Replaced themal paste

[jeboots]

Saturday a friend replaced my themal paste on my cpu with Artic Silver 5. He did the card method.
I turned it on and ran it like normal. I've been watching the CPU temps all weekend and Monday. I'm idling at 53-55c and load is around 63-67c. Is this normal? Specs below.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x3

MSI R7970 Lightning Radeon HD 7970 3GB

 

[popatim]

you're about 10c high on both ends.
Try other temp monitoring program and also try to compare with what the bios reads for temps.

 

[Azn Cracker]

No thats pretty high but still acceptable. What were the temps before he reapplied the thermal paste?

Also the card method is bad because it creates more air bubbles, unless you have a perfectly smooth card and super steady hands. If you use the dot method, you could probably lower the temps by a few degrees.

 

[jeboots]

Thanks for the quick replies. I thought it was high to. I'm going to redo the themal paste tonight. Will use the dot method I have read about.

 

[scout_03]

try this for your temp reading http://www.hwinfo.com/index.html ,it should be around 40 c on idle and 60 c on load.it could be that the cooler is not clip all the way to the cpu ,i would redo the paste in a pea spot .

 

[boju]

What cooler you using?

I used the pea drop method as well with some glad rap on my finger to smooth it out. Probably not the best way but im satisfied with my temps with a D14 using the same case as you.

2600k @ 4.6 1.4v, pretty high voltage, still the cooler keeps it idle, 37c and 66c full load. Its either my shotty paste spreading or the decent cooler is saving me but im happy to know the pea drop seems to work.

 

[jeboots]

Does the paste need to setup? Or is a few hours enough for it? Saw some threads where people said to wait a week for the paste to set in.

 

[jeboots]

What cooler you using?

I used the pea drop method as well with some glad rap on my finger to smooth it out. Probably not the best way but im satisfied with my temps with a D14 using the same case as you.

2600k @ 4.6 1.4v, pretty high voltage, still the cooler keeps it idle, 37c and 66c full load. Its either my shotty paste spreading or the decent cooler is saving me but im happy to know the pea drop seems to work.

Using the stock heatsink. Thinking of going with a ZALMAN http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223 soon.

 

[boju]

maybe wait 10mins to half an hr, usually the time it takes to get a build ready to go the paste would have been sitting for a bit anyway. So guess there would be some benefit, couldn't hurt to let it sit for a tiny bit with the heatsink on straightaway after applying paste.

Aftermarket cooler will help a lot too.

 

[jeboots]

Ok so did the pea size paste. Placed the heatsink on. Ran the pc at 100% for about 10mins. What I got was 63-69c.

 

[jeboots]

try this for your temp reading http://www.hwinfo.com/index.html ,it should be around 40 c on idle and 60 c on load.it could be that the cooler is not clip all the way to the cpu ,i would redo the paste in a pea spot .

ran that program. (kinda confusing) I see CPU 0 and CPU. What do I look at?

 

[boju]

It's normal, the original heatsink is doing the best it can. Will need to buy an aftermarket cooler if you want a decent decrease. I would suggest looking at heatsink benchmark reviews and pick the cooler best for your needs.

Why did you replace the thermal compound in the first place?

If you are planning to overclock in future i recommend Noctua D14 or equivalent with back plate. I know it requires taking the mobo out but with pushpin heatsink type solutions (they do alright sitting the heatsink over the cpu) do an awful job at applying pressure and reduce thermal performance.

Your temps are fine, if you're planning on upgrading your heatsink and fan, i would do it properly with a better one.

 

[jeboots]

Just ran idle for a few hrs. Am about 56-59c.

 

[ndslite]

that definitely is not normal. what is the room temp? my 6300 with the stock cooler was at 20C idle

 

[jeboots]

Arg! What is wrong? Just doesn't seem normal, that's what im gathering from people.

 

[boju]

did you spread the paste around before putting the heatsink on or did you rely on the spreading itself?

I wouldn't count on the pressure enough on the pushpin heatsink to do it properly. Spread it around like i said above..

Also speed up your case fans to high if they're not.

 

[jeboots]

OK! So re-applied themal paste doing it with a razor blade. very thin. CLEANED the heatsink. turn on PC ran 100% load for 10 mins. AND I got 48-50 temp! So much better.

 

[boju]

Personally I would have used glad rap on the finger to smooth it out from a pea drop, the glad rap tight on the finger will be completely smooth, no chance of any ripples or air pockets, try it next time.

