Best way t o apply thermal compound

[nealh]

Any suggestions or articles that detail this

Thanks
Neal

 

[InsaneMorphius]

Usually I put a little bit on the core. Then I fold a piece of paper in two, then use the folded edge to smooth out the grease. Just make sure all the core is covered, not to thick and not too thin of a layer and you'll be good to go

Morphius

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Another, new way i've found to apply it is this. Use your finger inside of a ziploc bag. Works really nicely when trying to get a nice, even layer.


Mike

 

[nealh]

Thanks great methods...
Mikewarrior very original

 

[Mr.Diggler]

What do you guys use to clean the CPU first? The Arctic Silver instructions say to use isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth.

What is isopropyl alcohol? Fingernail polish?

I went to a store and looked at ingredients, but nothing said isopropyl alcohol. Similar things, but not exact...is it a big deal?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Mr. Diggler,

Isopropyl Alcohol = Rubbing Alcohol.



Mike

 

[Mr.Diggler]

Mikewarrior2,

Mr.Diggler = Moron





Thanks though. I had found some nailpolish remover that had isopropyl alcohol in it, but it also had ethyl acetate and a whole bunch of other stuff so I wasn't sure if it was okay. I'll go get some pure rubbing alcohol.

 

[shiznut123]

Yo, Mikewarrior, that bag trick really works!
Thanx!

 

[martyt]

Rubbing alcohol is often ethyl alcohol. Watch the bottle. Isopropyl alcohol is found at drug stores, but is not the same. A 16 oz. bottle size is common for either.

Isopropyl alcohol tends to be less likely to take the finish off some plastics.

Is it really a big deal to clean the surfaces before applying the paste?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

martyt,

Thanks for posting that. I didn't know that, since all the samples i have of rubbing alcohol here are Isopropyl.

As far as cleaning a cpu before changing greases, absolutely. It helps reduce the contamination of hte old grease versus the new grease.


Mike

 

[Mr.Diggler]

One more question...

...how much is 'not too thick and not too thin of a layer'? Say for a one inch square processor, if I apply about 3/8" of a squirt from the Arctic Silver tube, is that enough?

Judging by how much thermal compound comes with the heatsink, it's not nearly enough, but they probably just give you way too much.

This is for an unlapped processor (P4) and an untouched Thermaltake orb, if that matters.

Thanks.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

if you use the ziploc bag trick, it'll work nicely... If you squeeze on extra, you can take it off pretty easily.

As far as how much, depends on the "flatness" of your Cpu adn heatsink.



Mike

 

[Mr.Diggler]

Yeah Mikewarrior2, that ziplock bag trick works like a charm, thanks for the tip. I'm just not sure if I'm putting on the right amount and I don't know how to tell without trying a bunch of different thicknesses and then testing the system for a few hours each time to see results.

The directions say a properly lapped processor needs only a translucent glaze layer. My processor isn't lapped, but it seems 'pretty flat' so I'm guessing maybe just enough so that I can't read the writing on the chip anymore...? Does that sound right?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Hmm... it should be fine, remember there may be gaps in the heatsink base.

Good thing is, you can probably read the p4 internal diode and deciper actual temp drops with different application layers.


Mike

 

[MrDudeMan]

yeah, whatever mike says...i agree!!

 

[Mr.Diggler]

Well, put the first coat on probably too thin...after about an hour of Prime95 Torture Test the CPU was 39 degrees, which seems rather hot.

The P4 is overclocked from 1.4GHz to 1.65GHz though.

I'll try a thicker coating.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

39C?? What mb are you using? What is your ambient case temp? Those are really low temps for a p4(remember a p4-1.5ghz is about 55-60W).



Mike

 

[Mr.Diggler]

Sorry for the delay, Mikewarrior2...

Oh, I thought 39C was hot The only other CPUs I've ever paid attention to heat on were some Celeron 300a's that were going 450 at just under 30 usually.

One thing lowering the temp maybe is that I'm running it currently with the cover off the case (so ambient case temp is room temp.) Room temp is around 67F.

I put on about twice as much arctic silver and after an hour or so of the Torture Test it was same as before 39C. Oh, I'm also just running barebones...only card is the video card, not sure if that matters really though.

So I'm safe with 39C then...that's good to know. I think I'm going to try a real thin layer and then a really thick layer and see what happens.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the motherboard...Asus P4T with two sticks of Samsung PC800 128mb RDRAM.

I thought of another thing to mention...Prime95 does not have an option for P4 so I just set it to P3 and 1400 MHz. I forgot to tell Prime95 it was running 1600.

The P4 seems to run around 34-35C at rest btw.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Oh, ok... Have you tried the latest p4t bios?


Mike

P.S. You're getting really good temps.

 

[Mr.Diggler]

Thanks Mikewarrior2, that puts my mind at ease.

And yes, I'm definitely using the latest P4T BIOS...when I first went to read the CPU temp it was 69C! After my initial panic, I figured there must be an error somewhere since the heatsink wasn't even hot so I searched around the forums here and found the 1002 BIOS had a temperature reading problem. Flashed to 1003 and everything got better...hopefully it isn't reading too low now.

---

I couldn't put more Arctic Silver on actually...when I took the heatsink off there was so much squirting out the sides already that it would have been dumb to put more on. So I tried less...I took it all off the heatsink and cleaned it with isopropyl and then scraped the processor as clean as I could get it with a credit card which left at most, a really thin covering. Ran Torture Test again with it that way for an hour again....CPU temp went to only 40C. If I didn't have so many people saying how great Arctic Silver was I would be starting to think it doesn't do anything. I've been feeling the heatsink each time as well and it's never hot, just warmish.

What would a high temp be?

Thanks.

 

[Turin39789]

mikewarrior or someone else,
Perhaos you could do a how to guide and post it on your sites?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Sure, i'll do something and take pictures of it later tonight...


Mike

 

[MrDudeMan]

all i know is arctic silver is great for everything...39C s good for a p4, and i dont even have one. one of my friends has 2 p4's in his house, and they are both at like 48 - 50...so ur safe =)