thermal grease?

[quanttrade99z]

Quick question....

My custom built computer crashed... wouldn't start up.... I opened it up and took everything apart, including removing the heatsink from the CPU... it was stuck on there pretty tightly with the thermal grease....

Which I put everything back together (i.e. heatsink on top of the CPU), do I have to add new thermal grease? Or is the exisiting thermal grease on top of the CPU ok?

Thanks!
quanttrade99z

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4400CDBOX - Retail

 

[Baked]

Always better to clean out the existing TIM and reapply a new layer. Make sure you clean everything up on the CPU and heatsink before you do the reapplication.

 

[quanttrade99z]

How to clean?
Can you recommend a good thermal grease to buy?

(sorry for the dumb questions)

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: quanttrade99z
How to clean?
Can you recommend a good thermal grease to buy?

(sorry for the dumb questions)

Clean with 90%+ IPA.

Ceramique or AS5 work well when properly applied. (proper = very, very thin layer)

 

[EROEIone2one]

Originally posted by: quanttrade99z
How to clean?
Can you recommend a good thermal grease to buy?

(sorry for the dumb questions)

Q-Tips, 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, Goo Gone, ArctiClean 1+2, razor blade, patience. See this thread for good information:

http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106563

As for grease, it seems that the popular ones are Arctic Silver 5, Arctic Silver Ceramique, or Arctic Cooling MX-1. I've used the MX-1, it is difficult to spread even with a razor and careful work. But it does perform well and it doesn't conduct electricity.

 

[Navid]

Razor blade?!!! Never use a sharp object on the CPU or the sink. The last thing you want is to accidentally scratch either surface, which would degrade the cooling efficiency and defeat the whole purpose of cleaning and re-applying.

 

[EROEIone2one]

Originally posted by: Navid
Razor blade?!!! Never use a sharp object on the CPU or the sink. The last thing you want is to accidentally scratch either surface, which would degrade the cooling efficiency and defeat the whole purpose of cleaning and re-applying.

Meh, I've had no problems using a razor. It's just used to spread the grease around the surface. The razor never comes in direct contact with the bare surface - there's always some grease in between.

I suppose if you were really paranoid/clumsy, you could sub in a credit card in place of a razor.

 

[Baked]

You don't have to use a razor blade to spread the TIM (thermal grease) around. Any flat and straight object will do. A lot of people use credit card.

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: EROEIone2one

Originally posted by: Navid
Razor blade?!!! Never use a sharp object on the CPU or the sink. The last thing you want is to accidentally scratch either surface, which would degrade the cooling efficiency and defeat the whole purpose of cleaning and re-applying.

Meh, I've had no problems using a razor. It's just used to spread the grease around the surface. The razor never comes in direct contact with the bare surface - there's always some grease in between.

I suppose if you were really paranoid/clumsy, you could sub in a credit card in place of a razor.

The manufacturer recommends not spreading it!! Place a rice size drop in the center of the CPU and install the HSF. It's spreads out by itself.

If all else fails follow the instructions.

 

[w00t]

yes, they say to use the rice drop size in the center and for the heatsink to "smush" it down.

though I like the idea of evenly spreading it

if your not down for razors like emo kids use a sandwich bag with your finger in it and spread it around evenly though a razer works pretty good i'd have to say the sandwich bag is easy to clean up basically just take it off like a glove and throw it away....