My first PC build so I am very nervous. The E51650 V3 has a TDP of 140 watts, so quite hot. As Intel say the Tcase value should be under 67 C degrees; therefore I have bought a Noctua NH D-15 [a top performer with 2x 140mm fans]. The case is a Phanteks Evolv ATX - and will have 5x 140mm Noctua fans.
I'd like to do a good job.[first time]. LOL
BUT There seem to be wildly conflicting ideas how to apply the paste, or where ... some advocating put it on the cooler base???
Noctua have a high quality paste apparently, and recommend the 'centre placed 4mm-5mm pea routine'. One part says just compress it down, but another Noctua installation advice pamphlet, says one should slightly rotate to and fro it a bit, before finally bolting down the cooler.
Seemed sensible to do what the cooler mfg recommends; however Noctua make a lot of fans and coolers - for a lot of processors - should one really use the same method for all CPUs? and should that include the slight rotation before final clampdown?
I would like to use the Noctua TIM - hell they produce some of the best air coolers - so I would expect them to have done a lot of testing.
But with so many CPUs supported one method can't be optimised for all CPU's can it?
I do like the Artic SIlver advice, they have a table showing different spreading methods for different processors ... say a Pea for an i5 or a couple of vertical lines for an i7 or a i7 6700K - be it a pea or a line or a couple of lines it looked like they had asked Intel were the hot cores were and were targeting them.. I felt comfortable with that approach. Looks like they researched the best place to put the paste for a given processor. I like that scientific approach.
Sadly the Xeon E5's are not mentioned in this table.
So I looked up Intel to see if they showed where the hottest parts of the E5 16xx CPU will be.. All I got from the Intel Thermal Solutions guide for the E516xx 3 and E5 26xxx. was it said "All thermal interface material should be sized and positioned on the heatsink base, in a way to ensure that the entire area is covered"
Hmm the pea method misses the corners! The outside 2 of the 6 pipes on the Noctua cooler would only have TIM at the centre part, where the edge of the TIM pea had spread out in a circle..
The HP Workstation training video shows one pea in the middle and 4 small peas mid-way out towards the corners, that sort of makes sense, as it would help get TIM out to all corners [i.e. closer to 100% coverage].. However if one says spreading it causes detrimental hot spots / air gaps or bubbles - would one get an air pocked wherever the TIM on the outer four points met the central pea, as it spread out.
My thoughts would be to put three thin lines, where the gap between them was double the distance to the edge at the ends. But could that be dangerous if not enough was placed in the middle? [effectively creating a thin line of uncovered CPU ]
Or would it cause an air pocket, when the 2 lines came together?
I noticed that a lot of the water-cooler blocks seemed to have pre-applied TIM in circles. Does that mean the main heat generating area is in the middle? And if so does that hold true for the Xeon range,[just my thoughts are maybe they only really needed to look into the i7 type processor most gamers use].
Finally thinking that HP are really into Xeon processors in their server-workstation divisions, what do people think about their concept of a bigish pea in the middle, supplemented with 4 smaller peas half way to each corner.?
Or am I totally overthinking this and just put a 5mm diam pea in the middle and squidge it down!
Finally can one see in say the BIos all the CPU core Temps etc., before one loads the Operating system. Thus enabling me to check has it worked, before running it say very hot o an outer core whilst I load WIndows 10?
any advice and especially the Logic will be much appreciated.
I'd like to do a good job.[first time]. LOL
BUT There seem to be wildly conflicting ideas how to apply the paste, or where ... some advocating put it on the cooler base???
Noctua have a high quality paste apparently, and recommend the 'centre placed 4mm-5mm pea routine'. One part says just compress it down, but another Noctua installation advice pamphlet, says one should slightly rotate to and fro it a bit, before finally bolting down the cooler.
Seemed sensible to do what the cooler mfg recommends; however Noctua make a lot of fans and coolers - for a lot of processors - should one really use the same method for all CPUs? and should that include the slight rotation before final clampdown?
I would like to use the Noctua TIM - hell they produce some of the best air coolers - so I would expect them to have done a lot of testing.
But with so many CPUs supported one method can't be optimised for all CPU's can it?
I do like the Artic SIlver advice, they have a table showing different spreading methods for different processors ... say a Pea for an i5 or a couple of vertical lines for an i7 or a i7 6700K - be it a pea or a line or a couple of lines it looked like they had asked Intel were the hot cores were and were targeting them.. I felt comfortable with that approach. Looks like they researched the best place to put the paste for a given processor. I like that scientific approach.
Sadly the Xeon E5's are not mentioned in this table.
So I looked up Intel to see if they showed where the hottest parts of the E5 16xx CPU will be.. All I got from the Intel Thermal Solutions guide for the E516xx 3 and E5 26xxx. was it said "All thermal interface material should be sized and positioned on the heatsink base, in a way to ensure that the entire area is covered"
Hmm the pea method misses the corners! The outside 2 of the 6 pipes on the Noctua cooler would only have TIM at the centre part, where the edge of the TIM pea had spread out in a circle..
The HP Workstation training video shows one pea in the middle and 4 small peas mid-way out towards the corners, that sort of makes sense, as it would help get TIM out to all corners [i.e. closer to 100% coverage].. However if one says spreading it causes detrimental hot spots / air gaps or bubbles - would one get an air pocked wherever the TIM on the outer four points met the central pea, as it spread out.
My thoughts would be to put three thin lines, where the gap between them was double the distance to the edge at the ends. But could that be dangerous if not enough was placed in the middle? [effectively creating a thin line of uncovered CPU ]
Or would it cause an air pocket, when the 2 lines came together?
I noticed that a lot of the water-cooler blocks seemed to have pre-applied TIM in circles. Does that mean the main heat generating area is in the middle? And if so does that hold true for the Xeon range,[just my thoughts are maybe they only really needed to look into the i7 type processor most gamers use].
Finally thinking that HP are really into Xeon processors in their server-workstation divisions, what do people think about their concept of a bigish pea in the middle, supplemented with 4 smaller peas half way to each corner.?
Or am I totally overthinking this and just put a 5mm diam pea in the middle and squidge it down!
Finally can one see in say the BIos all the CPU core Temps etc., before one loads the Operating system. Thus enabling me to check has it worked, before running it say very hot o an outer core whilst I load WIndows 10?
any advice and especially the Logic will be much appreciated.
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