[SOLVED] Planning to repaste my cpu soon, is my current thermal paste good enough

[poorbugger]

I'm planning to clean out my cpu and repaste. The cpu is a ryzen 5 3600 with an id cooling zoomflow 240x aio. Temps are not that great ngl. I expected to get under 60C whenever im gaming with an aio when i first built it but i even get up to 80C. So i'm planning to clean and repaste. The thermal paste im planning to repaste with is Arctic MX-4 or ID-TG05 (currently in use, came with the aio). Which one is better?

 

[poorbugger]

First, check other things like:

Fans Working properly?
Enough airflow???

Reply with the following:

Your Motherboard...

They're all working properly. Trust me. It's not my first system but i just dont have enough experience with thermal paste as i always just use arctic silver 5 or mx4. Asus tuf b550m.

 

[drea.drechsler]

They're all working properly. Trust me. It's not my first system but i just dont have enough experience with thermal paste as i always just use arctic silver 5 or mx4. Asus tuf b550m.

Are the fans oriented right for good cooling though? Case airflow is critical: a GPU exhausting through the AIO radiator can impact CPU temp by 10 even up to 20 degrees.

For most cases the best radiator location is in front drawing cool outside air through it, then exhausting all the hot air at the top and rear. Some have a side mount and that works well too..

As far as thermal pastes go, it won't matter much more than 4 or 5 degrees even if you have the absolute worst and change to the absolute best...which tend to be conductive and either dangerous or ineffective if not correctly applied. Check out the comparison:
https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-thermal-paste

I have an ID Cooling 120mm AIO and I'm pretty happy with it. It keeps my PBO'd 3700X in upper 70's after 40 min's or so of video transcoding (handbrake). Gaming temps stay in the 40's or 50's and I completely did not expect that. I tested it with Cinebench for 8 hours or so and it got no warmer than low 80's which is still perfectly safe. IMO that's pretty good for a 120mm: a PBO'd 3700X puts out a lot of heat in a workload like that so I expected it to thermally saturate.

It does have a problem with mounting though: ID uses the old-style Asetek mount with their own twist. You have to get it evenly tightened or the waterblock can be slightly uneven with bad cooling a result. Make sure you're using the right plastic spacers and the four screws are evenly tightened all around. Also that the block is fully 'screwed' into the mounting plate. You'll know it's right if the logo is square to the motherboard.

 

[ThePCGamer123]

I'm planning to clean out my cpu and repaste. The cpu is a ryzen 5 3600 with an id cooling zoomflow 240x aio. Temps are not that great ngl. I expected to get under 60C whenever im gaming with an aio when i first built it but i even get up to 80C. So i'm planning to clean and repaste. The thermal paste im planning to repaste with is Arctic MX-4 or ID-TG05 (currently in use, came with the aio). Which one is better?

If you're really gonna go all out with the thermal paste, I would get Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. I'm very biased here and shill for this paste a lot when people ask for recommendations for paste. Its one of, if not the highest performing thermal compounds you can buy. Its basically getting free performance just by adding paste. Unfortunately its rather expensive, $10 per gram! But for personal use, a 1 gram tube is enough. Temp drops for $10 just by adding paste is pretty nuts! They also recently made a successor called Kryonaut extreme, slightly more expensive.

Now to address your AIO, 80 degrees while gaming at stock for a 280mm AIO is really bad. It might be an indication for a dying or malfunctioning pump. I recently had a Corsair H110 280mm AIO die on me. Theres a lot going on mechanically with AIOs that can break, which is why I air cool now. It could also be a case of the MOBO sending too much voltage to the CPU. I would check the voltages on your mobo, and do some research on what voltage is normal for your CPU at its current clock.

Ideally you would do all of these things. Im leaning towards a broken pump. For the price you got that AIO you can get a premium aircooler. Noctua NH-D15 and bequiet Dark Rock Pro 4 are the two of the best ones you can get, in my estimation. Also, no reliability problems, unless a fan breaks, Premium paste and a new, reliable cooler, would be the way to go. Maybe expand your airflow in the case with some additional case fans too.

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[poorbugger]

Are the fans oriented right for good cooling though? Case airflow is critical: a GPU exhausting through the AIO radiator can impact CPU temp by 10 even up to 20 degrees.

For most cases the best radiator location is in front drawing cool outside air through it, then exhausting all the hot air at the top and rear. Some have a side mount and that works well too..

As far as thermal pastes go, it won't matter much more than 4 or 5 degrees even if you have the absolute worst and change to the absolute best...which tend to be conductive and either dangerous or ineffective if not correctly applied. Check out the comparison:
https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-thermal-paste

I have an ID Cooling 120mm AIO and I'm pretty happy with it. It keeps my PBO'd 3700X in upper 70's after 40 min's or so of video transcoding (handbrake). Gaming temps stay in the 40's or 50's and I completely did not expect that. I tested it with Cinebench for 8 hours or so and it got no warmer than low 80's which is still perfectly safe. IMO that's pretty good for a 120mm: a PBO'd 3700X puts out a lot of heat in a workload like that so I expected it to thermally saturate.

It does have a problem with mounting though: ID uses the old-style Asetek mount with their own twist. You have to get it evenly tightened or the waterblock can be slightly uneven with bad cooling a result. Make sure you're using the right plastic spacers and the four screws are evenly tightened all around. Also that the block is fully 'screwed' into the mounting plate. You'll know it's right if the logo is square to the motherboard.

