[SOLVED] Accidentally Touched AMD CPU Fan Thermal Paste

[Jethro.olw]

Hello, Recently, my AMD Ryzen 5 processor have just arrived and i was going to look inside, making sure everything is fine. but when i take the cooler fan outside, i accidentally touch the thermal paste. I asked my friend for advice but he said it won't be a problem. But as i google this problem, there seems to be some cases where i should re-apply instead. I will attached picture of my fan here: link to see image

I know it's just like a finger print, but i want to know what kind of risk or how large the risk of bad things going to happen to my cpu.

Thank you for reading my question!

 

[punkncat]

I actually recommend removing and replacing the stock AMD paste anyway. It is about as strong as a glue in the way it sticks to the cooler and CPU.

To answer your question directly, it is best practice NOT to touch your cooler/CPU/paste before install. The point is that the oils on your finger can interfere with heat transfer and technically you could cause poor paste coverage to the heat spreader if you make a "spot" there where there isn't as much.

AMD puts plenty of paste on there out of the box, so I would not let that aspect concern me. That first sentence is poignant though. There have been many cases of people pulling the CPU out of the socket with the cooler when trying to remove. This can make it easy to bend pins and cause damage.

 

[Jethro.olw]

I actually recommend removing and replacing the stock AMD paste anyway. It is about as strong as a glue in the way it sticks to the cooler and CPU.

To answer your question directly, it is best practice NOT to touch your cooler/CPU/paste before install. The point is that the oils on your finger can interfere with heat transfer and technically you could cause poor paste coverage to the heat spreader if you make a "spot" there where there isn't as much.

AMD puts plenty of paste on there out of the box, so I would not let that aspect concern me. That first sentence is poignant though. There have been many cases of people pulling the CPU out of the socket with the cooler when trying to remove. This can make it easy to bend pins and cause damage.

Wow, that pulling cpu pop out is bad indeed i will consider that part, didn't know AMD thermal paste is that bad, Thank you for telling me that possibility.

 

[mamasan2000]

If you preheat the paste by turning on your system for 5-10 minutes, the paste should be gooey and loose. When you pull the heatsink up, don't apply any rotating force. And the fact that CPU can stick to heatsink is pretty much a feature of having pins on the CPU instead of what Intel has, pins in the motherboard. Next socket design from AMD, AM5 will be just like Intels. https://www.notebookcheck.net/New-l...ey-AMD-Ryzen-7000-Raphael-specs.541043.0.html

 

[Jethro.olw]

If you preheat the paste by turning on your system for 5-10 minutes, the paste should be gooey and loose. When you pull the heatsink up, don't apply any rotating force. And the fact that CPU can stick to heatsink is pretty much a feature of having pins on the CPU instead of what Intel has, pins in the motherboard. Next socket design from AMD, AM5 will be just like Intels. https://www.notebookcheck.net/New-l...ey-AMD-Ryzen-7000-Raphael-specs.541043.0.html

Yes i will try to heat it up first and gently rotate it a bit to left and right when pulling it, looking at people's problem , i think there is no other safe way no matter what paste i am going to use. Thanks!

 

[mdd1963]

There are indeed MANY 'bent pins on Ryzen CPU' posts caused by exactly the phenomenon of 'ripped CPU out of socket because heat sink stuck like glue to CPU'....

(I'd sure concur with replacing it ahead of time with a non-cement-like paste... (Noctua's thermal compound seems ideal, IMO)

 

[Jethro.olw]

There are indeed MANY 'bent pins on Ryzen CPU' posts caused by exactly the phenomenon of 'ripped CPU out of socket because heat sink stuck like glue to CPU'....

(I'd sure concur with replacing it ahead of time with a non-cement-like paste... (Noctua's thermal compound seems ideal, IMO)

I heard noctua got good reputation, but will Arctic mx-4 do? I see some people recommend it and it is pretty cheap in my country

 

[drea.drechsler]

I heard noctua got good reputation, but will Arctic mx-4 do? I see some people recommend it and it is pretty cheap in my country

If your CPU cooler is currently mounted I'd suggest not going in and re-applying paste. The spread between the best and the worst pastes in any reviews and tests never exceeds more than a couple of degrees so you're not going to achieve any performance miracles by doing it. The most you should do is make sure all the mounting fasteners are evenly tightened.

