so, have to apply thermal paste... again...

[robinsblade]

so this is the 3rd time ill be applying thermal paste to my cpu/heatsink.

the heat sink itself is stock for fx4100 and the thermal paste is arctic silver(tube, less then 3 yold)

and the reason im complaining is its going bad in less then 3 months.

what can be the cause of replacing thermal paste so often? is it dust? cpu heating up to much? bad heat sink?

the reason i know i need to replace it is bc at 10% load im getting 40C average.

ive had heating issues in the past with this cpu, and an addition questions would be:

1.) can over heating(75C for 30+ mins) a cpu cause the temp reader(s) to go bad?
2.) can a cpu over heat if both the heatsink and paste is correct?
3.) if i over heating(as mentioned) can it causes irreversible damage?
4.) (off subject) what causes cpu core voltage to fluctuate.(i read bios settings can)

and the default question was , what causes paste to go bad.

-thanks in advance. wish i came here sooner with this, i fear the worse for my cpu

(im planning to OC and im just deciding to ask bc people who have OCed this cpu idle at what mine does >.>)

p.s what happened to the cooling forum in the selecter?(couldnt find it)

 

[smackers_12]

1) that cooler is bad, you need to get a better one to overclock. 2) Silver 5 takes cure time to get to optimal performance. 3) Make sure the cooler and cpu are completely clean before applying. Finally, how much are you putting on?

 

[Calculatron]

What are you using to monitor your temperatures? I am wondering if, perhaps, you may be getting faulty readings?

Also, what case, with what sort of airflow (where are the case fans) do you have?

 

[robinsblade]

i have a thermal take v4 black edition. and i know ill need a new cpu cooler for over clocking.

and im certain its clean before i apply. but something ive learned recently is i apply it by making a thin layer of paste on the cpu(not cooler) and i learned now to do dot/X/Line methods instead of that.(ill try dot this time)
but would a "thin layer" be the cause of it going bad so fast?
and you say cure time? does that mean once the heatsink is seated i need to let it sit/cure for a bit(how long)?

and im using core temp to get the readings.

 

[smackers_12]

Silver 5 takes around 300 hours to cure (of the pc being on) and you dont just let it sit your temps will just improve over time. It needs to be cleaned with a lint free cloth (like a coffee filter).

 

[nikoli707]

lapping the cpu could help, but i understand if you dont want to venture into this.

you should use an high alcohol to clean off the old thermal paste, use a coffee filter to clean it off, dont use a towel. clean both the top of the cpu and contact base of the cooler.

put a smaller than pea sized dot of the thermal paste on the center of the cpu and slowly drop the coolers contact plate dead center on the cpu and twist it left and right about 1 to 2 degrees, not much. then slowly tighten the cooler down.

the "cure" time is different for every paste and cpu and cooler setup. and its not really a set 50 hours or 200 hours. its a heat up and cool down cycle. heat makes metals, copper in this case, stretch and contract. on the microscopic level, as the top of the cpu heats up faster and is at a different temp then the bottom of the cooler, the two literally slide against each other. think of it as how a fault line works for an earth quake, except in this case as they cool down the return to their previous posiotion. as they slide against each other, the thermal paste gets pushed around and eventually finds the valleys and gaps that are full of air, on microscopic level, and fills them in.

metal on metal does a better job of transferring heat than the thermal paste. but air does a bad job at this, worse than thermal paste. you dont need a lot of thermal paste at all, just enough to fill in air gaps on the nano meter level.

 

[robinsblade]

ok thanks for all the advise, i noticed you say "heat up and cool down cycle". this is a 24/7/365 computer(media server) and it never really gets a cooling down time. will that cause the paste to wear fast(not cure)? and idk if it is this time, but last time i put paste on the old paste was literally crusty. is that normal(it was on for only like 6 months)?

btw, i decided to venture in why my computer is so unstable. and i did some bios editing, it fixed a few things( no longer seeing the random black line(artifacts) on screen at idle)

but i noticed(dont know if this is from before too) but explorer.exe get high(11-25%) cpu usage when moving the mouse. it was svchost.exe but i fixed that with a few services being stopped. but what would cause explorer.exe to do this(doing research now)

 

[nikoli707]

the server load changes affecting cpu usage is more than enough for the temp cycling.... the compound will move and eventually find its place. but "curing" isn't going to be a magical drop in temps, its a few c at best depending on how good of a job you did applying it.

 

[lava1789]

A good video on applying thermal paste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rn0BqMyXBM&feature=youtu.be&t

 

[robinsblade]

well i will be investing in a new heatsink probably. but for a temp fix ill try reapllying paste. bc last time i did it for atleast a month the idle stays below 40C right now i idle at 40-44(trying to fix the fluctuation as mention at the end of previous post)

 

[Calculatron]

You have a radeon GPU; Try AMD overdrive. It'll give you the Thermal Margin (kind of a reverse temperature... hard to explain in the amount of time I have.)

Either way, Core temp, although I like it, sometimes is a bit wonky. Try AMD Overdrive.