How do you spread your thermal paste /g/?
Do you switch it around, or stick to a single style?
How often do you refresh yours?
Do you have any experience with Coollaboratory Liquid? Is it a meme, 10$ for 0.15g seems a lot
I repaste CPU's 5-10 times a day as a part of work, I put a small line on the heatsink and spread it over the contact area with a plastic card. Works fine
>not applying it IBM style
https://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/bladectr/documentation/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.bladecenter.hs23.doc/thermal_grease.html
too much paste master race reporting in
I replace my thermal paste every month at the most. I put half a grain of rice in the very center (I measure) and let the heat-sink spread it around. I've found leaving it on for more than a month will start to eat away at the CPU.
I don't change it too often. When I do I just wipe the processor with rubbing alcohol and put a small bit on the center.
When I bought my new PC I decided to use the stock cooler the i5 4460 has, leave it with the thermal paste it had on. Sitting around 30C on idle.
It's enough to refresh it only once per month unless it's summer.
>once per month
>pic related
More like once every two-three years.
>>53694369
>how to apply
Depends on the CPU, either dot in the middle or a line across where the die would be.
CLU or CLP, any liquid metal TIM, is only useful if you're going bare die. It also stains copper (doesn't impede performance, just looks bad), and can't be used with aluminum heatsinks at all, since gallium corrodes aluminum. The heatsink will just fall apart.
OP, just get some MX-4. It's cheap as shit, easy to apply, performs withing 2-3C of the best pastes and lasts forever.
>>53694971
I hope you mean once every two years
ugh.. why would you re apply the paste LIKE EVER?
I didn't do it a single time for 8 years and my Q8400 is going strong and with no problem. or is it one of those autism things?
>>53695077
Any time you take the heatsink off the CPU.
At least, that's the only time I ever do it.
>>53695077
>he never took his computer apart to clean out the dust
>>53695085
I understand that you may re apply paste if there is something wrong, but these guys do it more often JUST BECAUSE more often then they brush their teeth or change undies.
>>53695096
>he
>>53695096
1. I have dust filters in my case
2. Why would that require unmounting the heatsink?
>manually spreading your thermal paste
It's almost like you WANT to have a shitload of air pockets.
>>53695106
Because there's usually shit stuck between the fins and it's hard to get at with a vacuum. I mean, 8 years is a long fucking time to not clean your heatsink, filters or not, unless you're like, Bubble Boy.
>>53695101
Post tits.
>>53695136
lol fuck off, creep :x
go and change your thermal paste LAMO
Imagine these people
>Wake up
>Breakfast and shower
>Gotta reapply thermal paste
>Go to work
>Back home
>"Hold up, I gotta turn on the computer to check it's good"
>Ok it's good
>Go to sleep
>Repeat process
shilltips made a video about this
it literally doesnt matter
>>53695043
Try Thermal Grizzly, it's fantastic
>>53695152
By bringing your gender into the conversation you have reduced yourself to a talking pair of breasts.
Now do the only useful thing you can and post your tits.
>>53695152
Not him, but where are the tits? Stick to regulations
>>53695152
Literally a guy, fucking stop pretending with girlish texts faggot
or post tits and prove me wrong
>>53695169
Bauer plz go.
2 degrees difference for 4 times the price.
![KSWVpDQ[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Lc34K6G.jpg "KSWVpDQ[1].jpg")
>>53695227
don't do that, swastika power makes everything run incredibly hot
>>53695349
Will turn your computer into an oven
Which is optimal
>>53695349
this is why I apply paste on the pins is well. More paste, more better
I did mine like this
>>53695379
got damn
>tfw put the whole tube on the cpu, spread it around with my finger and was mad when the tube ran out
>tfw I used to think thermal paste was a meme and scam, and preferred to put metal on metal for optimal thermal conduction
>tfw my cpu cooler fell off after I dropped my computer case, and I was sure I had viruses hogging cpu when it became slow due to throttling constantly. Took me 3 months before I opened the case
>tfw I didn't remove and re-apply paste, just put the cooler back in position
>>53695393
u forgot your knots and crosses
I actually do this shit:
First clean off everything with rubbing alcohol. Using Q-Tips around the IHS and whatever.
Then i spread a very little coat with my cleaned finger around the IHS. Then i put a small rice-grain sized dot of paste in the middle.
Proceed to put the cooler.
But if the cooler has a round contact base, like for example Intel stock coolers, I do the same thing BUT on the cooler base to not put useless and dust-catching paste on the CPU IHS.