The airflow in my case is as good as it's gonna get. 3 intake in the front mesh panel, 1 rear exhaust and 2 top exhaust through the radiator. Hmm it might be my installation then since your 120mm managed to keep your 3700x lower than 80C. Also my ambient temps is 24C to 30C depending on the weather as i live in southeast asia so maybe that's a factor as well. This is my case so it's definitely not airflow as i tested with side panel on and off. Tecware Forge M ARGB TG MATX Gaming Case - ( Black/White ) | Shopee Malaysia . I will remount and repaste over the weekend and see the difference again.

 

[poorbugger]

If you're really gonna go all out with the thermal paste, I would get Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. I'm very biased here and shill for this paste a lot when people ask for recommendations for paste. Its one of, if not the highest performing thermal compounds you can buy. Its basically getting free performance just by adding paste. Unfortunately its rather expensive, $10 per gram! But for personal use, a 1 gram tube is enough. Temp drops for $10 just by adding paste is pretty nuts! They also recently made a successor called Kryonaut extreme, slightly more expensive.

Now to address your AIO, 80 degrees while gaming at stock for a 280mm AIO is really bad. It might be an indication for a dying or malfunctioning pump. I recently had a Corsair H110 280mm AIO die on me. Theres a lot going on mechanically with AIOs that can break, which is why I air cool now. It could also be a case of the MOBO sending too much voltage to the CPU. I would check the voltages on your mobo, and do some research on what voltage is normal for your CPU at its current clock.

Ideally you would do all of these things. Im leaning towards a broken pump. For the price you got that AIO you can get a premium aircooler. Noctua NH-D15 and bequiet Dark Rock Pro 4 are the two of the best ones you can get, in my estimation. Also, no reliability problems, unless a fan breaks, Premium paste and a new, reliable cooler, would be the way to go. Maybe expand your airflow in the case with some additional case fans too.

Let me know if you have any questions!

I wont lie, i regret getting AIO because in my mind, i thought liquid cooling would yield much better result but sadly that's not the case i think. I dont think the pumps are failing. Perhaps it's just my installation or dust. The aio is still quite new. About a year of usage. I have used thermal grizzly kryonaut in my gaming laptops but i dont see the difference and yeah it's pricey. I'll remount and repaste first. Thanks for the reply. Might get a tower cooler in the future.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... and 2 top exhaust through the radiator. ...

If you could move the radiator to the front it can make a significant impact on thermals, especially while gaming. Just keep one tank above the CPU water block.

Reason is the GPU exhausting through the radiator. Cooling operates on a temperature differential, using the hot GPU air means you're losing upwards of 20 degrees of cooling potential when gaming since the GPU is exhausting a lot of hot air through it. In the front blowing in it's always using cool outside air.

It's not a burden on the GPU in the same way since the CPU really doesn't work nearly as hard while gaming so the air being exhausted through the radiator isn't nearly so warm. That's the difference with my 120mm AIO as I mounted it to use cool outside air instead of the hot GPU exhaust.

 

[geofelt]

To answer your questionaste will last a long time, so long as it flows out of the tube.
You can use it.

That said, repasting is not likely to solve your heat issue.
Some good comments above.
AIO coolers do not last forever.
In time, air intrudes making the cooler less effective and it needs to be replaced.

The radiator cooling starts with the ambient air temperature.
In this situation, the ambient air starts with your 24-30c room temperature.
Then, add in the heat from the graphics card. These days, they no longer exhaust heat our the back, blower style.
Most of that heat is going to be what the top radiator sees.

Stronger front intake fans might help.

With a nice case like yours, you might do better with a good twin tower air cooler.

 

[poorbugger]

If you could move the radiator to the front it can make a significant impact on thermals, especially while gaming. Just keep one tank above the CPU water block.

Reason is the GPU exhausting through the radiator. Cooling operates on a temperature differential, using the hot GPU air means you're losing upwards of 20 degrees of cooling potential when gaming since the GPU is exhausting a lot of hot air through it. In the front blowing in it's always using cool outside air.

It's not a burden on the GPU in the same way since the CPU really doesn't work nearly as hard while gaming so the air being exhausted through the radiator isn't nearly so warm. That's the difference with my 120mm AIO as I mounted it to use cool outside air instead of the hot GPU exhaust.

To answer your questionaste will last a long time, so long as it flows out of the tube.
You can use it.

That said, repasting is not likely to solve your heat issue.
Some good comments above.
AIO coolers do not last forever.
In time, air intrudes making the cooler less effective and it needs to be replaced.

The radiator cooling starts with the ambient air temperature.
In this situation, the ambient air starts with your 24-30c room temperature.
Then, add in the heat from the graphics card. These days, they no longer exhaust heat our the back, blower style.
Most of that heat is going to be what the top radiator sees.

Stronger front intake fans might help.

With a nice case like yours, you might do better with a good twin tower air cooler.

Welp, i definitely messed up somewhere. After taking off the aio fans, there was a layer of dust underneath them. I cleaned them and repasted as well. Now the temps are worse. First repaste resulted in 90C at desktop. 2nd and third was the same. On the 4th, there's an improvement at the desktop idling down to 50C but once i launched a game, temps is going up to 90C. Before the cleaning and repaste, it was only 65C to 75C. Now it's always above 80C. Does it have anything to do with laying my case down so the liquid in the aio got messed up or something?