Thermal Paste? Have I put to much or to little?

[W3Geek]

Good evening,

I'm working if I put to much or to little Thermal Paste on my CPU (images below)? I ran a stress test with Prime 95 and within about 5 minutes my system went from 39-40 degrees idle to 69-70 degrees up to 99-100 degrees. This is my first computer build and here are the specs:

Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
Asus Maximus VII Hero
Intel Core i7 4790k 4.0ghz
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with 2 Cougar Fans
Corsair 1600mhz 16gb RAM (2x8gb dual channel)
Samsung 850 EVO SSD
Corsair CX750m PSU
EVGA 970 GTX
…

And here are the images:

I'll upload more if needed, thanks for your help!

 

[clutchc]

It looks about right, considering it has been compressed and then removed. But if that is a 212 EVO, your problem may have been installation of the cooler. The 212 EVO can be a bit of a trick to install for the first time.
Your temps are definitely not what you should expect from that cooler on that Haswell. Did you remove the Cooler Master thermal paste and use your own for some reason?

Here are the instructions for Arctic Silver 5 and Intel processors. The method is the same for whatever TIM you use: http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

 

[Archgaull]

That seems about right. When you are applying it, a good rule of thumb I was told was that it should be about the size of the motherboard capacitors

 

[nb7760]

It seems like the thermal compound wasn't spread out enough. Some areas have too much, and some areas are not covered. I believe the heatsink is not applying enough pressure onto the CPU. Did you tighten the center screw on the mounting bracket of the 212? A lot of the time people forget to do so and it causes bad cooling performance. What kind of method are you suing to apply the thermal compound? I suggest you use the grain of rice in the center method, it always works for me.

 

[W3Geek]

I used the pea method of adding a small dot in the center. One of my friends said I should've used the "x" method... I have saw a couple of articles posted around the net mentioning that method was the "best" too by covering all 4 cores. I cleaned off the thermal paste and I'm about to apply it again. It is the thermal paste that came with the heatsink itself. And nope I didn't tighten the center screw of the hyper evo I wonder if that may've caused it? I'm going to put a small "x" to cover all 4 cores, rescrew my heatsink back on and tighten the middle screw after reseating my cpu.

 

[scout_03]

you need to tighten the center screw to have good contact .

 

[W3Geek]

How is this for the "x" method to much or to little? @scout_03 I got to remember to do that. I would like to idle about 28-30 and stress at 58-60. It would be my ideal temperatures.

 

[scout_03]

strip of some the x in the middle and on the end there is a bit to much .

 

[W3Geek]

strip of some the x in the middle and on the end there is a bit to much .

I think I stripped to much now? Will this still spread?

 

[scout_03]

this will with the cooler presure on it .

 

[W3Geek]

this will with the cooler presure on it .

Makes a little sense. I guess since the cooler presses the thermal paste flat against the surface of the CPU, it causes it to to spread? So this would be about enough to cover the cores and CPU?

 

[madmatt30]

Both applications of paste look perfectly acceptable to me - as stated before I don't think this was the issue.

 

[manmeetpaul]

Is it just me or Is HE APPLYING a little too much? It should be as thin as aluminum foil and spread out "evenly throughout" the processor.

 

[scout_03]

that why i did ask him to strip some off .

 

[W3Geek]

It seems like it doesn't want to go down anymore. 🙁 I keep twisting and twisting but it just stays in the same position.

Yeah I'm terrible at this. The processor is a bit tough to get right on your first build.

 

[nb7760]

Okay first of all, the X formation is not the right way to go. It is recommended for 4th generation Intel i7 processors that you do a vertical line down the middle, but I personally prefer the grain of rice in the center. The heatsink will spread the paste across the CPU surface when you install it. Second, you put way too much paste. Thermal compound is meant only to fill in the microscopic peaks and valleys on the surfaces of the CPU and heatsink. You need to have enough compound to fill these peaks and valleys, but applying too much will inhibit the proper transfer of heat from CPU to heatsink. Remember to tighten the center screw of the 212, as failure to do so will decrease the amount of pressure being applied to the CPU and therefore the compound won't spread as well and the contact between CPU and heatsink will not be as solid. Remove your heatsink, clean it with isopropyl alcohol, put it aside, clean the surface of your CPU (don't take it out), and go take a break. Applying heatsinks is a very delicate process and extremely hard to do when you're all frustrated after multiple failed attempts.

 

[W3Geek]

Ran Prime95 for 30 minutes... here are my current temps now.

Whew!! That is a relief!! Yes @nb7760 it is a tedious and difficult process. I'm still trying to learn how to do it. I felt a huge moment of depression why trying to mount it back on... I felt like everything was going wrong with this. I don't know why? Anyways thank you all for your help through this. This topic has been solved. I will just leave it open for any recommended bios settings for my mobo. I don't know what solved it.... I could never get that center screw to go down any further? But I won't go questioning it.

 

[Jacra]

Ran Prime95 for 30 minutes... here are my current temps now.

Whew!! That is a relief!! Yes @nb7760 it is a tedious and difficult process. I'm still trying to learn how to do it. I felt a huge moment of depression why trying to mount it back on... I felt like everything was going wrong with this. I don't know why? Anyways thank you all for your help through this. This topic has been solved. I will just leave it open for any recommended bios settings for my mobo. I don't know what solved it.... I could never get that center screw to go down any further? But I won't go questioning it.

Did you just re-installed the cooler? I have some high temps with same cooler.. Should i re apply thermal paste or re install the cooler? What you did to solve this?

 

[madmatt30]

^ it tends to be a case of tightening each screw 2-3 turns at a time in order & keep working your way around till they're all tight.
If you tighten them too much in one go out of sequence it tips the cooler slightly & you'll get bad contact.
I stopped using the evo when the raijintek models came out as they're just so much easier to fit (apart from the sh1tty fan clips)

 

[W3Geek]

I wonder if I could get the temps to run slightly lower by chance? I didn't install my second fan back yet. That may drop it 1 or 2 degrees down. Also should I try to unmount and remount? Change around a few bio settings? I seen someone on this board getting 20 degrees idle and 45-50 degrees stress by Prime95. I may just PM them. 😀

P.S. I had my case open when I ran this test.

 

[scout_03]

check this your retaining cross is not fix as it should they use the last hole in the cross check the evo booklet to see what you did switch seam to the cross need to re turn 90 degres because you use fan from bottom to top https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n47WBQI31eE

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

That is not too much paste. It will not affect temperatures, because it will create a thin layer regardless after tightening the screws. If it was too much, thermal paste would be pouring out from the sides, if it's too little- your CPU would overheat. If possible, tighten the 2 screws diagonal to eachother, and leave the other two.

 

[W3Geek]

I added another fan as well as putting my side panel on but it seemed to go up in temps and I'm not sure why? Maybe because I moved the heatsink around a bit. Check out this Prime95 test...

I've noticed it has .4mhz more speed and I'm not overclocking or anything? I think my motherboard might be doing that...

 

[scout_03]

give back the result of hwinfo sensor page i would like to compare them with real temp . the other thing the fan on the cooler are push from front and pull from the back so air goes right from inside the case to the back as out .