Considering the number one way people have damaged their boards is by performing unnecessary maintenance actions why take a chance?

ADDED: I have to think most of the problems with bent pins when removing coolers is because people simply pull it off, often times cocking it sideways when they do. They didn't know the procedure (heat up first, then twist slightly back and forth while pulling up) but now you do. So remember that as it's not just the stock paste that can do it; just about any paste that's aged a bit will form a tight seal that makes it more difficult to pull up.

 

[Jethro.olw]

If your CPU cooler is currently mounted I'd suggest not going in and re-applying paste. The spread between the best and the worst pastes in any reviews and tests never exceeds more than a couple of degrees so you're not going to achieve any performance miracles by doing it. The most you should do is make sure all the mounting fasteners are evenly tightened.

Considering the number one way people have damaged their boards is by performing unnecessary maintenance actions why take a chance?

I see, actually i haven't mount it, but planning to mount it anyway. i don't think i will do overclocking i am planning to re-apply the better paste on later time hopefully when i bought new cooler so i don't don't ticker on it too often. but the more i read the articles the more that paste sound scary to me lmao.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... that paste sound scary to me lmao.

I feel it's mainly because people like to...as you say...tinker with their hardware. Re-doing paste is something easy and cheap, and they feel something's got to be better than 'stock' so they buy what's exotic and strange and talk themselves into thinking they've done marvelous wonders. If any improvement is seen it's far more likely due to freshly tightened hardware when they remounted it. Hardware will loosen up as the paste squeezes down to a very thin layer with heating and use; that's why you need to retighten after two or three weeks.

But also the pastes of old days did not age well: they'd dry out completely and leave a caked powder that would form cracks with the least movement of the heatsink so performance would suffer. You almost had to re-paste every year or so, and that's what people believe still. But modern pastes are very long lasting, they just don't dry out very fast and when they do it's squeezed out to such a thin film they don't crack and create bad performance. So long as you've tightened once or twice it's usually going to perform well.

I'm thinking of all the damaged CPU's, sockets and motherboard parts getting knocked off that are seen in shops and how unnecessary it is to re-paste when all that's really needed is to keep it evenly tightened. The one or two degree improvement just isn't worth it, IMO

 

[Jethro.olw]

I feel it's mainly because people like to...as you say...tinker with their hardware. Re-doing paste is something easy and cheap, and they feel something's got to be better than 'stock' so they buy what's exotic and strange and talk themselves into thinking they've done marvelous wonders. If any improvement is seen it's far more likely due to freshly tightened hardware when they remounted it. Hardware will loosen up as the paste squeezes down to a very thin layer with heating and use; that's why you need to retighten after two or three weeks.

But also the pastes of old days did not age well: they'd dry out completely and leave a caked powder that would form cracks with the least movement of the heatsink so performance would suffer. You almost had to re-paste every year or so, and that's what people believe still. But modern pastes are very long lasting, they just don't dry out very fast and when they do it's squeezed out to such a thin film they don't crack and create bad performance. So long as you've tightened once or twice it's usually going to perform well.

I'm thinking of all the damaged CPU's, sockets and motherboard parts getting knocked off that are seen in shops and how unnecessary it is to re-paste when all that's really needed is to keep it evenly tightened. The one or two degree improvement just isn't worth it, IMO

Yeah, i just looked at amd's guide and they did recommend the correct way to uninstall the fan and maybe it's just the AM4 architecture doesn't really do well regardless of any paste. i guess i will keep the paste afterall and yeah i agree with you for one or two degree is not going to worth it. its just some article calling them glue or something like that but looking at more i think its just because of the AM4 architecture itself. Thank you for telling me your opinion.