Is this thermal paste any good?

[Gatortribe]

My i5-3450 is hitting 105c all the time, and I've realized this a bit too late. Is it because of the thermal paste I chose (I'm a fool for not using Arctic Silver) or did I seat the stock cooler wrong?

 

[firo40]

Its pretty hard to seat the stock heat synch wrong that thermal paste is most likely the cuprate. But it could be your case fans do you have any form of ventilation in your case?

 

[Heironious]

Brand of thermal paste or not, something else is going on there. Even the stock intel fan doesn't get that high. I suggest you do a re seat, and clean the CPU and re apply thermal paste.

Edit" when you say "105" is that in Celsius or feirenheight?? If feirenheight its fine.

 

[Gatortribe]

Its pretty hard to seat the stock heat synch wrong that thermal paste is most likely the cuprate. But it could be your case fans do you have any form of ventilation in your case?

Yeah I have a 250mm intake on the side and 120mm outtake on the back.

 

[Gatortribe]

Brand of thermal paste or not, something else is going on there. Even the stock intel fan doesn't get that high. I suggest you do a re seat, and clean the CPU and re apply thermal paste.

Edit" when you say "105" is that in Celsius or feirenheight?? If feirenheight its fine.

Sorry, yes I meant 105c which I know is bad (it throttles down to 1.2GHz when I'm playing games, causing major lag). I'll try a reseat etc. and if that fails I guess just buy an aftermarket cooler.

 

[haider95]

PLEASE make sure you've put the heatsink on properly. It might feel tight but its probably not. If it comes with screws then turn the screws all the way in! Thermal paste is probably NOT the culprit. Most brands of thermal pastes use the same stuff anyways. (Silicone) Try to tighten the heatsink on the CPU if that doesn't work clean this paste off the CPU and heatsink then just get a artic cooler rev 2 cpu heatsink. Its better than the stock heatsink that comes with intel and it comes pre-applied with artic cooling paste.

 

[Gatortribe]

Here is the paste on the cooler http://i.imgur.com/FLNJfe4.jpeg
Here is the paste on the CPU http://i.imgur.com/SfGoaib.jpeg

This is before I reapply. Should I do it differently, eg. more or less?

 

[haider95]

clean away the paste with a damp wet cloth (do it thoroughly and gently, make sure no excess water is left on the cpu, dry it after you run the cloth over it immediately) do the same for the heatsink. Then apply a small amount of thermal paste on the CPU (Pea sized. like ( ) then put the heatsink on tightly. Don't spread the compound the heatsink does that for you!

 

[haider95]

way too much thermal paste btw :/

 

[ihog]

Use isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth/rag/etc. to clean off the paste.

Plus, that paste just does not look like it is quality. It's looks more like a liquid.

 

[Gatortribe]

Thanks everyone. Reapplying thermal paste was all I needed to do thankfully. Prime95 only made it get to 87c with no throttling unlike before where it got to 105c throttled down to 1.5Ghz.