Thermal pad 5

[Aussie2]

Hi guys
I am considering removing my thermal interface pad from my 775 socket heat sink and replacing it with artic silver 5 I am aware that this must be done carefully and fully understand the correct method my question is would this be considered a positive move I have some heat issues but these can be related to the climate I am posting from room temp often exceeds 38c any opinions big or small would be greatly appreciated cheers

 

[garebo]

I will be watching this as i was always under the opinion that thermal paste, especially a good quality paste like arctic, is always better than a thermal pad.
We'll know the answer soon enough.


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[Frank4d]

First... Can you easily remove your heatsink from the CPU? Or does it seem like it is cemented on? If cemented on... turn on your PC, let it get up to temperature, turn off the PC and immediately[/i] remove the heatsink while the CPU is hot (it is easier to remove that way).

After you have the CPU and heatsink separated you need to clean off any traces of the thermal pad. You can scrape off big chunks using your fingernails, a popsicle stick, or toothpick... but DO NOT USE ANYTHING METAL! (which will scratch the CPU and heatsink making thermal paste in-effective). Clean off whatever is left with 90-something percent rubbing alcohol. Other solvents will work too... but beware of those that attack plastic.

Then apply a very thin (you can almost see through it thin)layer of thermal paste to the heatsink area that will contact the CPU. The idea is for the paste to fill in the microscopic voids in the contact area, but not a big glob of it. A drop about the size of a BB, and then spread out is good.

 

[Frank4d]

BTW... "Arctic Silver 5" is good stuff.

 

[Aussie2]

Thanks Edfair and Frank4d

Heatsink was held quite firmly great tip running system first have used Arcticsilver 5 cpu is running two degrees cooler on idle arcticsilver website says it can take up to 200 hours to achive maximum particle to particle thermal conduction Im more than happy with results so far
thanks again guys for your posts

 

[paparazi]

As you may or may not be aware, Intel have been struggling with heat issues on the middle to high end Prescotts ever since they were released.
Infact to such an extent that anything but the original pad or high end metal partical paste will nearly always result in thermal throttling of the CPU.
It is interesting to note that the original heatsink/fan is regarded as being pretty good, it can be bettered but you have to go for one of the more exotic coolers from makers like Thermalright and Swiftech to improve on the original design.
Of course things are made even worse when you start off by living in a climate such as Aussie2.
So over and above the Arctic 5 and possibly a better cooler (must be high end) you must have plenty of airflow through the case, extra fans are essential, you might even need to consider water cooling if you continue to have heat problems.
This article is interesting:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041114/index.html

Martin

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[Aussie2]

Martin it certainly is a interesting article and explains some of my heat issues Im using two 90mm case fans(1front&1rear) both exhausting plus a 90mm tube over the processor but still have to use home airconditioning in order to maintain a stable system which is ludicrous to crank up a 4hp aircon unit just to browse Tek Tips (still do it anyway lol). This thread sure gives credence to your thoughts on cutting edge not necessarily the best.
thanks Brian

 

[paparazi]

Aussie2
Have you tried turning the front fan around?
This is the more usual configuration (gives better direction to airflow) instead of creating a negative pressure situation where the air is drawn from every nook and cranny in the system.
Also
PSU's with a fan directly above the CPU can make a tremendous differance.
Martin


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[garebo]

You can also, with a bit of work, make a rig that will hold a fan directly over the cpu\heatsink\fan combo. Some better cases even come equipped with a fan there or at least a metal setup that you can attach a fan to. But its pretty easy to make your own at home with anything that will cut or saw metal, or even a dremel, piece of flat, thin metal,screws or nuts and bolts, half hours work and you have a fan sitting over your cpu and cooling it down.
I have made a few and they work great.
Also, you can make blowholes in your case and put fans there to exhaust hot air.


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[paparazi]

Aussie2
I've used a couple of cases that had an air duct on the side panel like yours?
My thought at the time was that it would be fairly easy to add a 90mm fan between duct and panel so that cool air was blown directly onto the CPU fan, don't know if this would work in your instance?

