[Resolved] Thermal Paste for E2160

[chakraps]

Our place gets pretty hot and humid in summer and not much of A/C. cpu temps hover around 45C idle and 85C load at stock speed with stock hsf. throttling kicks in due to high temp at 100% load. I'm thinking of ways to bring the temps down on a small budget.

One of which is to upgrade the TIM and hsf. AS5, MX-2 and Thermalfusion 400 are what are available to me locally at comparable prices. Which one is better? And what's the best way to apply it?

Is it worthwhile to pick up an older model intel hsf and pair it up with this cpu? The one that came with the e2160 is small and looks all aluminium. Which older model will go well with this cpu? If the stock coolers aren't of much use I might go for an after market cooler.

If there is good drop in the temps, I might try overclocking. Else, I would be pretty happy running a cooler rig at stock.

TIA
E2160, Abit IP35-E, Gskill 2x1GB DDR2-800, Antec Earthwatts 380, CM Elite RC330

 

[PCTC2]

It just sounds like maybe you didn't clip all the pins or something isn't sitting right. Maybe get some AS5 and take off your HSF, clean it with a lint-free cloth and some 91% Isopropyl alcohol (available at CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens), apply the AS5 and re-seat the HSF. Make sure the clips are rotated correctly and each clips properly to the motherboard.

The Intel HSFs have usually been aluminum. The E2160 HSF should still have the copper core though. If you want to get a cheap HSF, get a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 or Hyper TX3.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea i have doubts its applied right, take it off, replace the paste and be done iwth it.
i used ot have an e2200 and it ran fine in heat. perhaps go into bios and throttle down the cpu fan settings, there are different threshold settings, basically pwm setting on how fast it adds to speed per degree of rise. that chip is so cool it really doesn't matter. unless you case has no air flow at all i'd not worry about it. its rapidly approaching worthlessness anyways.
forget arctic blabity blah paste, it doesn't need it.
white cheap paste is fine, its got a big contact patch and is barely using any energy. spending more money on a hsf is silly, anything better than the stock will cost more than the chip is worth. theres a reason why the stock intel hs is not much more than 1cm tall of metal..it didnt need much at all to stay cool

 

[0roo0roo]

ok i see u got an CM Elite RC330
while not awesome its no way baking your cpu, its got the ol rear fan and even a cpu duct.
unless you live in death valley..stop worrying about it.

 

[chakraps]

Thanks for your insights. I had to fiddle with the hsf couple of times to seat it correctly during the first install. It's possible I could've made a mistake. I'll try re-seating it with some fresh TIM and see how the temps get. The stock intel hsf I got doesn't have any copper core at the bottom.

 

[chakraps]

Sorry to bump this up. Just wanted to record the issue is resolved with an inexpensive fix. At a local store, I noticed an older Intel hsf with copper base, bigger fins and screen printed paste. It appeared unused and removed from some retail box. I asked for it and got it for $10. Also got a 100ml bottle of IPA. Back home, installed the new hsf, let it warm up for an hr and checked temps.
Idle = 34C
Load = 51C
Very happy with the result. Found out belatedly, the earlier heat issue was due to bad seating of hsf push-pins (as rightly guessed by the other posters). I could never figure out the push pins. I had my sister do it this time. Also, couldn't find lint free cloth locally, had to use cotton balls for cleaning.