Thermal Paste Questions

[OneSerious]

Hi guys,

Just about to complete my first build. The system is for my dad and I hope to get it finished this week when I get the final parts. Everything is in place and ready to go to the best of my knowledge.

I've looked back at older threads and decided that pea sized blob in the centre using the pressure of the heatsink to spread is the way to go on the application side of things.

I just have a few more questions,

1. Does it it really matter which brand you go for? I hear everybody say about Arctic Silver 5 which is what I had intended to get. I forgot to order it with all the parts and didn't fancy paying another £2 postage to get some. I went to a local store and picked up some CoolerMaster stuff.

2. I've seen tutorials and the like having different techniques for different CPU's. The product I bought only covers instructions for Intel CPU's and it also says to apply to the heatsink rather than CPU. Does it matter what brand of CPU you have and which paste you are using?

The system is using an Athlon II x2 with standard heatsink.

Any help is appreciated, cheers.

Edit: What would you guys also consider good temps? My current Phenom II x4 965 idles at around 33C and tops out at about 55 when running games.

 

[Bootz]

Artic Silver would be my first choice but i have also used just some cheap stuff from radio shack that worked fine.

The way i always do it is just apply a nice even layer on the cpu itself. has always worked fine for me.

 

[fishnbanjo]

If your heat sink has a pre-applied dot of thermal compound you might wish to use this on its own since I believe that is how it is designed to work, it will spread evenly atop the CPU.
If you do wish to use your own Arctic Silver and MX-3 are the one's the folks on the Alienware forums seem to prefer for CPU and GPU applications.

 

[sygnus21]

I personally don't see an issue with using the coolermaster stuff as it's "name brand" but others will have their opinions as this is a great debate, as well as does all these super duper thermo pastes really work.

In the end it's all about benchmarks and how you feel about your temps.

BTW I've used Artic Silver 5 and Noctua’s NT-H1-1 thermo compound and couldn't see a difference.

Let the debate begin as this subject is as clear as mud

 

[OneSerious]

If your heat sink has a pre-applied dot of thermal compound you might wish to use this on its own since I believe that is how it is designed to work, it will spread evenly atop the CPU.
If you do wish to use your own Arctic Silver and MX-3 are the one's the folks on the Alienware forums seem to prefer for CPU and GPU applications.

The CPU and heat sink have been used for a couple of months before I upgraded, they have been cleaned so there is no pre-applied stuff on it.

I personally don't see an issue with using the coolermaster stuff as it's "name brand"

Honestly I thought as much, but just wanted to be on the safe side.

 

[DeaconFrost]

The brand doesn't matter as much as the application, or the HSF it will be used with. If you have a good cooler that's ounted properly, and used the pea-sized blob, you'll be fine. I'm sure there are differences, but they won't be nearly as varied as the differences between coolers.

I guess a simpler way of say it is this. A stock cooler with Arctic Silver won't perform better than a good aftermarket cooler with generic thermal paste.

 

[Kipper]

If you mean the stock AMD heatsink that comes with the Retail version of the CPU it will already have TIM applied; if you are going to run this system at stock speeds the pre-applied product will be just fine.

I find if I am using an aftermarket "Big Air" cooler that has direct contact with the heat pipes (where the mounting plate of the heatsink) has groves in it that applying the TIM to the sink and spreading with a flat surface object (credit card) to fill the groves without over applying is the best way to go.

If the heatsink has a nice solid flat base then I just apply to the CPU.

Ultra and Zalman are now offering a liquid TIM that is applied with a small brush and I am finding these to work great with no curing time for overclocks up to 4GHz.

 

[sygnus21]

I guess a simpler way of say it is this. A stock cooler with Arctic Silver won't perform better than a good aftermarket cooler with generic thermal paste.

Agreed.

But like everything else, there is a market for thermo paste so....

 

[OneSerious]

Cheers for the help guys got it put on. Now I have another issue, when I power up for the first time there is no life.

PSU working (obviously).
CPU and case fans working.
HDD working.
Optical drive working.

Any idea why I'm not getting any bleeps or sign of life on the monitor?

 

[sygnus21]

Doublecheck to make sure "everything" is hooked up.... Including the CPU fan.

Also make sure your RAM is properly seated and correctly installed in the appropriate RAM slots.

 

[OneSerious]

Doublecheck to make sure "everything" is hooked up.... Including the CPU fan.

Also make sure your RAM is properly seated and correctly installed in the appropriate RAM slots.

lol, I feel like a dummy, I checked like 3 times and only after you said to check again did I notice the four pin power connector beside the cpu was out.

My first build so I'm a bit on edge.

 

[sygnus21]

It happens to the best of us

Happy to hear you got it sorted out. Good luck with the new system

 

[OneSerious]

It happens to the best of us

Happy to hear you got it sorted out. Good luck with the new system

Well chuffed it booted first time (After I had everything plugged in! )

Cheers for the help everybody!

 

[sygnus21]

Thanks

 

[fishnbanjo]

Sweet, and I don't know anyone who has done this who has not experienced a missed connection or critical piece, i.e. RAM not seated, or in wrong slots, video not seated, or power connector not plugged in, worse yet the power connectors to the mobo swapped (older style boards) etc...etc....etc....

Now pay attention to the installation and watch for bends and possible grounding. When you check it in the case you only need RAM, CPU, GPU, keyboard, mouse and monitor to check everything then add your hard drive and CD/DCD/BD etc. Congratulations

 

[OneSerious]

Sweet, and I don't know anyone who has done this who has not experienced a missed connection or critical piece, i.e. RAM not seated, or in wrong slots, video not seated, or power connector not plugged in, worse yet the power connectors to the mobo swapped (older style boards) etc...etc....etc....

Now pay attention to the installation and watch for bends and possible grounding. When you check it in the case you only need RAM, CPU, GPU, keyboard, mouse and monitor to check everything then add your hard drive and CD/DCD/BD etc. Congratulations

Got everything running sweet and OS installed. Pretty painless actually. I had never worked on my own machine for upgrades just always took it to a shop. Decided since my dad needed a new rig to give it a go. Swapped the PSU from my current rig out for a new one and put my old one in the new build with everything else. Everything went smooth apart from the very minor issue of leaving that one cable out. Got me pumped for future upgrades.

CPU is an Athlon II x2 245 it's running at 26-27C idle so that seems pretty good.

Cheers again for all the help guys.