Thermal Paste Comparison, Part One: Applying Grease And More

[nukemaster]

Would a copper shim be any more likely to scratch a die then the bottom of a copper cooler(I never said to remove paste, thats crazy talk 😛 ).

CPU's used to not have heat spreaders(never damaged on with copper coolers). I was just saying for the cost of a shim(for someone who wants max cooling), if the performance was improved, one could have die|paste|shim|paste|IHS|paste|cooler. That assumes that the large gap of paste is worse than the extra paste and shim for performance.

 

[Lutfij]

Still spread my paste by hand with a plastic bag etc covering my finger. I don't trust it ever to spread evenly but spreading arctic silver sucks its like glue

So you'd waste TIM in order to trust that its doing its job?

 

[InvalidError]

I would not be surprised if part of Intel's decision to go paste for mainstream CPUs had to do with soldered CPUs dies getting damaged by shipping rough-handling.

True, but I'd venture to say cost was an even larger factor.

Replacing chips and systems that get damaged in-transit is part of costs too... so they are reducing costs from both ends of that equation.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Any chance of seeing a comparison between after-market pastes and the stock stuff included on a base Intel/AMD HS/F?

 

[bin1127]

The chart even include results from denture adhesive and P&G toothpaste! Right on TH.

 

[Mateusz Binkowski]

I took off IHS from 3770K and temp goes up! nothing is corrupted, core looks great, on another one cpu (3570K) temps lovered to -15*.

Cant find reason for heating 3770K without IHS and with IHS but on better paste

 

[InvalidError]

Cant find reason for heating 3770K without IHS and with IHS but on better paste

There is a simple reason for that: Intel's IHS paste actually kicks ass and your "better paste" ends up being worse at least for this specific application.

 

[antibios]

my heatsink is literally superglued on for the last 2 years and OCed from 1.5. to 1.9Ghz and still stays below 65C 😀

 

[ceh4702]

I like how you showed the spread pattern based on the amount of thermal grease/paste used. I also wonder for Intel based heat spreaders that package the actual processor, how well they work and whether their quality is really consistent.

 

[Reynod]

Thats high praise Ryan.

Guys Ry was one our most active users (and mods) in the area of cooling efficiency and produced some quality work of his own which we were able to reference previously.

I don't know about the procter and gamble product ... I'd have gone for molybond or lithium grease before that one.

Maybe try bacon grease next time ... it seems the most appropriate geek reference fat.

A technical note ... one would expect Intel to have a slightly concave IHS ... it makes sense as the cpu heats up (and its smaller size) thus causing the metal to expand in the centre ... to be uniform and flat under load and dissipate maximum heat....

AMD would just start with flat metal since they no longer have any engineers ... Rory having replaced them with accountants.

I an an old AMD fanboi so don't troll me please ...

 

[FormatC]

The Intel heatspreader makes more sense, right 😉

 

[les_garten]

I see that you tested Toothpaste. A better thing to test would have been Copper Based Anti Seize that a mechanic would use to keep bolts from seizing. By it's very nature, it's high heat resistant and stays somewhat soft and has copper for heat transfer. And a ton cheaper than this stuff that is a total rip off, errr I mean a high margin product. Isn't that how you put it?

 

[nukemaster]

I see that you tested Toothpaste. A better thing to test would have been Copper Based Anti Seize that a mechanic would use to keep bolts from seizing. By it's very nature, it's high heat resistant and stays somewhat soft and has copper for heat transfer. And a ton cheaper than this stuff that is a total rip off, errr I mean a high margin product. Isn't that how you put it?

Could be interesting actually.

 

[smeezekitty]

I see that you tested Toothpaste. A better thing to test would have been Copper Based Anti Seize that a mechanic would use to keep bolts from seizing. By it's very nature, it's high heat resistant and stays somewhat soft and has copper for heat transfer. And a ton cheaper than this stuff that is a total rip off, errr I mean a high margin product. Isn't that how you put it?

I think electrical conductivity may be a problem with that.

 

[nukemaster]

I see that you tested Toothpaste. A better thing to test would have been Copper Based Anti Seize that a mechanic would use to keep bolts from seizing. By it's very nature, it's high heat resistant and stays somewhat soft and has copper for heat transfer. And a ton cheaper than this stuff that is a total rip off, errr I mean a high margin product. Isn't that how you put it?

I think electrical conductivity may be a problem with that.

So are the liquid metals.

 

[gsteele531]

Just a note: I generally use a razor scraper as a "putty knife" when applying HSC. If you look at the microscopic imperfections on the surface of the heat spreader and the sink, you can see that under most medium viscosity situations, there will be air trapped between the HSC and the metal surface, diminishing the surface area in contact with a thermal conductor. By applying the HSC in a very thin linear fashion, and then using the very precisely polished edge of a razor blade mounted in a scraper handle as a "plastering tool" - i.e. pressing hard against first the heat spreader and likewise against the heat sink, the HSC is forced into the microscopic valleys, displacing the trapped air, and increasing the contact surface. The "pre-wetted" surfaces are then brought in contact with a lentil-sized drop in the center of the CPU spreader, and seated. Although I haven't measured the temperature decrease that results, intuitively it's clear that more area in contact means greater heat transfer. Polishing the surfaces aims for the same objective. Nice article; waiting for part two!

 

[death__machine]

I'm still waiting for the second part 😛. Loved the article!

 

[death__machine]

I'm still waiting for the second part 😛. Loved the article!

 

[moulderhere]

Why don't we all just Epoxy our CPU to Heatsink?

Or JB-Weld.

 

[Roger Rogers-1382392]

I just do a 25 small dots of paste across the whole surface whilst having covered the whole surface with a very thin layer of good quality perfect consistency artic paste (having ensured all items are cool beforehand).
My i7 4770 chip on a sabertooth Z87 has zero issues; nor my AMD 64 PC, nor with my old X1950XTX Sapphire graphics card; and, apparantly, I`m doing it wrong.

 

[Roger Rogers-1382392]

My understanding is that Epoxy resin could dry out and crack; but I may be wrong. I heard about people using superglue; but if you want to change your cooler? Or CPU (and keep the cooler)?

....Hence why 25 small spikes of silicone on a thin layer and a good twist down and fix of the cooler is pretty reliable.

 

[Roger Rogers-1382392]

Why don't we all just Epoxy our CPU to Heatsink?

Or JB-Weld.

Guess why dont the main PC dealers don`t that; nor the laptop manufacturers?

 

[smeezekitty]

Why don't we all just Epoxy our CPU to Heatsink?

Or JB-Weld.

Guess why dont the main PC dealers don`t that; nor the laptop manufacturers?

Because its a terrible idea. A service nightmare.

 

[moulderhere]

My comment was a total joke!

 

[Roger Rogers-1382392]

My comment was a total joke!

Ah; droll.

It's true though that some people have been using superglue to stick their heatsink* to their M/B CPU over the decades. I have read about it a number of times even since before the millennium change.

Not sure what they do when their fan packs up.

P.S.
To my eternal shame, I once tried using a small cut square of cooking tin-foil as a CPU connection medium.

My PC smelled like chicken for a week after I tried that...

Anyway; in summer, many older heat-sinks are completely useless; its over 30 Degrees C in lots of countries (like here), pretty often (summers are fairly regular); and indoors can be much hotter if the A/C is inop due to power outages after quakes or some such. Old heatsinks sucking in hot air still fries many systems.

Even my Newish W8.1 3D Dynabook overheats so often and auto shuts down so often that I wonder if computers are destined to be used to drive scaffold poles into the earth one day.