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Thermal Grease

BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
Does anyone know how to apply this stuff? My new cooler came with some rather than a thermal pad on the bottom. I've looked around the net, and how to apply thermal grease seems to be one of the big arguments. So far I've seen variations on apply to the bottom of the heatsink, apply a blob to the center of the core, apply a thin layer to the core, apply to the core and the heatsink, use a finger to rub in, never touch with finger, etc.
Anyone got any advice on the best way to use it? I'd quite like to not **** my nice new expensive CPU.
The chip is an AMD 2600+ and the cooler is a Globalwin CAK4-88T.

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[url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
"Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
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Comments

  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    [quote]Originally posted by Biggles:
    [b]Does anyone know how to apply this stuff? My new cooler came with some rather than a thermal pad on the bottom. I've looked around the net, and how to apply thermal grease seems to be one of the big arguments. So far I've seen variations on apply to the bottom of the heatsink, apply a blob to the center of the core, apply a thin layer to the core, apply to the core and the heatsink, use a finger to rub in, never touch with finger, etc.
    Anyone got any advice on the best way to use it? I'd quite like to not **** my nice new expensive CPU.
    The chip is an AMD 2600+ and the cooler is a Globalwin CAK4-88T.

    [/b][/quote]

    What does the Globalwin Documentation say? I usually go by the manufacturers directions if they are available...

    In the days when I used to work in Radio repair, transmission Finals used Heat Sink grease (Dinosaur Cum as it was known *[i]cough[/i]*). I would apply a thin layer to both the transistors and the heat sinks before clamping them together.

    The golden rule was better to have more heat transfer than too little.

    Cheers!
  • samuelksamuelk The Unstoppable Mr. 'K'
    It doesn't matter which surface you apply the thermal grease to... the heatsink or the core...they're both going to touch each other.

    BUT...

    You should probably put a very thin layer on the core, since the heatsink is bigger than the core, and you'll just end up wasting grease. The only important area is the core itself.

    Apply a very thin layer to the core.

    The purpose of the grease is to fill the tiny pores and vallyes in the metal.

    Metal conducts heat better than the grease, but grease conducts heat better than air.

    So you want as much metal touching between the core and the heatsink. The grease just needs to fill the microscopic valleys where the metal surfaces doesn't touch.

    If you put too much grease between the heatsking and the core, then the system will actually be less efficient.

    The best thing to do is apply a thin layer of grease to the core, then use a flat piece of plastic (like a credit card) to scrape away most of the grease.

    [This message has been edited by samuelk (edited 02-07-2003).]
  • ArgoneArgone Genuine Klingon
    Do not touch it with your fingers, you will leave oils from your skin that under pressure and heat will break down into acids.

    Use a plastic spatula or whatever you have and a very thin film [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]

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    [b]May You Live Forever, and The Last Voice You Hear, Be Mine! [/b]
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [quote]Originally posted by JackN:
    [b] What does the Globalwin Documentation say? I usually go by the manufacturers directions if they are available...[/b][/quote]

    Unfortunately, the documentation skips the grease part for AMD cpus.

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    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • Vertigo1Vertigo1 Official Fuzzy Dice of FirstOnes.com
    Personally, I apply enough to equate the size of a rice grain, then spread it out evenly with a razor blade.

    To clean this stuff up, do NOT use water. Use rubbing alcohol as it evaporates away in under two minutes. Use a Q-tip if you don't have any lint-free cloths.

    If I were you, I would consider investing in a CPU shim. That way you'll won't be as likely to crush your processor's core when applying the heatsink. They aren't that expensive...[url="http://www.coolerguys.com/"]coolerguys[/url] has em for $5 or so. I'm using one of them right now infact. The purpose of them is to spread the pressure across the entire processor instead of just on the core.

