Thermal Paste: Got Any Tips?

[DarkwingDirk]

http://chew.ln2cooling.com/890FXA-UD7/thuban%20delidded%201.jpg

 

Pictured above are AMD Thuban and Deneb (x6 and x4 respectively) processors with the aluminum heatsinks pried off. Don't do this, this is just to show what is underneath. That little shiny rectangle in the center is the actual silica of the processor, which will be giving off the vast majority of the heat. You don't really need to cover the whole top of the processor... sure it helps, but don't use too much paste for the sake of trying to cover the whole area. Given the rectangular shape, I used a rice-shaped glob of MX-4 to cover over the area on top of the silica wafer.

 

This is an example of TOO MUCH! :P

 

http://i.imgur.com/uSpRi.jpg

 

I used way too much my first attempt, as the MX-4 paste was much more loose than I had expected. A little goes a long way!

Edited May 4, 2012 by DarkwingDirk

[Nysba]

Yeah, don't use too much. Too little is better than too much (especially if the paste conducts electricity), as long as you apply it to the center of the chip, after all that's where the heat is coming from. You could even go without paste. Though stupid, there should be enough contact between the CPU and the heatsink to not break anything. And once you press/clip/screw down the heatsink, it'll spread on its own, no need to do it with credit cards or whatever. Edited May 4, 2012 by Nysba

[TheFourthHorse]

Oh. Then you're out of luck, 9800 series doesn't support software voltage control.

Still keep it in mind for the future. Unlike overclocking, downvolting is not only completely safe, it actually extends component lifetime and reduces the failure rate. The only reason not to downvolt a CPU or a GPU is if you're overclocking it, since you have to pick between the two.

 

Reducing the power draw is particularly relevant to Geforce cards, which suffer from two common failures, GPU's soldering fracturing from repeated thermal stress and power converters failing, both caused by power-hungry GPUs being placed on skimpy PCB designs.

 

For a new card, forget 560Ti, it's yesterday's news. What you'll be looking at is probably HD 7850, which is faster and only a bit more, or upcoming 7830, which should be about the same. They keep discounting the prices on older cards to keep up price/performance, but new ones are 28nm rather than 40nm, drawing less power with less heat and noise. New midrange Nvidias unfortunately won't be coming out for a while, they made a few mistakes with GK100 low-level design that cause poor yields until redesign is completed.

 

Thank you for the suggestion but I only buy nvidia. Call it technological prejudice.

[TheFourthHorse]

Well, the operation was a success.

 

I ended up using Arctic Silver 5 anyway FMod, it's all Radio Shack had and I can't wait for online shipping since I'm leaving the state soon. I scared the crap out of myself when I turned the computer on because I got a warning siren and it didn't turn on. I thought I might have damaged the CPU when I screwed the temperamental heatsink into place, so I panicked for about 15 minutes then took it apart to check. I removed the heatsink and (to my pleasant surprise) the paste was applied perfectly. When I saw that the CPU was fine I began checking connections and realized I forgot to connect my GPU to the power supply last night. Removed paste, reapplied, put together, blah blah blah... super cool computer again.

 

Thanks again for all the help folks! Kudos are inbound.