Martin

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[garebo]

Another thing i have read and seen pics and such. Some people sand their heatsink down to a near mirror or mirror finish, starting with something like med sandpaper and going down to very very very fine. I wouldnt go that far but there would be room for improvement there, to start with fine or just above fine and work down to fine or very fine paper.
From what i have read, once you sand it down and then add good quality thermal paste, the cpu temp goes down quite a bit as there is very little air pockets left to hold heat. Your mileage varies according to how much time and effort you put into it. I would imagine the tutorials can still be googled, but you dont really need to, just sand!


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[Aussie2]

Thanks guys
theres some sound thinking in the above tips .I did initially have front fan drawing air in I think I might change it back have a new psu on order should be here monday(2 fans).As to adding fan to heat tube should be able to do this quite easily mounting method tube to panel is the same configuration as a 90mm fan would just have add fan inline I think fans might have to run at same speed as to avoid cavating .Heatsink has a defite circular machine pattern to base sanding this back say using wet and dry paper on a piece glass with a small amount of water down through the grades would have to make a better union between h/s and processer this method is often used in performance auto engines.Just cant help thinking that just three letters might be the best option AMD lol
cheers Brian

 

[Gloryhound]

Perhaps you should consider a liquid cooled solution. However this avenue is not for the technically faint at heart.

Also you might consider Highflow fans such as blowers. The drawback to them is they can be loud.

 

[jurgen36]

I like to give my two bits as well. Rig here Intel mainbord, CPU P4 HT 3.4E, 2Gb memory 2 x 260Gbyte SATA drives, two 260 Gbyte IDE drives top line video card with 256 Mbyte memory. @ x Pioneer DVD burners, plus sound card etc. The case has 6 fans, two inblowing at the bottom, one inblowing at the center and 3 exhaust fans near and at the to of the case. The outside temp here in Thailand can go up to 42C. Anyway the original Intel fan was no go, the chip temp went up to 70C under 100% load and the cpu just shutt down. Also the 450 watt power supply had to struggle to keep up with the load. I fitted a turboblower to the CPU this keept its temp down to about 54C under full load, mainbord temp 44C. I then changed the power supply to a 850 watt unit, this supply had 4 build in fans. Ok so far the extra airflow reduced the bord temp to 42C. However the whinning noise of the turbofan really made me nervous, over the last weekend I finally fitted watercooling. Well the turboblower was more efficient, with the watercooling the full load temp is now 58C but heavenly quite. I expect that the temperature will go down once the arctic silver fitts all the gaps, but this might take a week or so. The only thing I do not like is that the radiator is fitted inside the case and sucks the cool air in, good for the cpu but not for the mainbord. The Mbord went up by 2C. However without load the temp difference between cpu and mbord is only 4C. Sorry it was so long but it might help somebody else.
Regards

Jurgen

 

[ceh4702]

Intel has been recommending in some cases bringing in outside air directly to the CPU Cooler from the side of the case. I think they have a recommended case design for that.
That might help a little bit. Computers devinitely like air conditioning. Short of a water cooling block it is hard to make a recommendation.

I guess you could design a computer case in a small refrigerator, Hee Hee.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[garebo]

By the way, Aussie2, i dont know if going to AMD would help. I dont know about the newest, high-end stuff, but I think AMD had been generally thought to generate more heat than Intel cpus, and thus have higher cooling needs. However, judging from this thread and others i see Intel has the same probs with the newer cpu's. Course maybe you were joking.



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[paparazi]

garebo
Generally things have reversed between AMD and Intel, it is now Intel having the problems with heat because of it's sophisticated yet inefficient Prescott design, although I do believe the very latest incarnation has addressed some of these worrying issues.
Rating for rating, Athlon64's are now producing less heat than their Intel competitors.
This has been reinforced by the latest (cooler running) 90nm production Winchester core (reduced from 130nm) they also use slightly less power to boot!

Martin



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