>>53694407
>I put a small line on the heatsink and spread it over the contact area with a plastic card.
maybe if you didn't do it like that you wouldn't have to repaste cpu's so often.
>>53695657
is...
is that a parody video
>>53695657
shitty job really
>>53695301
way too much paste wth
Depends on the paste. With gelid I use pea. with ac5 I use rice
I re-apply once a year
>>53694630
This is the best strategy. The high-radiation metals the average thermal greases use can react badly with the heat dissipation metal and eat away at the exterior. Good to replace it to prevent rust and oxidisation.
>>53695723
I'm a gelid fag as well, do you use the spreader tool that comes with it at all?
>>53694407
Line master method
>have had a phenom 1090t for 5 years
>never replaced thermal paste
>overclocked from 3.2 to 4.05 GHz
>max Temp is 45 C
Why the fuck should someone reapply thermal paste every year?
>once every month
No, you idiots, this is asolutely horrible for your CPU.
1 week is fine and MAYBE 2 and a half weeks is bare minimum, but this is assuming you bought something higher quality like Prolimatech Pro.
Once every other day of you bought the cheap $3 paste unless you want to risk oxidising and thus fucking your CPU.
>>53694630
>>53695766
>>53696259
retarded samefag here's a (You)
>>53696259
>2016
>not having tubes deliver a constant flow of fresh thermal paste to your cpu
It's like you want that thing to break.
>>53696259
I had stock paste, pre-applied on Phenom II, for over 8 years, it still works. Refreshing it every few weeks is just placebo.
>>53696303
what's a good thermal paste tubing setup for under $600
If you need to reapply thermal paste it means you didn't apply it properly the first time.
>>53694369
ive never cxhanged it, and i applied it by putting a pea sized dot in the middle.
It always surprises me that people spread it before putting the cooler on
>>53694369
cum on cpu, spread with screwdriver
Just put a really small blob on it then get a napkin and smug it all around. That's how I do it.
>>53694369
Small dot in center, press heatsink down on dot. I don't replace it often. Like every 3 years or when I need to remove the heatsink for some reason.
Really depends on density and viscosity.
If it's something like MX-2 or MX-4 then "dot" or "line" methods works just fine. But low viscosity thermal paste like zalman stg1 or stg2 i.e., works best with cross or spreading method.
>>53696762
This has to be THE WORST way to do it
>this happens
No paste in the corners, at all
>>53696879
who fucking cares, the die is in the middle
>>53696841
Put the syringe of any thick paste into warm water before applying, it'll make it spread better.
>>53695043
Are you fucking retarded? Just kill yourself now.
>>53696879
>being an absolute retard
>>53696879
You're the type of person that lays it on thick aren't you? Thermal paste is not supposed to be a barrier between the two plates, it's just supposed to fill in cracks.
>>53696921
Yes! That's why you put everywhere equal amount, then spread it by putting on heatsink, 1 dot in the middle method leaves air gaps in the corners
>>53696912
Hm, thanks, didn't know that.
>>53696879
>sub 20° temps
>just put a small line in the middle
Just the fuck up
I've never put on thermal paste but I might soon for my graphics card. I bought it used and it's pretty warm most of the time
>>53696879
That's what you want. There is no point in having paste in the corners.
>>53696879
>literally no heat on the corners, either
>>53696879
Shut the fuck up you dumbass. That is the correct way to do it and the die is in the middle anyway.
![1458987257565[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/XwWfaLW.jpg "1458987257565[1].jpg")
>>53696879
<he actually thought he will sound smart and mindblow everyone here
>>53696273
Sorry m8
>>53694408
/thread
>>53695682
Unfortunately not
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCVahyh3Dk
Mirror because they took it down
tiny, smaller-than-a-pea sized dot in the center, press the heatsink on. if temps are normal leave it for a few years.
all thermal pastes are the same, liquid metals are slightly better but are less consistent in their application and dry out easily. the pads you tend to see on stock intel fans will run you 5 or so degrees hotter, 10 max
source: this is\was my job
>not putting your thick and heavy
It's like you don't want your diamond to feel the tightness, fags
>>53694630
You...You're... Supposed to change the thermal paste? I've had mine on for 1,5 years without ever replacing it. I didn't know it affected the CPU. Never had any performance issues whatsoever
>>53698054
No, changing the thermal paste is for autists only.
You're fine.
