Thin is good???

Darcadian V1

Darcadian V1

Big Geek
I have had an idea about thermal interface material.
I have found that a thin layer of thermal interface material (arctic silver, paste) is common advice among forums and manufacturers.
Ive spent some time thinking about this and have come to the conclusion that it must be nonsense.
Many of us will know how much pressure we apply when clipping down a heatsink. The force is immense and is certainly enough to squeeze any thermal material to the exact thickness to bridge the gap between the cpu and heatsink. I beleive that recently i have tried to aplly a very thin layer of thermal material and caused my system to start overheating.
If anyone knows why manufacturers and knowlegable people give this advice
please tell be as i cant quite get my head round it.
Thankyou
 
Ok, I'm gonna lay it down for ya. You're f-in' crazy! :D!

would someone here care to elaborate on this for me, my time is precious
 
Letsee, the point of putting a small amount right in the middle of your CPU is because the middle is where the MOST heat collects as it's directly above the core. Thus the highest concentration of thermal compound gets to where it's needed, when you put the heatsink in the compound will be moved around the cpu a little but still should remain mostly in the middle of it, providing you followed the instructions on how much to apply, so most of the heat from the outer parts of the CPU is also drawn to the middle, but as the compound is in contact with the heatsink as well, it allows for a large amount of heat transfer to take place, cooling the CPU more efficently, this is providing you have a half-decent heatsink.

Elaborated enough? ;)
 
Ah, Jeeze, I put a crap load of Arctic Silver on because it really didn't seem like that little drop was enough. I ripped off the stock heatsink (I had Mwave test my proc and mobo) and used my own (which is awesome I might add) and whatever I did works great for my Whinchester 3000+ so I'm happy (it's around 25-35 C depending on what I'm doing). I actually did a really bad job of seating my heatsink the first time around, I couldn't get both those little metal brackets to slip over the plastic hooks so I though, "hey, it seems sturdy enough..." Doh!, about a day later I was playing FarCry and all of a sudden the bloody heatsink fell off! I freaked out and unplugged my computer, it was all I could do. Amazingly enough no damage was done and things work great. I reseated my heatsink the right way and I'm fine. Boy was that dumb though...
 
Mine still hasn't gone over 30 degrees even after playing a 6-hour binge of Vampire: Bloodlines on all the highest graphic settings.
 
Okay, to answer your question, Dacardian:

Heatsinks are flat to match up with the die or heatspreader. They're machined flat and, on higher-end units, sometimes lapped flat. This is to get out as many machining marks and other imperfections that make the surface less than perfectly flat. Even though you can't see them, they're still there, and thermal paste is there to fill in any micro gaps that weren't gotten. That's why you don't glob it on: you don't need to. And as for temps dropping: you bet. Too much thermal paste will act as an insulator, which is bad in the case of CPU heat transfer.
 
just placed a BB or Pea sized amount onto the middle of the CPU and seat your heatsink this will spread it over the cpu perfectly.

Also bare in mind it is Incredibly important to clean off the previous thermal paste or old thermal paste when applying new paste, whether its the same or different.

If you mix different thermal pastes they act as an adhesive when they get hot - which obviously they will and it will dry up like a thick layer of super glue and increase the heat ALOT.

Easy ways to clean it off is to get Cotton Buds (usually used to clean wax in your ears) and dampen the cotton in some white spirit - not soak - just get it damp and wipe it off your cpu, - you will have to use quite a few depending on how much you have on the cpu - then to dry it off use clean, dry cotton buds to wipe around the cpu any excess.

and reapply your thermal paste (remember to clean the bottom of the HSF).
 
Oh man, I totally didn't do that (clean off the cpu). There really wasn't much dty paste there but I know that if you said it it's going to be right ProcalX. I guess if my temps are that low it didn't really affect anything much. I've only got the fan spinning at 1300rpm too so that is one heck of a heatsink (for only $20)!
 
There was no thermal paste on either the heatsink (a tube of it came with it) or my CPU (thing came in a small box on its own), so I applied AS to the CPU and put the heatsink + 92mm fan on, the fan is running at approx 2340 RPM and it's lovely and cool, not as cool as my D: drive (20 degrees) but still, very nice and frosty. :cool:
 
it doesnt reli matter how much you put on only if you put on a hell lot cough exfoliate cough it could come out and short out a circuit on the motherboard, all you need is a small dab reli
 
Well it's okay now so I guess I didn't blow it but there was definately excess Arctic Silver, not enough to spill out the sides though. However I did manage to bleed on my mobo when I cut a chunk out ot my index finger when popping open the drive plate, didn't seem to affect anything as there wasn't much.
 
too much will act as an insulator and be very troublesome when it cures. You need about half the size of a BB for an amount. Enough to cover a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY Thing layer on the CPU i use a credit card or the sort to spread. This is mean to fill microscopic gaps on the CPU die contact area of the heatsink, not act as a layer between.
 
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