Too much Thermal Grease???

[badboyeee]

I just bought an Opty 165 w/ Mobo combo deal from Monarch Computers which I have not used yet. But I was checking it out and noticed that there seems to be a little too much thermal grease that its overflowing on one side.

Please check out these pics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/badboyeee/PCDEZ2006/IMG_0444.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/badboyeee/PCDEZ2006/IMG_0439.jpg

Is this something to be worried about? When the cpu heats up, is the thermal grease gonna melt and pour into the socket?

 

[Doctorweir]

Looks like too much to me (especially telling from the overflow in the second pic). I would reseat it, applying the thinnest layer possible or using the center dot method.
Do you use AS5? This conductive stuff you better not want to flow around in your case...
Also too much of it actually hurts heat dissipation...

 

[letdown427]

That definately looks like too much. Best thing to do would be to take it off and clean it off, then apply a small (~grain of rice sized) blob in the middle.

As doctorweir said, too much will hurt your cooling. It probably won't ooze out and ruin anything, but even so, it's worth clearing it up a bit, even if it's just a case of taking it off and removing the extra around the edges.

 

[Pens1566]

AS5 is slightly Capacitive, not conductive. And yes, you should take it apart and reapply like ^ he said.

 

[badboyeee]

Ok thanks for the replies. It was Monarch Computers that put that together for me.

So how do I go about deattaching the HSF from the cpu? I have to run it (for how long?), so it can warm up, then slightly twist it off?

Then clean off the thermal grease, what can I use to wipe it off?

I haven't done this before, is everything I said above the right way to do it?

 

[JAG87]

what the devil?

no you dont have to run it, it does not have to warm up, and you can take it off right now. once you unclip the hsf, try to slide it off the cpu, dont pull upwards because the paste will act like a suction cap on the cpu.

clean it with ethanol/rubbing alcohol.

apply a small dip of any good thermal paste in the middle of the cpu, and seat the heatsink on it. the copper base will spread the paste into a circle roughly about the size of the cpu.

clip it, and your done!

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

swing it side to side ish and it should come up... alittle is all u need.. like the tip of a bic pen is more then adequate if ur heatsink and stuff is lapped well

 

[Fern]

First, I'd just take a que-tip and clean/wipe off the excess.

If after running it you notice the temp is too high, then I'd remove and re-apply.

Fern

 

[badboyeee]

Thanks for the help guys. I finally took off the heatsink and cleaned it up. However it looked like Monarch used better thermal grease, as I wiped it all off. I only had some white stuff for the thermal grease that came with my HSF. Well at least I found out what stepping I got (CCB1E 0550VPMW).

 

[jjmIII]

Best tip I ever heard on here was:

Put a small drop on the cpu, put your finger in a sandwich bag, and use that to form a nice even (thin) coat. Works great!

 

[TrevorRC]

Jim, that can create air bubbles when you do that--best thing to do is put a grain sized drop on, then put the HSF on, and wiggle left-right. The majority of the IHS doesn't even get hot--the core is a fraction of the size of the IHS, and only the part directly above the core really heats up.

 

[jjmIII]

Air bubbles??

Your just smearing it on, but covering your finger in plastic to avoid mess/oils.

If you've ever tried it, I doubt you'd be worried about air bubbles.

I have a fleet of OCd rigs running very happy this way 🙂.

 

[MBrown]

Way too much.

 

[dguy6789]

The company that makes AS5 recommends using a single rice sized grain in the middle. They say the pressure of the heat sink will spread it out to an optimal level. I have done it this way for around 4 years with all kinds of pastes and it works quite well.