Solved Thermal compound question.

[Layback Bear]

Does the thermal compound that comes installed on a cpu cooler ever get old. Who knows how long in been sitting in a warehouse ect. Should it be removed and new compound applied before installation. This is a new build with all new hardware. It looks a little dry compared to the fresh out of the tube. I have a H50 Corsair to install.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

No the H50 hasn't been out long enough to be old. But yes in my opinion it is best to remove the factory installed compound and use a premium paste. Or you can even give this mind blowing stuff a try:
http://www.indigo-xtreme.com/

 

[Wallonn7]

No the H50 hasn't been out long enough to be old. But yes in my opinion it is best to remove the factory installed comound and use a premium paste.

Arctic Silver

 

[Layback Bear]

Thanks for your input. I have two tubes of Arctic and will clean and apply new compound. For sure it can't hurt.

 

[Wallonn7]

Thanks for your input. I have two tubes of Arctic and will clean and apply new compound. For sure it can't hurt.

Application method

My pleasure!

 

[ezeht]

Answer original question. A lot of pre installed compounds are cheap and can get brittle or turn to chalk with in any time in a few months or 2 years or so- and is common on many video cards or even stock coolers- will not cool well or any at all then and can fry a cpu or gpu. Normally 3rd party stuff is better. And many better than comes on many 3rd party coolers. I get rid of any compound on any cooler stock or not and avoid the compounds that come with coolers unless it is mx2 or some thing like that. Below explains more..>

That indigo is awesome many steps tho. I wonder how long it lasts and how hard is it to remove the heat sink laters for cleaning what ever? I plan to read more on it. It has to heat up and run and I wonder if it conducts currants. Looks great tho

I would go ac mx2 or mx3 or maybe shin etsu x23.

I need to read more on the x23 but reviews and bench tests say it is awesome. Need to read how long it lasts etc.

AC S5 is one of the last id use. It conducts electrical currants and can fry your system or vid card if you get sloppy with it- has a 200 hour cure time and about a 2 year life starts to get brittle and not cool as well. I used it back in the day and before better stuff came out. I also have used AC Ceramique. Both was nice for its day. But s5 can ruin your day very easy.

I use ac mx2 now. It is better cools better than ac s5 and no cure time has 8 year life and does not conduct electrical currants. MX3 is even better cooling. Geil 2 or 3 is about the same as mx products but a lil less cool- but you get more for less money.

It is many you can use and most cool with in 2 to 6f of each other. Cost might be more of a thought. I am very happy with the mx2 might go mx3 or that shin etsu x23 next time if I read more good stuff about it. If it lasts and not conduct electrical currants- I might just get some. Price is not bad either.. I have a few more cpu's worth of mx2 now tho. So it will be a few years before I have to worry on thermal compound.

It is a number of things to take into consideration when thinking or talking about thermal compounds. How well it cools or how long it lasts and if it conducts currants or maybe if it has a cure time are maybe most important. Conducting currants can be hell and short out or fry something if sloppy/ apply to much maybe- or a splatter/drip you did not notice. Folks can do as they like use what ever. Some may not matter so much most folks even my self will take my system apart about 1 1/2 years and clean everything and a fresh os install. If the cpu cooler is not so dirty I might skip removing it and is fine using mx2. Being I do not smoke in my room with my system any more it only gets dusty and I filter well. I might remove the cooler every other time- so.

Just my thoughts on the topic.

 

[Layback Bear]

Thank you ezeht!! You have done a lot of study and research on this subject. I have been well informed by your input. I'm glad I asked the question. I didn't know things have change so much. New products I have never heard of, wow. My thought are kind of simple. I'm not a bencher; I'm looking to get the most real world speed and relibility. If I have to sacrifice a little speed for reliability that's okay. Reliability to me means less heat. The new compounds should help with those concerns. Thanks to all for the input.

 

[ezeht]

Thanks bear and no probs.

