I applied Thermal Paste, and now my FPS is much lower than before. Help?

[Rocky Charles]

Well, as the title states, Today in the morning I received my Arctic silver 5 thermal paste compound. I simply did everything a normal computer wizard would do when applying thermal paste.

Alcohol and Q-Tips to buff out the old dried up thermal paste and dry up the surface before applying new one. (Side note) I did the "Credit card method by spreading the compound. If that makes any difference"

So basically I waited about 5 mins before turning my computer on. I noticed the Temperature considerably lower than before, a few degrees Celsius. On idle I'm about 65 and now I'm at 60 to 58 degrees on idle.

It wasn't until a few hours later I decided to game on it. Playing Vindictus. I noticed that the fps on the game I'm getting is a low 18-24 fps, when I typically get a good 50-60fps. A HUGE difference. Is it something that I did wrong? While applying the thermal paste I cleaned out the air vents, so no dust bunnies. And I'm not over clocked. Not sure how to go about doing that.

Advice, and help much appreciated, Thanks.

 

[foolishcreature]

Could it be that some thermal paste sept into the CPU? I don't really trust the credit card spreading method you should have done it naturally.

Also did you put a little dot of Thermal Paste or the whole thing?

 

[Rocky Charles]

Just a dot.

 

[azathoth]

Have you checked your CPU temperatures during this slowdown?
Pre-spreading thermal paste, and then mounting a heatsink could cause an air bubble to form.

 

[Rocky Charles]

Indeed I have. The cpu and gpu seems to be better than what it was before. Its typically at a steady 65c but now a bit lower than before. And this is a shot taken with the game actively playing.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)


Top 4 TIMs and why ya might not wanna use the ones with (4)
http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12

Gelid GC-Extreme (0) Aluminum Oxide Low / Thin 37.65°C A+
Thermaltake Grease A2150 (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.65°C A+
Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Thermal Compound (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.55°C A+
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G751 (0) Aluminum Oxide Moderate 37.55°C A+

Each product tested received the curing time recommended (see below), or approximately one hour of thermal cycling prior to testing when no cure time was specified.
(0) No Curing Time or Special Application Suggested
(4) Arctic Silver 5 Application Instructions (up to 200-hours recommended curing time)

Application methods depend on type of cooler

http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=38

To get a bearing in how you compare the use of a well known and 100% repeatable stress test is required. Recommend Intel XTU or better yet RoG Real Bench for CPUs / Furmark for GPUs. For a single one-shot utility that measures all voltages, temps, power, rpms, .... recommend HWiNFO

Are the laptops internal fans still spinning ? I'd expect about 45 C browsing .... 65 gaming. Any pet hair, cookie crumbs, nail clippings in heat sink ?

Is this an Optimus laptop ? If so what GFX is the game running off ?

 

[Dan Blues]

You need to Re apply that thermal paste. Just push down the heatsink on it don't spread it. When i reapplied my thermal paste i got a huge fps boost and my temps dropped from 60c to 40c. Don't spread the thermal paste.