Heat sink and CPU thermal compound question.

[erlogerik]

Hello all,

I have an Asus H97I-PLUS motherboard with a cooler master gemin II M4.
I recently bought an upgrade for my RAM which I want to install, but obviously I have to remove my heat sink to get to the DIMM slots.
When removing the heat sink do I need to remove the thermal compound from both the CPU and heat sink and reapply it before I screw it back in? If so which products and practices are best for cleaning the thermal compound?

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[Deeds4life]

Hello all,

I have an Asus H97I-PLUS motherboard with a cooler master gemin II M4.
I recently bought an upgrade for my RAM which I want to install, but obviously I have to remove my heat sink to get to the DIMM slots.
When removing the heat sink do I need to remove the thermal compound from both the CPU and heat sink and reapply it before I screw it back in? If so which products and practices are best for cleaning the thermal compound?

Thank you very much for your help!

Anytime that heat sink comes off, it is best practice to always apply new thermal compound. Artic Silver is the best stuff to use. They have cleaning solutions. Instructions for cleaning are here:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/ac/ins_arcticlean.pdf

For application of thermal compound check this out:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/methods.html

 

[Preecher]

I would start with fresh compound after cleaning both cpu and hs. When reapplying, you only need a small pea size (if that much) of thermal paste. Less is more.

Guide with pics here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/333968-28-thermal-paste-removal-installation-guide


Cheers