Need Advice

[Rakewell]

Getting my parts today, and I want to make certain that I apply thermal grease appropriately. I don't think I have done it well in the past.

1.) As this is a new proc, is there a different way of doing it from before, or is it to be treated as a quadcore?

2.) Is it a straight line of grease down the middle between the cores without spreading, or is it still spread very thinly over the entire CPU?

3.) Is there a website with instructions/video that anyone can point me toward?

Thanks guys. Cannot WAIT to put this thing together.

Cheers,

Rakewell

 

[Rakewell]

Anyone?

 

[ginfest]

I haven't seen any "guides" yet on the i7. When I remove my U120 I'll see how the thin line method spread/worked, if it looks good I'll go with that. I don't think you could go wrong with either method TBH

 

[aigomorla]

the die is not a square.

So i would put 2 dots in the middle next to each other side by side.

2 half rice grain dots in the middle and stamp your heat sink.

 

[nyker96]

i like to use a used credit card to spread it thin layer before seating, works for me on any shape of die surface.

 

[KingstonU]

My understanding is that general consensus is the credit card spreading method is old school and it is best to just put a pea size dot in the center or like aigomorla described and press down squarely and check to make sure it spread evenly. A very very thin film (barely visible) that covers the whole area is best. There are some good pics to show what it should look like, do a search on this site, some people have posted links.

 

[Rakewell]

Thanks for all of your input.

I haven't put the rig together yet, because I am still concerned about doing the AC5 right.

I'm getting two sides of the coin here; some say spread thin all over CPU, others say small dot in the center and let the cooler spread it out upon heatsink adhesion. Which one is it?

Or does it really not matter?

Sorry in advance for my confusion. Feelin like a n00b here.

I did a search and couldn't find pics on AT. Maybe my wording is off? "Thermal Grease Pics"...

Cheers.

Rakewell

 

[IndieSnob]

I can't fully answer as I don't know how the IHS differs between the i7 and C2Ds, but I honestly would go with putting a small dot in the center, then attaching your heatsink and slightly twist the heatsink around so that it applies the paste throughout.


That is what the Artic Silver website recommends, and what I have done for all the C2D builds I have done.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Rakewell
Thanks for all of your input.

I haven't put the rig together yet, because I am still concerned about doing the AC5 right.

I'm getting two sides of the coin here; some say spread thin all over CPU, others say small dot in the center and let the cooler spread it out upon heatsink adhesion. Which one is it?

Or does it really not matter?

Sorry in advance for my confusion. Feelin like a n00b here.

I did a search and couldn't find pics on AT. Maybe my wording is off? "Thermal Grease Pics"...

Cheers.

Rakewell

Given that not a single retailer of TIM recommends the credit-card method I am hesitant to ever recommend it.

There must be some good reason no one recommends in a world where 1C extra cooling means the difference between selling your TIM for $7 versus $3.

Personally I tried credit card, tinting, stripe, and rice sized drop on my Q6600's and didn't see a bit of a difference. Only way I managed to make my TIM impact my temps was when I intentionally used too much, then I saw a few degrees higher temps but that was all.