>>53695440
>Knots and crosses
>Knots and
>KNOTS
Close, but no cigar
>>53694369
>>53698795
>0.5°C lower than single dot fags
YES
>>53694630
I replace my thermal paste every three days. Average temps start raising more 0.04 degrees for every extra week I leave old paste. I disassemble my three video cards and replace the paste on them, as well as the paste on my board's Southbridge. It's time consuming and pretty expensive but it's worth it.
>>53695657
if anyone does that to my comp, I will fucking cut off their head
>>53698974
>0.04 degrees a week
>2 degrees in a year
>worth it
͏>applying paste on your cpu
Are you guys retarded? This will cool it down. A hot CPU is faster than a cold CPU.
>>53699079
WTF, why are we doing it? I'm never buying a heatsink again, it's a meme, thermalfags BTFO
>>53696879
The thing that generates the heat (the actual CPU) is called a 'die'. There is a huge piece of metal on top of it for many reasons, but the paste doesn't need to be on the whole metal plate, only on the part where the die is. So
> No paste in the corners, at all
is the most retarded sentence in the thread. GG anon
>>53698795
So it can be assumed that application method doesn't matter at all. And the difference between results from that pic is just a margin of error - pretty much the same difference you can find with all those youtube comparisons.
Unless you go full retard and put like full package of thermal paste on top of your CPU so it spreads everywhere on the motherboard/socket - you should be fine.
Tho going the small dot or thin line is actually allowing you to save more thermal paste for your other devices if you have multiple pcs, laptops etc.
>>53699010
He's having a giggle m8
>>53699079
Thermalfags BTFO
>>53699668
We don't even know what order these were done in. It is possible that the room temperature gradually increased between subsequent tests at load due to the sun heating up the building or the tests themselves heating up the room. Definitely consider these small differences to be within margin of error
>>53699010
If those .04 degrees were the difference between the CPU throttling or not.. Then I guess it might be worth..
>>53699968
That's true. But if you google application method tests you will find the tests providing ambient temperature as well.
I do it like this
mobile processor
grain of rice, Arctic Silver, on installation of chip
do not change unless computer starts to overheat and requires removal of heatsink
autists
I prefer to do it like this
>>53694630
Wow I never let mine go that long. If I don't replace mine once per week I start seeing noticeable performance drops.
>not protecting your cpu against decay and cavities
>>53698795
So "Rice Sized Dot" is best.
>>53700259
>>53700465
I tried your pics and I got idle temps of 70+
WTF when I did pic related on my non-k intel it ran between 25-30 and let me overclock it.
>>53696912
Do you want to have a fucking house fire?
>>53698054
This is my 2500k after 3+ years of no re-apply. I cleaned it off with 90% Isopropyl and it's in perfect condition. I'm using it now with no problems.
TL;DR weekly/monthly re-applications are a meme
I stick my dick in the thermal paste tube, masturbate into it until I unload, then mix the paste together, then apply it with a credit card.
I used to just cum on my CPU.
>>53696259
Priceless
>How often do you refresh yours?
Every morning before I start compiling my gentoo updates.
I'll tell you the story of how I installed my first CPU cooler. The manual was very clear on everything involving the metal parts, which to pick for which socket type and a step by step of how to do it.
Then there was the thermal paste. I've heard about all kinds of methods, from dot of rice to spreading and whatnot, but I simply wanted to stick to the manual:
>manual only tells me to apply paste
>it doesn't tell me how much, how and if to spread it and what to do after applying it
>there was a small package of paste coming with the heatsink
>small as in about two raisins maybe
>cut it open and push all the fucking paste out onto my cpu
>there's a large glob of paste sitting there
>thisdoesn'tlookright.webm
>decide it's time to look it up on the internet
>dot of rice method it is
>now, what do i do? I squeezed the entire packet empty and don't have spare
>"no problem, i'll just remove most of it again"
Now what could I have done? Put a big to the side, clean the rest off and apply the saved bit again in a somewhat proper manner maybe?
>take spoon (was assembling PC on kitchen table)
>scrape paste off with spoon
>be at it for a few minutes
>"this could be the right amount"
>it's all over the place
>fuck it, this'll have to do
>put heatsink on, screw it tight
>"i just spent a lot of money on this computer, better check it out"
>unscrew heatsink and lift it up a bit
>paste spread and thickness seem fine
>re-apply heatsink and finish assembling my pc
It's been running for almost two years now, with perfectly acceptable temperatures. Doesn't go over 60 °C under 100% load of all cores.
How can people fuck this up when my major fuckup turned out to be fine?
>>53696259
>not refreshing your paste three times a week
gtfo casual
>he doesn't lap his cpu
It's like you fuckers want your shit to go up in flames.
