Can I Apply Thermal Paste Using 5 Dots

[Appletax]

I am going to use the dot method for applying thermal paste to my CPU. I am curious to know if it would be wise to add a small dot to the center and tiny dots to the four corners so more contact is made with the CPU's integrated heat sink?

Like this, but with far less TIM:

http://www.technibble.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3550&stc=1&d=1390027430

 

[bertie40]

To me, that looks like too much. I see the paste overspilling the sides of the chip.

There is a chain of thought that suggests that too much paste actually hinders heat transfer to the cooler.
When I remove a cooler, I always see that the mating surfaces always have the thinnest smear.
So I apply a single, small central "dot" accordingly.

Regards

 

[SilverLeaf]

I always refer to this handy guide from Arctic Silver. After you select the product, it will give you recommendations for your specific CPU.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm

 

[Tekguy]

I used to spread thermal paste all over the top of the CPU until I watched this video which shows exactly what happens when you do that (notice all the air bubbles.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

Now I just put a small dot in the middle which is much quicker & less messy & seems to work great.

Arctic MX-2 is popular with the overclockers because it works very well & is relatively inexpensive.

 

[smashedbotatos]

Never spread out dots like that. It creates air bubbles. A single pushpin head size drop work perfectly. Sometimes I opt for a little bit larger drop depending on if the CPU die has blemishes or is completely smooth.

I needs not to go on or come off like mud on a shoe.

 

[Markverhyden]

I lay it down in a small circle in the middle. That was what was recommended by some OEM. Sony if I remember correctly.

 

[SpaceSquad]

I do the grain of rice method. Squeeze out an amount of paste similar to the size of a grain of rice, let the heatsink do the spreading of the compound.

 

[mr m]

I also use about a grain of rice worth but I spread it out very thinly with a credit card over the entire surface.

A lot of people tend to lay this stuff on too thick. You are only trying to fill in fine scratches and the microscopic pores of the die and cooler base.

 

[Krynn72]

I use the small center dot myself. I expect the grain of rice way works about the same but probably is too much for some CPUs. Spreading it out with a card seems like a bad idea from everything I've seen of people comparing methods.

 

[NETWizz]

I always put a big blob in the middle or big grain of rice in the middle.

Might switch to the cross method as it seems to provide great coverage with no chance of air bubbles.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

I always put a dot about the size of a grain of rice down in the middle and spread it with my finger to the entire surface. Use an old rag to clean your finger lol. I always prefer arctic silver 5.

I run that on my fx 8120(amd bulldozer) 8 core. I've got my chip overclocked to 4ghz. Stock speed is 3.1. The cpu usually idles at 10-15 degrees Celsius. Might get into the 30s or 40s if gaming.

 

[SpaceSquad]

I run that on my fx 8120(amd bulldozer) 8 core. I've got my chip overclocked to 4ghz. Stock speed is 3.1. The cpu usually idles at 10-15 degrees Celsius. Might get into the 30s or 40s if gaming.

is your PC in the freezer?

may want to check your sensors,,,or try another temp app. I don't think they can clock in that low unless you're piping in freezing air to that case...or using liquid nitrogen...

 

[kisk]

is your PC in the freezer?

may want to check your sensors,,,or try another temp app. I don't think they can clock in that low unless you're piping in freezing air to that case...or using liquid nitrogen...

Agreed, even stock clock temps rarely floor this low.. Maybe 20c-25c in a cold garage. You most definitely aren't running a 3.1 bulldozer oc'd to 4ghz at those temps.

Not to be rude, and maybe it's just me, but suggesting using a finger to spread thermal paste is just bad information. Maybe not so much on the t2t forum because 95% would just laugh at that but I'd hate to see newbs use this method and thinking it's legit, cause it's not.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Nope not in a freezer lol. It's sitting under a cooler master v6 gt with 2 140 mm fans in a push pull configuration. Cool and quiet turned off all power saving settings turned off. I also have another fan above the cooler that pulls air out the top of the case. Also a 120mm fan at the back of the case pulling air out. PSU is a bottom mount unit so no heat there. Have a fan next to the video card(Radeon 7850--this card now idles at about 24 degrees Celsius). Temps read with hwmonitor. I also have all fan control settings turned off so they all run full speed all the time.

