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Intel Stock heatsink paste

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Pilsner73

Member
I have an intel i5-6500 with stock heatsink and I may need to swap motherboards, even though I'm not changing the cpu/heatsink the bond between them would be broken if I removed them from the motherboard. Do you think I will need to reapply paste and what would be comparable to the TIM intel uses? I just want something easy to apply and lasts a long time. I don't plan on OverClock of the processor.

Thanks!
 
you would probably be best re-pasting, artic silver or something along those lines should do the trick, I don't think intel's paste is known to be of great quality
 
It is possible that when you peel off the heatsink from the processor, the little thermal pad will still be intact. They actually take a surprising amount of time/abuse before they crumble apart. I would still peel it off, clean it off, and apply real thermal paste though.
 
Are you saying you're pulling CPU+HSF off the current motherboard to swap onto a different motherboard? In this case, yes, you absolutely should clean off the old thermal paste and replace with fresh.

If instead you're pulling the motherboard/CPU/HSF (intact) out of one case to drop into another case, there's no reason to replace the paste.
 
LTC8K6 said:
Can you pull off the CPU and heatsink together with LGA sockets? Doesn't seem possible?
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I have the lga1151 so I don't see a way to remove them together as one. What I am wondering is since the cpu and heatsink are not changing just being transferred that if I'm careful to not touch the top of the cpu or bottom of the heatsink they should fit back together pretty close. It's been so long since I manually applied paste I have no idea what's currently out there and decent for stock applications. I read reviews and message boards and it seems this one is hard to apply, another one may have issues with longetivity, and so on.
 
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Pilsner73 said:
I have the lga1151 so I don't see a way to remove them together. I am going to have to remove the heatsink from the motherboard to open the socket and transfer the cpu. What I am wondering is since the cpu and heatsink are being transferred that if I'm careful to not touch the top of the cpu or bottom of the heatsink they should fit back together pretty close.
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If you don't currently have any paste to use, you can temporarily get away with that, but plan on getting some new paste in the near future and doing it correctly. 🙂

If you do have paste that you can use, then re-do the paste.

I have done what you propose a few times as a temporary thing. It never caused any problems. I did always go back and fix it, though.
 
Get some paste. Transferring a heatsink, that has already been mated with a CPU and then removed, even if mated back with the same CPU, is very ghetto-tech-level.

You should always re-paste, when re-mounting heatsinks.
 
Message received - I'll buy some paste. Any other recommendations for easy to apply, performs as well if not better than stock, and long lasting once applied?
 
Thanks for the recommendations, I also see Arctic mx-4 recommended by some and looks easy to apply, is this a decent one to use?
 
Pilsner73 said:
Thanks for the recommendations, I also see Arctic mx-4 recommended by some and looks easy to apply, is this a decent one to use?
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It's not quite as easy as TX-2, but not horrible, if you don't mind the ~200 hour break-in period (plus duty cycles) that the TX-2 doesn't require. The Arctic may very well last a bit longer, though. My oldest application of TX-2 is only 6 or 6.5 years old, so any longer than that, I can't say for sure.

edit: Brain fart! None of the above applies to the Arctic Cooling MX-4. 100% of it applies to the other Arctic product that a few people have mentioned, by that other Arctic company. MX-4 is about equal to Tuniq's TX-2. They're equally easy to apply, and both give great temps, compared to the cheap crap that comes on stock heatsinks. For a guy not wanting to overclock his locked processor, either will be great.
 
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Pilsner73 said:
Thanks for the recommendations, I also see Arctic mx-4 recommended by some and looks easy to apply, is this a decent one to use?
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The best[1] (high end) bang for your buck thermal paste is probably GELID's GC-Extreme[2] (also available in a 10g container if you need more[3]). The best[1] thermal paste full stop is Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut[4] but is more expensive and only comes in one size. Both of these will be better than AS5 and MX-4.

[1] As of writing.
[2] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426020
[3] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426035
[4] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K639W8999
 
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It kind of depends. Do you need decent-to-adequate cooling, or are you going for "Extreme" cooling?

If you just need ordinary thermal paste, Arctic Silver 5 is fine, as is MX-4. Should be a level above white grease.

For something more extreme, look for "liquid metal" or "nano diamond".
 
Pilsner73 said:
Thanks for the recommendations, I also see Arctic mx-4 recommended by some and looks easy to apply, is this a decent one to use?
Click to expand...

Yes I would highly recommend MX4 for all the reasons you list above, plus it is usually near the top of most thermal performance charts, competing with much more expensive pastes.

The Gelid Extreme paste does beat it slightly but you won't notice a difference at stock speeds with the standard Intel cooler.
 
Thanks again! One thing I like about the MX4 and paste of it's type is that it supposedly won't conduct electricity and it's safe for most kinds of metals/plastics. Also that is somewhat easy to apply and cleanup is a plus.
 
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myocardia said:
Just don't forget to have the isopropyl alcohol and paper towels/coffee filters ready, before you start tearing your heatsink off. BTW, you have to clean both surfaces, not just the CPU. I'd also recommend spending an extra penny or two, and getting at least 70% isopropyl, instead of that crap 50% that is so easy to find. Matter of fact, if you have a Walmart close by, they sell a huge bottle of 91%, that just wipes that rubbery Intel compound off like it were water, for something like $3.
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I'm well stocked on alcohol both the cleaning and drinking kind.
 
DrMrLordX said:
Poppycock, you can get 1g syringes off eBay and other places. And 3g ones too, I think. It is a bit spendy though.
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I wasn't aware of that. As long as it's actually Kryonaut and not some of the other kinds that they sell then that works I guess.
 
Just get the heatsink compound and repaste everytime you apart cooler and CPU. I always repaste even when I'm testing more CPUs or coolers in a row.
 
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