| Best Thermal Paste Application Methods | |
| Articles - Featured Guides | |
| Written by Olin Coles | |
| Monday, 21 April 2008 | |
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Thermal Paste ApplicationOver the past several months, I have read an unreasonable number of discussion forum posts which offer inaccurate and often times incorrect information. It's not really all that surprising to read poorly conceived information on the Internet, which seems to be an anonymous means of passing off opinion for fact. As a general rule we don't let too many things go untested, and the advice of wanna-be experts is not doing the hardware enthusiast and overclocker community any good. In this article, Benchmark Reviews dispels myth and establishes fact on the topic of proper application of Thermal Interface Material. These days, Intel and AMD are producing very efficient central processing units that put out far less heat than prior generations. The CPU powering my primary workstation uses the Intel E8200 processor, which is rated for 65 watts using the 45 nm fabrication process. The constant production refinement has allowed the new 2.66 GHz E8200 to operate at the roughly the same Thermal Design Power (TDP) of an old P4 HT 2.66 GHz, but at the same time offer multiples more performance power. The trend of power efficient central processors is slowly making its way into graphics processors, too. The lesson we are learning in 2008 is that size matters, except that instead of skyscraper sized CPU coolers we are trying to reduce the footprint and shrink the area consumed by our systems.
After discussing this topic with real industry experts who are much more informed of the process, they offered some specific advice that didn't appear to be a "one size fits all" answer:
The more we researched this subject, the more we discovered that because there are so many different cooling solutions on the market it becomes impossible to give generalized advice to specific situations. Despite this, there is one single principal that holds true in every condition: Under perfect conditions the contact surfaces between the processor and cooler would be perfectly flat and not contain any microscopic pits, which would allow direct contact without the need for Thermal Interface Material. But since we don't have perfectly flat surfaces, Thermal Material must fill the tiny imperfections. This is where our testing comes into play. In the next few pages, which we plan to adjust and refine as necessary to meet with industry product changes, Benchmark Reviews will test several different methods of applying Thermal Interface Material to cooling equipment. The object here is simple: define the best methods to apply thermal paste, primary to central processing units. This guide will also be the first of its kind to test the proper application of material on a Heat-pipe Direct Touch (HDT) cooler, which requires a little more attention.
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Comments
This kind of quality reviews makes it a lot easier for enthusiasts, like me, which do not have much resources for us to try such tests.
Thanks again... and i hope for more quality reviews from you guys..
Thanks Again!
Cheers!
Definitely going this route next time.
is still as keen as it thought, or in other words, it is not mistaken - your peas are mistaken ( they are really f***** up ;) ). I do hope this is cleared out, and I do hope that somebody confirms the size of the peas on the picture, based on my assumptions!
On a different subject, I would liked to have seen the results of mounting the square cooler that you did a thin, even spread of TIM on. How did it look when removed?
Also I would like to see heat readings from all these different application methods. While you may want one or the other spreads visually, how does that translate into actual practice? Could less coverage translate into a thinner layer that increases metal to metal contact, yielding better results than 100% CPU coverage but thicker layer? Inquiring minds want to know!!
now what is 'channels level' we are talking about here?
Moto
##overclockersclub.com/vimages/coolermaster_hyper_t x3/8.jpg
##goldfries.com/images/hwreviews/2010/coolermasterhypertx3/cmhypertx3_04.jpg
After having read your article, I have concluded that the two drops on the two centre partitions of the mounting base would be the best option for the Hyper TX3 cooler (to be used with an AMD Phenom II x6 1100T CPU), however, if sanding is not carried out, how would one deal with the space between the deeply set pipes and the CPU surface? Also, I have read that even merely touching the metal with a finger can cause grease and all kinds of particles to become stuck to it, so if sanding were to be carried out, how could one possible ensure that the cooler is thoroughly cleaned of all the residue from sanding? Thank you for any advice.