Setup is

FX 8120(oc to 4ghz stock voltage)
cooler master v6 gt cooler
8gb gskill ripjaws ddr3 1600 ram kit
Gigabyte 970a-ud3 motherboard
diamond multimedia radeon 7850 2gb(maybe I should oc this some reports are if you tweak voltages you can get 1200mhz on the gpu core--stock is 860 if memory serves.)
EVGA 600b bronze rated power supply(80+ bronze certified, 49 amps on a single 12v+ rail--only paid 64.99 at best buy bc they matched microcenter price).
Cooler Master storm scout mid tower case.

250gb boot drive(mechanical)
640gb data drive

Windows 8.1 pro


Btw why is that method not legit? How I've been doing it for years with no problems. I know other techs who use the same method.

 

[Xander]

10-15C isn't even room temperature (~20C). There's no thermal paste in the world that'll have it run cooler than its environment.

Screenshot of the temps?

 

[ohio_grad_06]

My bad, I was looking at core temps. Doing Intel CPU burn now though. Looks like I'm still only hitting 41 degrees celcius peak with Intel CPU burn though, I attempted to attach the image, so hopefully it works ok.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Finished Intel CPU burn, as you can see the core temp goes back to about 16 degrees right after the burn in, hence the confusion. Either way if my peak temp is only showing as 41 celsius, think I have plenty of head room.


I should know better than to make that newbie mistake lol. My first computer was a commodore 64 when I was 5, been playing with PC's since I was 17(had an AMD K6 200mhz back then running Windows 95)

Sorry if those are blurry, just did them quick with the snipping tool. I'll do another capture on a smaller area if needed.

Oh well, playing some more rome total war, not the new one, the one from like 05 lol.

 

[Krynn72]

I attempted to attach the image, so hopefully it works ok.

Sorry if those are blurry, just did them quick with the snipping tool. I'll do another capture on a smaller area if needed.

What are these? Screenshots for ants?

Anyways, if your cpu is running 16 degrees C even at idle, I think you need to check the heating system in your house, and possibly see a doctor if you don't notice how cold it is in your place. But seriously, either its really freaking cold in your house, or your temperature reporting software is bugged. Is it normal for multicore AMD CPUs to only have one temp readout? My Intel processor has a read out for each core.

My i5 CPU right now is at approx 53C doing some downloading, web browsing and video streaming, room temp is approx 20C.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Lol. I think the temps for the CPU are the core temps or something. I think the temp1 sensor is the actual sensor. I don't think I've seen an AMD list temps for each individual core. Personally I would not like seeing my CPU at 53. Even during the burn test I think it went to 41. We usually keep the house temp at 70, slightly over. But the computer is in the basement. If I go by the sensor marked tmpin1, I think that's the correct reading, I actually hopped into the bios earlier, which showed it at 25 celsius. That sensor is showing 27-28 now. So I'm inclined to believe that's the proper temp. This is what I love though. I'm an AMD fan, and a lot of forums they get trashed. Personally I'm very happy with my FX. I mean running 4ghz on stock voltage? I'm thinking this chip may have some OC headroom. 4.5ghz sounds nice, just to see if it can do it.

 

[Metanis]

Does the sink mate up and is it clean?

Making sure the surfaces are properly prepared is just as important as what and how you apply thermal paste. I ensure the CPU/GPU/Heatsink is cleaned and then scrub them manually with a rough piece of paper acting as a kind of sand paper. White newsprint or plain old brown paper bag works great for this. Then I do a final swab with alcohol-soaked paper towel to clean up any dusty residue.

Ensuring the parts mate up properly is also important. I do a dry run in order to check that the entire assembly will "square up" and seat properly and ensure maximum contact.

At this point I apply a small amount of paste to both surfaces and use my index finger covered with a clean plastic bag to paint the entire surface with the thinnest possible layer of paste. I'm not making a sandwich so much as simply leaving enough paste to fill in the tiny imperfections in both surfaces.

Then when placing the sink I always try to "work" it around a bit to ensure the paste has a chance to fill in the cracks before I latch the catch mechanisms.

My methods may not be "optimal" but have proven to be reliable for long-term every-day use of typical business-class machines.

-Mike