How much thermal compound?

[Phuree]

I am going to be getting the Swiftech H240-X liquid CPU cooler. The Swiftech website says it come with a 1g syringe of there Tim-Mate 2 thermal compound.

I was just wondering if that will be enough for installation as I have never done liquid cooling before and am unsure of what's required.

They sell separate syringes that contain 4g and that is why I question if 1g is enough.

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

The paste provided should be enough for one application only, so make it count. The application of paste is exactly the same for liquid coolers as it is for air coolers.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Since you get about 20 uses out of a 3.5g tube don't just squirt the whole gram tube on there! You want to use a pea sized drop or about the size of 2 grains of rice. Then let the pressure of installing the cooler spread it.

 

[Ellensar]

Just as anort3 said, a pea sized amount is more than enough. You don't need to cover the entire CPU with paste, so just ignore that little spatula they give you.

 

[Phuree]

Thanks so much guys!!

 

[Ryanrenesis]

For best temperatures, use the dot method for AMD cpus, and the vertical line method for Intel's Haswell cpus.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

For best temperatures, use the dot method for AMD cpus, and the vertical line method for Intel's Haswell cpus.

Different pastes have different viscosities so you really can't generalize that. What is true for Arctic Silver would not be true for something very thick like IC Diamond or something very thin like CoolLaboratory's liquid metals. The mounting pressure of your cooler also matters. The best way is what's recommended by the paste's manufacturer. The pea sized dot is effective for almost all pastes where as the line method may or may not be depending on it's viscosity.

 

[Mokyu]

I'd use the line method for intel cpu

 

[Ryanrenesis]

I'd use the line method for intel cpu

Yup, I tried dot, spread, X, horizontal line, and vertical line methods and the one that gave me the best temp for my i5-4690K was the vertical line method.

My theory is that it aligns well with the Haswell's die under the IHS which is in the middle in a vertical orientation.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I'll say it again. It depends on the paste and how much pressure your cooler mounts with. Different pastes have different viscosities ( thicknesses ) and spread differently. Since I have been involved in thermal compound testing involving IC Diamond I have a small idea of what I am talking about.

Arctic Silver 5....yep recommends the line method. http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

IC Diamond.....Nope. Use the pea sized dot. See why here: http://www.innovationcooling.com/application.html