I can talk a lot can confuse some or get on some nerves maybe. I do not mean to- just doing my best to help is all. All the folks here will help. Some have lil different opinions on some things and most differences are lil as far as products go. It falls more to personal choice and maybe brand loyalties maybe. The more info the better is how I see it. The more folks post and the more ideas or info or help the better it is for all.

As a fact tho. Some of the thermal compounds are so good now you can use stock coolers and over clock too- unless maybe you are pushing for most high oc- but even then lots of folks will back them down some and if for lower heat if no other reason. Wet cooling is best and if you are a super over clocker.

If that indigo is as good as it seems- you could for sure get away with a stock cooler and get great over clocks and save some cash too. That x23 if as good as it says would be great with a stock cooler also. If you have the extra 30 to 50 bucks to spend- ya get a better 3rd party cooler. If not over clocking I would not buy an extra cooler- get some good paste and be done with it..

I am same as you- I need my stuff to last and I am a gamer. The more cool the better and as I can afford it. I will learn how to oc my cpu when I am ready. I need a better video card really. I see no need to try and oc until then. A ssd would be sweet too maybe.

Oh ya if you do or already know- get ya some 70- 90% isopropyl alcohol [rubbing] from the drug store for cleaning up/off the mess and even your whole pc. It will not hurt anything use paper towels or qtips- some use tooth brushes what ever. Just do not have the qtips dripping wet roll them on a dry paper towel first maybe or use damp but not dripping paper towels etc. Good to go. I always wipe my hands with paper towels and alcohol before I touch anything in my pc. Do not put it on your monitor screen tho.. Also ground your self and or discharge static by touching something metal before messing around with your hardware- touch the metal part of your case or psu or something. Static and mostly during winter time can mess stuff up.

Take care..

 

[essenbe]

According to Corsair's forum, the compound on the h50 is shin etsu if that helps any.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I used the stock Corsair pad with my H50 till my first dismount and reinstall. Then I used a premium paste and got the exact same temps. In the end the range from best to good is extremely narrow and might be in the 2 degree range.....might. Now for SLI/Crossfired gaming cases with lots of heat adding case fans and playing with case air flow nets at least this range if not more. Get these configurations set first with the stock thermal pad then you can play with compounds. The trick is the install more than the compound in my opinion and each cooler has it's own sweet spot and spread characteristics. I like the less is more approach with a X pattern then a nice squish and wiggle of the two surfaces then a proper tighten while wiggling more then wait 5 minutes then tighten again. But if you ask 10 people here you'll get 10 different answers......I love this hobby !

 

[Layback Bear]

Thank you all for your input. This is a new built so I'm being a nit picker. I'm waiting for the damn back order case to come in. In the mean time I have made drawings on different fans and location just in case the air flow doesn't suit my system or me. I never had a case that I didn't change the air flow. I'm a nit picker. My last case I made cardboard temp-lets of both side panel. Made vents, installed fans until I got the temps their best. Then used the temp-lets to make the changes in the O.E. side panels. Still works great. This all takes a while but I enjoy it.

 

[essenbe]

I have an H50 in my system. I bought 2 Noctua fans for it but didn't reverse the airflow as Corsair recommends. This may sound strange, but I figured that I bought a good case with plenty of fans in order to get hot air out. I couldn't see any advantage to putting more hot air in it. It seems to work OK. tjmax on my CPU is 98C. I idle a little too high (35) but idle temps are notoriously wrong. But where it is important, it seems to work well. I OC my CPU to 4.4 and ran it for 4 days solid at 100% CPU usage. The highest temp I got was 61. I think if you have a case with good airflow, it really doesn't matter.

 

[Layback Bear]

essenbe I agree. No way I'm I going to blow hot air into a case. Do you have 120 or 140 Noctua on that H50?

 

[essenbe]

I am using the P12-1300R 120mm. According to Noctua's web site, that is the one designed for CPU coolers. The P supposedly is the designation for pressure.

 

[Fumz]

No the H50 hasn't been out long enough to be old. But yes in my opinion it is best to remove the factory installed compound and use a premium paste. Or you can even give this mind blowing stuff a try:
Indigo Xtreme™ - High Performance Thermal Interface for Overclocking Applications

I just tried out Indigo Xtreme and there are a few warnings not printed anywhere you should be aware of.

