Question Need help with understanding whether or not I should be worried

[rcsverige]

So look, even I think this is a dumb question but given my lack of experience with PC´s and CPUs in particular, I thought I see if someone could help. I bought a 5800x3D not long ago. I had to reapply thermal paster at least 4 times (had to remove my coolermaster to replace it for another air cooler and then realized I put that new air cooler upside down and had to reapply again)... Anyway, during that time I had to clean of the thermal paste from within the chasis (wasnt willing to take my entire MB out to do that. Some was stuck on the outside metal housing of the CPU and if I used a towel then it would just smear so I ended up using the thermal paste spatula scrape the edges. Some of the thermal paste accidently got into this area that I have marked in red where the metal housing and the green base (I dont know the terminology for CPUs well). I was wondering if this is something to be concerned about at all?

the picture to illustrate my dumb question.

 

[Lutfij]

(wasnt willing to take my entire MB out to do that
You might want o accept that being lazy only causes that mountain of work to look taller than it already is. Best do it once and do it properly.

Regarding the thermal paste making it's way into the crevice of the processor's IHS, I'd leave it as is at this point. There's an adhesive that has the IHS to bond with the PCB of that processor.

 

[rcsverige]

(wasnt willing to take my entire MB out to do that
You might want o accept that being lazy only causes that mountain of work to look taller than it already is. Best do it once and do it properly.

Regarding the thermal paste making it's way into the crevice of the processor's IHS, I'd leave it as is at this point. There's an adhesive that has the IHS to bond

Well its not like I didnt have ample room because I did but the issue was that it was a complete accident when I was scraping the thermal paste off of the IHS. When it go onto the crevice between the IHS and PCB I tried using isopropyl alcohol to no avail and tried to use the pointed edge of the plastic spatula to maybe get some out.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... tried to use the pointed edge of the plastic spatula to maybe get some out.

Most of the damaged parts get that way by people attempting to clean using tools like that. If you must, use only a soft cotton swab to remove it, perhaps moistened with isopropyl alcohol. But excess paste is doing no harm so I'd definitely agree to leave it alone.

If you watch some of the videos of motherboard and CPU tests by channels like Gamer's Nexus you'll see in closeups of their test boards and CPU's that they are pretty well smattered with left over thermal paste. While they're usually pretty careful in application it can still be a bit messy yet they don't bother with trying to clean it up very well (except on the IHS surface). They know it doesn't matter for performance, but damaging a test part in pursuit of an arbitrary ideal definitely will for data continuity.

 

[rcsverige]

Most of the damaged parts get that way by people attempting to clean using tools like that. If you must, use only a soft cotton swab to remove it, perhaps moistened with isopropyl alcohol. But excess paste is doing no harm so I'd definitely agree to leave it alone.

If you watch some of the videos of motherboard and CPU tests by channels like Gamer's Nexus you'll see in closeups of their test boards and CPU's that they are pretty well smattered with left over thermal paste. While they're usually pretty careful in application it can still be a bit messy yet they don't bother with trying to clean it up very well (except on the IHS surface). They know it doesn't matter for performance, but damaging a test part definitely will for data continuity.

Darn. I didnt use a ton of force when doing that but now I am a bit paranoid about whether or not it is a problem or could be a problem for me. Is there anyway to tell?

 

[drea.drechsler]

...Is there anyway to tell?

Best way to tell is if it doesn't work after. If it does then great and there's not really any long-term effects that could come up later on. The thing I'd be most worried about is bent pins...more likely if you were handling the CPU as you scraped off the excess. A scrape mark going through the top most layer and damaging a trace in the substrate is also a possibility I guess. There are gaps in the IHS to substrate bond line to allow pressure equalization but intrusion under the IHS still isn't likely to present a problem.

Mostly it's a principle: people clean and re-paste their systems to death. I'd say it's easily the most common way systems fail in use, far more so than simple aging. Re-pasting is rarely necessary and while dusting is good only use gentle blown air for it, do it mostly for heatsinks to help heat transfer and blow it out without applying a lot of pressure to other areas. Don't spin fans to high speed (hold steady while blowing the blades off) and whatever you do avoid disassembly as much as possible. The problem with that is they may have to live with a bit of surface dust inside of their showcase system.

