparently it didn't like my thermal paste application or the heatsink didn't sit right....oops

Now I gotta figure out how to fix it tonight.

Have you tried turining it off and on again

[SpAmRaY]

Had a Xeon jump to 105C last night then the system shutdown....apparently it didn't like my thermal paste application or the heatsink didn't sit right....oops

Now I gotta figure out how to fix it tonight.

Have you tried turining it off and on again

Well it took a few tries to get it to boot to start with so technically yeah.

I didn't realize it was thermaling out until it booted into windows and my temperature monitoring program went nuts.

Hopefully it didn't get damaged.

[fanpeople]

Had a Xeon jump to 105C last night then the system shutdown....apparently it didn't like my thermal paste application or the heatsink didn't sit right....oops

Now I gotta figure out how to fix it tonight.

Have you tried turining it off and on again

[tp4tissue]

Had a Xeon jump to 105C last night then the system shutdown....apparently it didn't like my thermal paste application or the heatsink didn't sit right....oops

Now I gotta figure out how to fix it tonight.

Have you tried turining it off and on again

Sometimes server boards have lock outs in the bios that you have to manually clear and click acknowledge before the system can reboot..

Same with most other industrial electronics..

[PollandAkuma]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

wew, I need some of that stuff and also that 6-flanged screwdriver...

[tp4tissue]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

wew, I need some of that stuff and also that 6-flanged screwdriver...

i wouldn't put liquid ultra/pro in a macbook.. too much aluminum in that.. hahahaha

[PollandAkuma]

The difference between the bog standard thermal paste and top quality stuff is amazing! I am using Coollaboratory liquid ultra stuff and its simply amazing! 18C at idle!

wew, I need some of that stuff and also that 6-flanged screwdriver...

i wouldn't put liquid ultra/pro in a macbook.. too much aluminum in that.. hahahaha

True, i'll just stick with paste. can't wait to "mod" my Mac

[SpAmRaY]

Does anyone still use Arctic Silver 5 anymore?

[menuhin]

Does anyone still use Arctic Silver 5 anymore?

I used Arctic Silver 5 about 2-3 years ago.

[Flyersfan1]

I really really like the thermal paste supplied by noctua for all their air coolers.  I recently upgraded to the NH-D15 in my tower and it keeps idle temps on a 6770k around 20-23c and rarely exceeds 60c under heavy load on a cpu intense game like Overwatch.  I would highly recommend it, and if anyone would like to try it I'd be happy to send over mine as I can't see myself needing to reapply it any time soon.

[tp4tissue]

Does anyone still use Arctic Silver 5 anymore?

i used it all the way up until i lost my 30g tube.. 

Been using the same tube for 15 years..

[vivalarevolución]

Actually learned a lot here, guys, thanks for all the info.

[digi]

I use JB Weld on my cpu's

[Melvang]

I use JB Weld on my cpu's

There actually is thermally conductive two part epoxies.  When I ordered the aftermarket cooler for my current video card, it came with some for glueing on small heat sinks to the ram chips. 

[atarione]

gah..... I'm trying to remember what cooler / cpu's had a hilarious tendency to rip out of the socket, cpu still attached to the cooler when trying to remove the cooler with the supplied thermal compound..

whenever possible I like to run the cpu up to temp, shutdown and then gently twist the cooler rather than trying to pull...

damn what was that series of cpu's that kept doing that? I remember seeing multiple people gripping about it happening to them on the web some years ago.

[Spopepro]

I use JB Weld on my cpu's

There actually is thermally conductive two part epoxies.  When I ordered the aftermarket cooler for my current video card, it came with some for glueing on small heat sinks to the ram chips.

I've used thermal epoxy when making high power DIY led lights. It's a great product!  Probably not great for cpus...

[tp4tissue]

I use JB Weld on my cpu's

There actually is thermally conductive two part epoxies.  When I ordered the aftermarket cooler for my current video card, it came with some for glueing on small heat sinks to the ram chips.

I've used thermal epoxy when making high power DIY led lights. It's a great product!  Probably not great for cpus...

I use the silicone for leds, because it's easier to remove should that ever be necessary

[drewba]

ugh but it's so much wooooork to replace thermal paste

This is where I'm at right now. Which is sad because it's like 20 minutes tops worth of work.

[Flyersfan1]

ugh but it's so much wooooork to replace thermal paste

This is where I'm at right now. Which is sad because it's like 20 minutes tops worth of work.

eh, if you're using a big heatsink like anything from Noctua or CM 212 Evo it's a lot more of a PITA.  Especially with the latter since while CM makes a great heatsink, that thing is so aggravating to install.  Is there a consensus on when thermal paste should be reapplied? I actually kind of thought quality stuff was supposed to last for a real long time.

[xtrafrood]

I feel like I'm talking about some randomly obscure hipster band but Tuniq TX-4 is my jam. Have to heat it up and spread it, though. Stuff comes with a plastic tinning (spreading? tinning?) card. Legit madness.