An important part of the process is what they call the reflow procedure. That's where they get the compound to spread out across the cpu. In order to achieve reflow, you have to heat the cpu up. They want you to put on your heatsink, but remove the fan (or at least the pin, so it doesn't spin), then boot up and stress all the cores. The cpu is supposed to run at near shutoff temps. The problem is that they never say for how long, and, more importantly, what they don't say is that if you've got a good heatsink, then you'll never achieve reflow. To add insult to injury, Indigo Xtreme advises against using heatsinks that don't cover the entire cpu... like the stock Intel cooler. So it seems the only way to get reflow is to buy a semi decent cooler, which seems like a waste to me.
/a little annoyed at indigo extreme/

According to Corsair's forum, the compound on the h50 is shin etsu if that helps any.

Shin Etsu is the best paste available.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Fumz,
The Indigo should flow when the cores all come to a high enough temp to set the material in motion. Then the temps drop very quickly and stabilize lower then they've ever been. The seal is air tight but from what I've read very easily removed as it pulls up and off. I will for sure use it a some point soon but I may be swapping my H50 for likely the H70 unit. It does seem like quite a process but one that should last for awhile producing much lower temps.

 

[Fumz]

Fumz,
The Indigo should flow when the cores all come to a high enough temp to set the material in motion. Then the temps drop very quickly and stabilize lower then they've ever been. The seal is air tight but from what I've read very easily removed as it pulls up and off. I will for sure use it a some point soon but I may be swapping my H50 for likely the H70 unit. It does seem like quite a process but one that should last for awhile producing much lower temps.

Hi linnemeyerhere,

I know what it should do, but things don't always do what they should... and after googling my issue with Indigo Xtreme, I'm not alone.

The temps are supposed to drop quickly, but they don't stabilize "lower than they've ever been". The drop you're looking out for is from 80-90 down to 60, then back up again (because you don't have a fan attached). It is at this point you're supposed to re-attach the fan and then see nice low temps... but only if reflow has taken place.

That stuff starts out pretty hard. I was unable to get reflow to occur; it just isn't possible with my Thermalright Venomous X. That, as well as a lot of other good aftermarket coolers dissipates too much heat, even without a fan.

I just did this 2 weeks ago with this new build. It's supposed to happen within minutes... but again, since they don't specify time in the documentation, I can only assume the procedure takes a few minutes... I ran dual instances of Orthos for 15 minutes, with no fan, twice, wasting both kits.

It was agonizing. The idea of maxing out all my cores and detaching the fan ran against everything in me... but I did it anyway, and got no joy for all the nervous energy I burned.

And that's the kick in the nads with Indigo Xtreme. Once you place the heatsink on, that's it, you cannot remove it to check to make sure reflow has taken place. If you remove the heatsink, you must then use the second application. Your only indicator that reflow has occured is that drop in temps from 90 to 60... but how fast does it rise again? Did I blink and miss reflow? They don't say.

 

[JeremyAlexander]

I almost hate to ask this but my amd chip came with the cooler on it and the documentation states that it will void the warranty if the cooler is removed so does that mean I should just leave well enough alone untill the warranty is up at least.

 

[Fumz]

I almost hate to ask this but my amd chip came with the cooler on it and the documentation states that it will void the warranty if the cooler is removed so does that mean I should just leave well enough alone untill the warranty is up at least.

Hi Jeremy Alexander,

I got into a big brush up on this about a year ago. I concede that technically what you say is true: removing the stock heatsink or using a 3rd party heatsink will void the warranty.

However, in practice, if a chip is or went bad through no fault of the heatsink, then both AMD and Intel will replace them, as will the online retailer if they're good (tiger, newegg). I've never used stock heatsinks, and have had to rma a few cpu's over the years... never had a problem.

 

[GeneO]

The original question: Of course it will eventually dry up with the heat generated by the CPU. But it is rearded by the tight coupling of the CPU to heatsink - not much path for it to evaporate.