 

[rcsverige]

Hey thanks for the help. Yea so I kept the CPU in the socket when going through that process of trying to clean it as I didnt want to bend the pins as you said. I literally had no clue about anything related to the IHS and PCB so Ill keep that in mind in the future. Luckily I my last CPU I only needed to apply paste once in the 2 year time period so Im hoping to do the same unless temps, for whatever reason, begin to sky rocket requiring a more substantial cooling system. Right now though the temps are fine as the result of PBO2/OCCT and some offsets (and no I didnt do that myself lol... Had to watch a video on how to test stability and undervolt). So Im curious, if someone does do what I did and somehow managed to scrape through the adhesive, would that cause the cpu to malfunction or anything like that? Like the entire adhesive is still fine but just in that one area where they scrapped.... if that makes sense

 

[drea.drechsler]

...So Im curious, if someone does do what I did and somehow managed to scrape through the adhesive, would that cause the cpu to malfunction or anything like that? Like the entire adhesive is still fine but just in that one area where they scrapped.... if that makes sense

I assume you mean the adhesive sealing around the IHS (the nickle plated Heat Spreader) bonding it to the substrate (the green circuit board looking part). I don't think much if anything would happen. It's quite a distance to the CPU and I/O dies, probably too far for the paste to travel unless forced with a lot of pressure. But even if it did get that far the die top surfaces (more correctly the bottom since it's a flip-chip mount) are actually soldered to the inside surface of the IHS, and the die itself has a fillet bond going around it holding it solid to the substrate.

Scraping through the substrate top layer (gel coat I think it's called) might be different, but that depends on how close to the edge they allow traces. The whole substrate may seem like a lot of area but they need to run traces for well over a thousand pins so it might be a bit crowded.

 

[geofelt]

Paste is not as good of a heat conductor as is metal to metal.
When you use so much that it oozes over the edge, you have used too much.
It really is hard to use too little.
So long as you did not use electrically conductive paste, you are ok.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

^^^^^^
What he said.

You only need enough to fill the microscratches and pits in the mating surfaces, any more simply acts as an insulator or gets squeezed out to make a mess on the board. Generally a rice kernel size blob in the middle is sufficient when spread around.

 

[rcsverige]

I assume you mean the adhesive sealing around the IHS (the nickle plated Heat Spreader) bonding it to the substrate (the green circuit board looking part). I don't think much if anything would happen. It's quite a distance to the CPU and I/O dies, probably too far for the paste to travel unless forced with a lot of pressure. But even if it did get that far the die top surfaces (more correctly the bottom since it's a flip-chip mount) are actually soldered to the inside surface of the IHS, and the die itself has a fillet bond going around it holding it solid to the substrate.

Scraping through the substrate top layer (gel coat I think it's called) might be different, but that depends on how close to the edge they allow traces. The whole substrate may seem like a lot of area but they need to run traces for well over a thousand pins so it might be a bit crowded.

yea precisely what I meant. Sorry I just dont know the precise terminology well so youll have to use my pictionary style illustrations lol. Thank you though

 

[rcsverige]

^^^^^^
What he said.

You only need enough to fill the microscratches and pits in the mating surfaces, any more simply acts as an insulator or gets squeezed out to make a mess on the board. Generally a rice kernel size blob in the middle is sufficient when spread around.

I used a single use Grizzly thermal paste that came with a plastic spatula to spread it evenly. None ever leaked over the sides. However, because I had to remove the air cooler several times (first cooler wasnt cooling well, second I put upside down and had to readjust like the idiot I am) some would be pushed over the edge since I would use a slight turning motion as to not pull the cpu up with the cooler (my last CPU pulled up out of the socket with my cooler so I tend to twist a bit to separate the cpu and cooler easier)

 

[ex_bubblehead]

If the 2 surfaces stick together then you have used WAY too much. There shouldn't be more than a light haze on the two surfaces before mating.

 

[rcsverige]

If the 2 surfaces stick together then you have used WAY too much. There shouldn't be more than a light haze on the two surfaces before mating.

They dont stick together. Its a habit I started doing once the ryzen 3600 came up with the cooler. The 3600 paste hadnt been replaced in 2 years and had dried up. I could pull directly up but I am just concerned about doing that and then having the 5800x3d pull up and then drop back down ruining the pins. The paste is an incredibly small amount. A very thin layer; less than a gram of the tube Kryonaut tube. I use the spatula to thin it out across the top of the IHS and then wipe of the excess from the spatula on a towel. And from my understanding it isnt uncommon for coolers to slightly stick to the cpu and that you should use a slight twisting motion.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

I agree with everyone to a point and the following is a GENERAL thought.

Letting it go is probably fine but ultimately what people don't think about is, thermal paste is only a good conductor between two surfaces. On its own it's a temperature inhibitor.

So if a component that heats up is caked in paste, that heat now has nowhere to go (a la passively air cooled).

 

[Colif]

best answer is probably to not use it at all