Thermal Paste Suggestions

[Drew Shepherd]

So recently I've noticed my processor overheating. Getting around the 75, 80c. I had been looking at new replacements for it, because I knew that it was old, but then realized that I had never applied thermal paste to my poor processor in the 3 or so years I've had this computer.

Would you guys be able to suggest a good paste that you've had experience with? I'm using an AMD 6120 cpu atm. (I can list all specs if requested)

 

[rowdymoody]

lol, YOU NEVER HAD THERMAL PASTE ON YOUR CPU IN 3 YEARS?! I imagine putting ANY thermal paste on it would yield good results. MX-4 would be a good choice. Or if you wanna get freaky and get some crazy low temperatures then go with coollaboratory liquid ultra (be warned though, it is liquid metal, like mercury. You have to be extremely careful to not get it on other stuff in your computer) application of the liquid ultra is quite different than regular thermal paste as well, watch some youtube vids of it.

 

[madmatt30]

If you used the stock amd cooler then you have had thermal paste - the stock cooler has it Pre applied.

If you're spending money you'll pay $6 or so for a tube in which case you'd be better just spending $20 or so on an aftermarket cooler IMO - the results will he far better.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GOVA3XI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1429159591&sr=8-1&keywords=aidos&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51vgK-HLYeL&ref=plSrch

 

[beoza]

I'm thinking you used an OEM HSF, if that's the case there was cheap paste already applied. Here is a good source of info, it's a bit old (October 2013), but it's a good review of most pastes still on the market. I personally am using Gelid GC-Extreme, it's not that hard to apply after warming it up a bit, and it's working quite well on my CPU and GPU.

 

[Drew Shepherd]

If you used the stock amd cooler then you have had thermal paste - the stock cooler has it Pre applied.

If you're spending money you'll pay $6 or so for a tube in which case you'd be better just spending $20 or so on an aftermarket cooler IMO - the results will he far better.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GOVA3XI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1429159591&sr=8-1&keywords=aidos&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51vgK-HLYeL&ref=plSrch

Well in that case, I think I may know the issue. My processor started getting the higher temperatures after I upgraded my GPU and swapped the parts to a new case that fit it better. Perhaps after exchanging the processor and heatsink into the new case something went wrong with the thermal paste.

 

[Drew Shepherd]

I'm thinking you used an OEM HSF, if that's the case there was cheap paste already applied. Here is a good source of info, it's a bit old (October 2013), but it's a good review of most pastes still on the market. I personally am using Gelid GC-Extreme, it's not that hard to apply after warming it up a bit, and it's working quite well on my CPU and GPU.

I simply bought the computer from Bestbuy, lol. I've exchanged parts over the years, but the cpu and hsf are the same.

 

[rowdymoody]

If you took the heatsink off of the motherboard at any point during the swap, you broke the seal and good connection that the thermal paste had. Once you do that the paste will not work as well as it should because it degrades over time and wont make as good of a bond as a fresh application. Therefor it is advised to clean off all old thermal paste and re apply new any time you remove your heatsink. For that matter, I like to reapply thermal paste once a year anyways just to keep it fresh.

 

[Drew Shepherd]

If you took the heatsink off of the motherboard at any point during the swap, you broke the seal and good connection that the thermal paste had. Once you do that the paste will not work as well as it should because it degrades over time and wont make as good of a bond as a fresh application. Therefor it is advised to clean off all old thermal paste and re apply new any time you remove your heatsink. For that matter, I like to reapply thermal paste once a year anyways just to keep it fresh.

Yeah, I ended up taking the computer to Geek Squad to have them look at it to get some more opinions. Also to have them apply new thermal paste so that in case something was damaged they would replace it. Anyway, they applied more thermal paste without removing the old and even spread the new paste with a business card. I really don't think that's how you do it... lol.

That didn't help the cooling at all, so I bought a hyper evo heatsink after doing some research. I'll put that in and apply the next batch of thermal paste myself. Thanks for replying!