New
#11
bah, others may disagree, but arctic silver does the job.
Necessary to repaste processor?
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New #12
As long as it's not total garbage (and the system runs that cool), I wouldn't worry about it:).....Most of the difference between the pastes (that matters anyway) comes into play when you are doing the big overclocks....
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New #13
I always clean/replace mine, but that's partly because I wouldn't want to chance having to take everything back apart and redo it if the temps were high afterwards. Kind of an attitude that "a little bit screwed now" beats "doubly screwed later on". (This attitude does not necessarily apply to every aspect of my life, in case you were wondering.)
I think the only time I'd say "absolutely must replace" is if you encounter some of that old "bubble gum" stuff that was in favor with some of the cheaper companies a while back. That stuff wasn't worth a hoot to begin with. I also replace it's successor, the thin grey stickum pad that Intel (and others) like to use on their OEM heatsinks whenever I see that.
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New #14
I cleaned this machine a while ago.
Did exactly what you are suggesting - cleaned thoroughly with qtip and alcohol - then applied a tiny bit of paste.
Can't recall the brand of paste.
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New #15
This is quite my forte since I built and maintained all of Price-Waterhouse's machines for three years.
Arctic Silver is still a great product. After the alcohol cleanup (cpu & sink), must polish the metal with a clean lint-free cloth to get off haze.
Credit card is best way for a consistent leveling. I put a dime-sized blob on cpu and run the card four directions twice, leaving a thin film; AND do the bottom of the heat sink with the remainder (same technique). Too much paste will compromise heat transfer. Place heat sink and wiggle, with pressure, about 1/4 inch in all directions. Clip and you're done.
On 24/7 server units, I re-pasted yearly (I could take servers down because of redundancy). Office pc's, after two-three years.
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New #16
Greg:
Here is the recommended application procedure for Arctic Silver 5, direct from Arctic Silver, for AMD processors:
Arctic Silver, Inc. - AMD® Application Methods
For most AMD processors, they recommend a single dot of paste, 5 cubic MM in size--2/3 the size of a BB.
That's a very small amount. If you look at various youtube "instructions", you will see people using way way too much paste.
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New #17
Greg,
Like wise I've always been the pea size dab in center guy and the proof has always been upon removal and in every case the paste has spread out nicely if not fully to the edges. I don't like to waste so I've never done the credit card spreader but I can see that it could be a superior method for getting all over coverage and not having to have the paste spread via pressure and heat as with the dab method. Either gets it done but care must be taken in the card method as you are getting the material all the way to the cpu edge and if over applied to both surfaces it could creep down to the pins .....heaven forbid.
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New #18
Thanks, guys. It seems the video does show too much paste being applied. I'm going to stop linking it. A BB is smaller than a pea as I recall.
If your processor temps are in the 30's do you consider that cool?
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New #19
30's at idle is cool.
But CPU temps have a high correlation with ambient temps--if you boost your room temp by 10 degrees, CPU temps will jump.
As others have said, load temps are what matters. I wouldn't flinch until they got to the mid 60s.
I idle in the high 30s, but I purposely built a PC with low noise in mind rather than the lowest possible temps.
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New #20
Greg,
30's is perfect for idle and if that's under load then I'm having you install all my coolers from here out !
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