Heatpipe TIM method?

[Deders]

I've just bought an Arctic Cooling i30 to replace my current Thermaltake Contac 29 as the fan seems to be going and it's getting harder to get the fan to stay on the heatsink. (the more you move it to clean it, the more the fins bend when you put the rubber mounts back into them)

I just want to get opinions about pro's and cons of 2 methods for applying thermal paste.

The i30 instructions recommend a thin line of MX4 on each of the 4 heatpipes, but I'm tempted to just cover the CPU in a very thin even layer with a card like I did with my previous install which also had direct contact heatpipes. It helped produce excellent results.

I may be overthinking this but I want to get it right first time as I don't have time to keep experimenting with it, and I think I'm getting very close to the max recommended CPU removal for the socket.

I would guess that the lines on heatpipe method would mean more TIM on the CPU and it would fill the 1mm gaps between the heatpipes.

On the other hand the card method would have a thinner layer before the cooler was fixed in place and would most likely leave the 1mm gaps tim free, potentially pockets of air, but air that could escape from either side, so it wouldn't be a bubble situation. (or maybe it could be if TIM got in the wrong place?)

The cooler would be screwed into place, unlike my current cooler which has the Intel pushpin method (boo), so maybe the thin layer is neither here nor there.

 

[Blain]

I would apply a thin layer of TIM over the surface of the CPU and then install the HS.
A plastic baggy over your finger works well to spread out the TIM or I've used a credit card before, to evenly spread out the compound.

 

[Deders]

I would apply a thin layer of TIM over the surface of the CPU and then install the HS.
A plastic baggy over your finger works well to spread out the TIM or I've used a credit card before, to evenly spread out the compound.

That would be my initial choice, before I saw the instructions.

 

[Blain]

That would be my initial choice, before I saw the instructions.

Are you going to use the MX4 as instructed by AC?

 

[Deders]

Yeah was my first choice anyway

 

[dma0991]

There's no right or wrong methods here. It doesn't matter if the gaps are filled by the excess TIM as long as the contact surface has a thin spread. HDT heatsinks are more accommodating to accidental application of too much TIM compared to a flat base.

 

[MadScientist]

Best method for applying TIM to an HDT CPU cooler:
http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=5

I have Corsair A70 HDT cooler. Fill in the voids with TIM first and apply a short line of TIM on the base partitions. Because of its viscosity MX4 works well on HDT coolers.

 

[Tristor]

I'd recommend using something to spread the TIM so you can carefully and fully pack in the gaps between the heatpipes and then applying the TIM as normally to your CPU (grain of rice method) using the pressure of the mounting to spread it. This seems to work the best in my experience, largely because spreading the TIM on top of the CPU can very easily introduce bubbles mixed into the TIM considerably reducing it's effectiveness. The idea of the grain of rice method is to use the high mounting pressure and the solidity of the TIM to push all of the air out from between the join while spreading the TIM as evenly as possible. If you fill the gaps between the heatpipes then proceed as normally, you still gain this benefit.