Glad it worked out though. I wouldn't bother changing heatsink now unless you plan to overclock. With even those temps you have now, might get away with a mild overclock reaching high 50c's/low 60c's 100%load

 

[satyamdubey]

Does the paste need to setup? Or is a few hours enough for it? Saw some threads where people said to wait a week for the paste to set in.

yep. 200 hours of setting actually before you see measurable differences in temps and that is 200 hrs of thermal loading (so you r pc must run for 200 hrs, 8hours a day for bout 4 weeks ). AS claims 10-12 C improvement, I know of 5-6 C but could be better in your case.

let it cure.

good luck
-satyam

 

[boju]

200-500hrs until the true effects from the compound start to work properly from heating/reheating. This is the only way thermal paste will cure, so the computer can be turned on right away, don't need to leave it off for 8 days if this may be a confusion.

 

[jsc]

I use this to reapply new compound:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=0

 

[boju]

Well said, you know quite a bit about whats in the compound and where to apply it.

Many tutorials on the internet are using all kinds of applying methods, from lines, multiple lines to pea drops (depending on the materials the heatsink is using whether its copper plumbing, aluminum, brass will give a distinctive spread pattern due to the piping and different metals combined) and spread using cards, razer blades, glad rap to heatsink pressure itself. As you've pointed out, pre spreading is worse off with some compound types. In saying that, the common advice given between all of the technique are using thin lines, or a small pea in comparison, spreading it yourself or allowing the sink spread.

The confusion between whats right and wrong is quite a thin line in results. Stock and aftermarket coolers for their purposes in general cool the cpu quite well anyway and should be well away from thermal limits at full load, and i agree if the near enough correct amount of compound is used.

A margin of 5c or less is not really a concern for a stock or mild overclocker kicking an extra Ghz where the thermal limit would generally be 20-30c (considering warmer ambient temperatures) or so away from danger. Overclocking competitions, enthusiasts pushing maximum thermos would know how and where and that every degree would matter.

 

[jeboots]

No it's not normal, for a few reasons.

1. AS5 is terrible thermal paste. Might be better than stock paste, but it's over 13 years old. It's just as outdated as 13 year old ram, cpu, gpu, etc. Nowadays, you can actually get significant temp drops using better thermal pastes - there's little difference in the best, modern pastes, but there's a world of difference in a paste that became crap half a decade ago, and a modern paste. Like bigger difference than a hyper 212 and an Antec Kuhler 620.
2. You never spread thermal paste unless it's Coollaboratory liquid ultra/pro (which can't be spread because they are more like mercury and less like a ceramique paste). That's the worst way to apply thermal paste, tell your friend to stop doing that.
3. Way too much paste used.

The best way to apply paste is to apply a small dot or rice grain. A rice grain actually borders on too much paste, if it's a little too long or thick, it'll cause your temps to go up 5*C+. The perfect amount of paste to use actually only ends up covering about 1/3rd to 3/4th of the IHS, if you use enough paste that it covers the entire CPU IHS, then you've used too much paste.

I've done over 50 paste applications and I've done thermal paste reviews for a few companies, i've tested a lot of pastes and I can tell you with certainty, that spread method is terrible, and less is more. It's nearly impossible to use too little thermal paste.

Also, AS5 has a burn-in time, it takes a few days for it to really settle in.

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread from people who've never actually tried and tested different ways of thermal spread. You do not want to spread the paste, at all! It causes air bubbles as the paste bunches up, it needs to be able to smoothly spread outwards, and people generally use way too much paste with the spread method because they think they need to cover the entire IHS.

WOW. Thank you for this. There are just SO many different "ways" of doing on the web now you just dont know.
What themal compound would you use? I've heard about pk-3. Would anyone recommend a aftermarket heatsink still? Or are my numbers ok now?
Thank you.

 

[boju]

your numbers are fine as they are, if you'd like to overclock in future for more performance then maybe look for an aftermarket cooler.

Noctua D14 i quite like, its one of the top 3, very good packaging, provide their own thermal paste and supports your cpu. The only bother is taking out the motherboard to fit the back plate to support the towered heatsink.

It will fit inside the Antec 902 case, i got one in mine. Cant hear a thing and cools like the reviews say it does.

 

[scout_03]

the 1 reading in cpu 0 is the core vid or voltage and core clock speed then the use of each core the 2 with the litte thermometer is the temp your cpu is running ,the 3 one is the temp that the sensor read for the cpu and motherboard .