>>53702024
mama mia
>>53694369
The golden ratio.
>>53702261
>he doesn't lap his cpu die
FIRE HAZARD
>>53700259
I tried this and it turned my CPU into ashes. 0/6000000 would not recommend.
>>53696921
>fill in cracks
If you were to mirror polish the heatsink and the processor top plate to a perfectly smooth and perfectly flat surface and attach them to technically unacheivable tolerances, would this hypothetically make the thermal paste unnecessary? Or what about just replacing the top plate with a mount that goes directly into a heatsink? Are either of these viable ideas?
>>53694369
he fell for the reapplying thermal paste unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
>>53702912
It's called lapping, and it's already a thing.
>>53702996
What about the second question? Wouldn't that just eliminate every problem? Does lapping eliminate the need for thermal compound or just make the thermal compound more effective?
Hitler did nothing wrong
>>53703103
>What about the second question?
More expensive to produce, and too inflexible. Good cooling for a 1U server looks very different than something for a 4U, let alone the different desktop form factors.
>Does lapping eliminate the need for thermal compound or just make the thermal compound more effective?
Depends on your need. A good lapping job can allow for acceptable temps with no thermal compound, but properly applied thermal compound will always improve performance.
>>53696879
Lol christ some peoples kids man...
a bit larger rice bean in the middle and pressing the heatsink onto it , i change it every 12 months.
>>53703569
>mayonnaise that high up
>>53696879
Somebody doesn't know how hear dissipation works
>>53705678
*heat
>>53695657
it's like this person never spread anything with a butter knife. An 8 year old making PB&J would do a better job
I just redid my GPU and did the cross pattern since that's what EK suggests for bare die. Did I fuck up?
Also this thing is fucking huge.
>>53707112
>Did I fuck up?
nope >>53698795
>>53707145
X is slightly different from Cross. Also that's CPU. I doubt any of this shit matters though.
>>53707259
oh so straight cross like a + sign not at 45 degrees like X. Sounds like it should be fine. Also I can't image there'd be any difference between pasting a GPU and CPU
>>53707326
It's like this actually.
The difference is it's directly on the die instead of on a IHS which doesn't need full coverage. Also it's a way bigger chip. They recommend a line instead of a dot for LGA2011 for that reason.
Been a technician for about 20 years. My team does a couple per day on average. We use WD40 to dissolve the old paste, wipe it off, use 99% isopropyl to strip the surface, put a rice grain of new paste, and press the sink straight down. Takes maybe a minute and never had a problem.
Or you can follow the instructions.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/methods.html
>>53698795
Lol like that actually matters.
>>53694408
Wouldn't that trap air bubbles? I'm pretty certain there would be a good number of air bubbles if you did that.
>>53698795
Got some statistical info on that?
>>53701954
fucking lol
>>53694369
Pea in the middle. Just werks.
I took my cooler off just the other day to remove my 4790K and the paste was still nice and gooey after almost two years. Sure it could have gone another few years before needing replacement. AC MX-4 master race.
I put sMall dot in the middle so it spreads to the Die size
>>53694369
thanks /g/ i learned a lot today
>>53695441
Dont use q tips they leave fibers behind, and a lot of them. You can wrap some coffee filter around a q tip though.
>>53698054
I've been building PC's for 10+ years, and I only replace the thermal paste when:
>I need to do something to the heatsink
>Temperatures start to spike (Which is rare)
>Every 3-4 years.
Monthly re-application is a waste of time and money.
>>53698795
I bet none of those results are outside the experiments margin of error. Result, use thermal paste.
>>53703569
>they didn't test semen
I'm not going to do it but I really want to know.
>>53695349
you can use the heat produced to burn the jewz
all planned
>>53694369
I use my finger and spread a thin layer evenly on entire area
Never had a CPU die on me
I consider the prostrats on same level of "lifehacking" as not using a magnetic screwdriver or padding out your case with anti vibration pads, IE complete bollocks
I never oc and use stock fans so whatever
>>53713621
It's cool mate, I use the Q-Tips alcohol-wet to remove the "squeezed out by cooler" paste around the IHS and then clean again. It's just to be sure to remove everything even on the corners and the details on the IHS-PCB contact points.
I do for sure leave no lint or fiber whatever on the surface before applying the paste layer plus the "rice grain".
>>53714722
>I never oc and use stock fans so whatever
duh. obviously it doesn't matter then. not that it ever matters but in your case it wouldn't even matter if it mattered.