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    [b][url="http://www.savefarscape.com/"]SAVE FARSCAPE![/url][/b]
    "Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else! Love to stay! Can't, have to go! Kiss! Kiss! Love! Love! Bye! *kiss*" - G'Kar
  • this is the tutorial I followed. my CPU stays nice and cool now. :)

    [url]http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm[/url]
  • i just slather ir all over the CPU
  • Ranger BrianRanger Brian The Anti-Scrooge
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Entil'Zha [/i]
    [B]i just slather ir all over the CPU [/B][/QUOTE]

    :eek: What even underneath? ;)
  • Oh sure, and i've found that if you immerse your whole machine in ice water, it keeps it really cool :)
  • Just apply a thin layer on the core and use a credit card or something like that to take off the extra and maybe use that to spread thinly on the heatsink.


    BTW
    If you're using Artic Silver or something like that, try to not get it on the metal bridges on the board. The say it doesn't conduct electricity very well, but I think it's best to not take chance like that with a nice cpu.

    BTW BTW
    If you're going to do any overclocking, you may want to look at "lapping" the heatsink. All that means is sanding the surface with high grit wet sandpaper on something really flat like glass to take out any irregularities so there's more core to heatsink contact. It's been my experiance that it takes 1 or 2 Celcius off the Idle temp and 5-7 celcius off the max load temp.

    I usually start out with 800grit to reduce the rough stuff and any curvature, then goto 1000 to smooth it out, then 1500 to get a near mirror like finish.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I built it 4 days ago while the boards were down. I guess I got it right, cause the CPU hangs around 44C, going up to around 48C under load.
    No, I'm not overclocking either. :)
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
    [B]I built it 4 days ago while the boards were down. I guess I got it right, cause the CPU hangs around 44C, going up to around 48C under load.
    No, I'm not overclocking either. :) [/B][/QUOTE]

    I'm actually overclocking my CPU by about 100mhz, just because i've got an older 850, and wanted to squeeze a little more out of it. It's really stable at about 32C under no load, gets up to about 48-50c when i'm playing Sims 4
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I don't see much reason to overclock mine at the moment. I'm happy with 11860 3dmarks. :)
  • There's always more:D
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Yeah, there's allways more untill Win2k crashes for the first time ever!
  • I run between 41-45* C

    so..I'm cool. :)
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    I'm running at 33-34° C (91-94° F) which is about average for me.
  • Vertigo1Vertigo1 Official Fuzzy Dice of FirstOnes.com
    Biggles: Actually, thats pretty bad. Not insandly bad mind you, but that does indicate that you might have an airflow problem. Some rounded cables should fix that.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I actually consider it pretty good. I'm not going to overclock and the CPU isn't going to have any problems at that temp, so I see no reason to worry. :)
    My P3 500 used to sit at around 55C when idle. There are no cables or anything in the way, the motherboard side of the case has no obstructions whatsoever. The problem is that there isn't a fan on the motherboard side to extract the hot air.
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    About 45*C is cool enough for a Athlon XP CPU! My computer that I put together runs around that temperature, and my friend that bought a computer that was put together by experts has the computer also running at that temperature!
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    That's what I thought. It's not exactly the coldest chip around. :)
  • RhettRhett (Not even a monkey)
    Some fans don't require thermal grease right?
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Heatsinks, not fans. :)

    Nothing requires thermal grease. It's just one of the many interface materials available, and is generally the best.
  • RhettRhett (Not even a monkey)
    Hehehe.. showing my lack of knowledge. Must build computer... Anyone want to donate money to a [i]Rhett needs to learn how to build a new PC fund?[/i] Contact me at [email]dkbender@mail.uia.net[/email] . ;) (real donations are, of course, welcome)
  • Vertigo1Vertigo1 Official Fuzzy Dice of FirstOnes.com
    Ok.

    *donates spam e-mail to the cause*

    :D
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Who doesn't love SPAM!?!!!!!
  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    Loverly Spaaaaaam!
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    *smacks C_Mon*

    Spam = bad on forums :p
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Ouch!!!
    (a litle bit of SPAM!!)
  • A buddy of mine works in a pc repair shop and took this pic of what someone did. DO NOT DO THIS.....[url]http://www.cstone.net/~jasondan/pics/big_mistake.jpg[/url].
    The poor dude fried everything.
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