Is this too much, or too little thermal paste?

[soarwitheagles]

Hi everyone!

I just removed my 1055T from the Hyper 212+ after several months of usage. I am attempting to ascertain if I used too much, too little, or just the right amount of thermal paste.  This rig ran a little hotter than my Intel 2500k rig.  Neither system was overclocked, but I think the AMD sucks more wattage.  This AMD rig ran around 30c idle, 45 cranked up.


BTW, when I was attempting to remove the Hyper 212+ from the Gigabyte 890XA-UD3 v.1 motherboard, it pulled the darn 1055T right out of the socket...ouch!  I hope I did not damage the older motherboard.  Could my yanking the 1055T right out of the socket damaged the socket?

Anyhow, I am sitting here waiting for some good feedback so I can install this 1055T in my new Gigabyte 990-XFA-UD3 with the right amount of thermal paste.

Please help if you can.

Is this too much, not enough or just the right amount of thermal paste?

Thanks,

Soar

[Ben]

Socket should be okay unless you can see some damage.

As for the paste I put just a spot in the middle, as once the temp rises the paste will spread out, you don't really need much all you are doing is making a slight seal between the components, too much & it will ooze out & could possibly do some damage to other components.

As to your picture you seem to be having blobs of paste it should be smooth near flat, with your heat sink I would say that the base is not very flat as there are grooves, I don't know if this is normal for that type of socket I have read that some over clockers actually sand this flat with very fine wet/dry sand paper to get an even surface, as some manufacturers don't seem to get a flat/smooth surface.

For temps my 2600 runs almost the same temps. As I am typing this my HW says the temps are; 31c to 44c.

I have had it higher on tests 80c plus.

Hope this helps.

Ben.


Ben.


  

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar,

I would say thatb you are using slightly too much thermal paste on that heatsink. It does require a little more than a totally flat surface because of the way the heatpipes are attached to the heatsink. These will leave little grooves that need filling but even so it shouldn't look like it is oozing out all over the place. Try filling the slots and then removing the excess totally with a flat instrument (credit card) and even wipe it off if needs be. Next apply the normal amount (a large grain of rice) in the centre before refitting the heatsink assembly.

When removing a heatsink NEVER just pull it off. Always use a gentle twisting motion as it act like glue once cured. Probably your socket/CPU is fine but just check the pins for damage. 

[soarwitheagles]

Thanks guys!

You sure are right!  I put toooooo much thermal paste on last time I built this system [one year ago]?

Ok, maybe that is one reason the temps were a little on the higher side [30C idle, 45C load].

I scraped off all the old paste, and applied the new [please see pics].

Thanks for the good advice on the thermal paste.  I applied much less this time, but did fill only the canals in the heat sink and did go double the piece of rice due to having an HDT.

System did not POST first time around and then I woke up and realized I forgot to put the RAM in!     For sure sign that working day and night on computers for the last week is causing brain freeze...time for a break!

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Yes that looks better soar. I think it is the same trap that just about everybody falls for when first building their own systems that more TIM is better. The ideal amount is that when it has spread out the lettering on the chip can still be seen through the TIM. That is ideal.

[Ben]

Nice.

Much better, amazing what a little elbow grease will do.

Hey don't be sorry about the RAM.

I put a friends system together fired it up but no pic on monitor, checked all cables, switched off then on still nadda, ripped open the case to check for lose connections, & then it hit me I put in the old fried video card, the new one was on the table, hey it happens to us all I am sure.

Ben.

[teknology9]

I use this:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4134/antec_formula_7_nano_diamond_thermal_compound_review/index.html

There's a thread /post somewhere on the forum which outlines the application of thermal compound.

Here's the article from Tom's Hardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cooling-air-pressure-heatsink,3058-9.html


Teknology9

[soarwitheagles]

Guys,

Thanks for the encouragement and good advice!  I believe this time around I did much better by using less than half as much as last time!

I did use Antec Cooling MX-2 simply because it is fairly good thermal paste according to benchmarks and also because I found a tube for very, very low price.

Tek, nice post on the various methods and amounts.  Thank you!

Ben, yeah, I hear you...sometimes we go too fast and do not give our brains time enough to catch up with our plans!

DM, will remember your point about still being able to see the writing on the CPU!  That is a good gauge to follow!  I think I still put on a little too much.

Anyway, hope to finish this build this week and I look forward to posting some pics and benchmarks!

Have a good one everyone!

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

DM, will remember your point about still being able to see the writing on the CPU!  That is a good gauge to follow!  I think I still put on a little too much.

Thing is soar that even if you still slightly overdo it there it is still a good amount to aim for. Anything around that quantity will work fine.

[teknology9]

Hi Soar....your welcome.

Sometimes..just having a reference like that helps to put you on the right path to achieve what you want, I think we have all done the same with thermal paste at some point in time.......accidently of course!!!

Teknology9

[soarwitheagles]

Thanks guys!  It appears to be working fine, but I am still not happy with the temps I am seeing:

30C-33C at post on this AMD rig.

Right now, my Intel rig's CPU is sitting at 21.1C as I am typing this....

Doesn't seem fair because both machines have the exact same Hyper 212+ CPU cooler!

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

The AMDs usually do run a bit hotter soar and the SandyBridge chips are cool even for Intel chips.

[soarwitheagles]

Yes, but DM, isn't 10-12 degrees C a bit too great of a difference considering the similarities of the cases, chips, and CPU coolers?

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Absic is the best one to advise you on the actual temperatures as I have never run one of these systems and am only familiar with the Intel platform.

[absic]

Hi Soar,

I have to say that although the temperatures are pretty much normal for the 1055T I would have expected to see them a bit lower especially as you are not using the stock cooler.

As a direct comparison I can use the 1090T v the 2500k both with the Noctua NH-D14 and both systems running default settings in BIOS. At idle the 1090T chip is around 10C cooler than the Intel chip, of course you also have to take into account the differences between other hardware, motherboard, PC Case GPU's that we use. From your description I would be looking at checking the mounting of the cooler on the AMD rig and making sure everything is mounted as it should be.

Another thing to consider before panicking too much is where are you getting these readings from?
Is it from software or from the thermal sensors that you have installed?
If it is software what program are you using?
If it is from the added hardware sensors, where are the positioned on the two systems?

EDIT: Just been helping another user of the 1055T and after checking some BIOS screen shots they sent me I realised that on his motherboard the default CPU VCore voltage was 1.475V. We managed to drop this to 1.295V and his temperatures fell considerably. It would be worth checking what the default CPU VCore setting is on your motherboard and try pulling this down to around 1.300V if you can.