Thermaltake Wants to Jazz up the Way You Apply Thermal Compound

erek

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Courtesy of KarateBob

"The rationale behind Thermaltake's idea is that the CPU cooler exerts uniform pressure over the honeycomb droplets so they spread and cover the entire IHS on the processor. Think of it as a simpler version of the credit card method. The only caveat we see with Thermaltake's approach is that you waste a good amount of thermal compound in the application process.

Thermaltake sells the TG-30 and TG-50 in 4g syringes. In addition to the stencil and spatula, the brand also includes two alcohol rubs to remove existing thermal compound from your processor or for cleaning the stencil after use.

The TG-30 boasts a thermal conductivity of 4.5 W/m-k, while the TG-50 delivers up to 8 W/m-k. Thermaltake sells the TG-30 and TG-50 for $8.99 and $11.99, respectively."


https://www.tomshardware.com/news/thermaltake-wants-to-jazz-up-the-way-you-apply-thermal-compound
 
I don't care about the temp difference between application methods. If I wanted 100% coverage, I'd credit card it. But I'm fine with the pea in the middle for years now. If I'm 2 or 3 degrees warmer for it, I've never minded.
 
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HT stamsek
 
its a screen cap from GN's video about "too much paste".

The funny part is that they found there really isn't such a thing as "too much paste", since it will just get squeezed out the sides when you tighten the cooler. Too little paste is a much bigger issue, since air is absolutely terrible at transferring heat.
 
I don't care about the temp difference between application methods. If I wanted 100% coverage, I'd credit card it. But I'm fine with the pea in the middle for years now. If I'm 2 or 3 degrees warmer for it, I've never minded.

I've always credit carded it. Smoothed it over like jelly on bread. lol
 
I use the credit card method (well, I usually use a piece of cardboard cut from the package) and it seems to work well.

Honestly, this looks pretty interesting for $10 seems like a decent buy.
 
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The funny part is that they found there really isn't such a thing as "too much paste", since it will just get squeezed out the sides when you tighten the cooler. Too little paste is a much bigger issue, since air is absolutely terrible at transferring heat.

Especially when using the non conductive pastes. Heck throw some on the bottom of the chip and get another fraction of a degree cooler
 
The funny part is that they found there really isn't such a thing as "too much paste", since it will just get squeezed out the sides when you tighten the cooler. Too little paste is a much bigger issue, since air is absolutely terrible at transferring heat.

I prefer good old american cheese.
 
This is just silly. Just stick a pee sized drop or spread it with your finger. If you dont wanna get dirty, use a condom.
 
This is from the Verge's build. And keep in mind that the Corsair AIO they used also has pre-applied thermal compound on the cold plate that the Verge guy didn't clean off.

View attachment 269536
He even mentioned that it already has thermalpaste pre-applied and then says its always better to add some more... I want to know how that video made it onto youtube, you'd think a company like the Verge would be more careful about what they post....

That entire video was such a mess...



only place I can find the full video

honestly I don't think he installed anything correctly...
 
The answer is that journalists these days are children with a fairly useless undergraduate degree, and due to what has happened in the higher education system have very little capacity for critical thinking coupled with almost no knowledge of basic craft skills. These are the people that would die within days if modern society collapsed.
 
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He even mentioned that it already has thermalpaste pre-applied and then says its always better to add some more... I want to know how that video made it onto youtube, you'd think a company like the Verge would be more careful about what they post....

That entire video was such a mess...



only place I can find the full video

honestly I don't think he installed anything correctly...


I mean, do we expect technical competence from the Verge? I thought it was mostly tabloid journalism of tech companies. Not nearly the same thing.
 
Yeah I do the credit card smooth, been doing that in all my systems going back to the 90's
 

Yeah super easy. It is probably more. That is just an estimate. When I was a teenager in the mid 90s when other kids were working at grocery stores pushing shopping carts for $3.50/hr I was working at a computer company that custom built PC's for customers making $20/hr. I think between 1995 and 1999 I easily built 5 or 600 machines for customers. This was before Dell was even a thing really, I mean they were, but not like they are today. If I actually estimated both that job and all the other jobs in IT I have had over the years, minus my time in the Military, I would probably be close to 2000 machines built from parts. Many of those though were modifying and upgrading internal components from DELL/HP etc...

In all of those machines I used a few methods to apply paste and the one that has served me best over the years without question, is putting a dollop of creamy heat sauce down on the heat spreader and smearing that sauce around with your big fat ungloved finger tip. It allows to feel the thickness, the rate your applying it, the fine edges of the heat spreader, and all you have to do when your done is wash your mittens. Easy enough, no mess, no fancy gimmicky ass template patterns you lay down, no super X dot dot patterns, no criss cross applesauce junk, no huge squirt that squeezes out all over the socket and everywhere on the board like a total amateur. Nope just good old hand application with your actual flesh.

Yeah I do the credit card smooth, been doing that in all my systems going back to the 90's

This method works well too! In fact many of Thermaltakes pastes comes with a credit card in it that you can use to apply the goop. I like tactility though and nothing like fingering that sweet slab o silicon with your meaty snausages.
 
I use the credit card method (well, I usually use a piece of cardboard cut from the package) and it seems to work well.

Honestly, this looks pretty interesting for $10 seems like a decent buy.

I don't get why people still use the credit card method in general anymore given cpu's have heat shields. It just takes too much time. Perhaps I'm just remembering all the annoyances of dealing with the Athlon XP etc. days and AS5. I don't fear the reaper, I fear cracking a cpu core or finding out that I put too much AS5 on there and the temps suck.
 
Y'all are doing it wrong. The Paintbrush Method is the only right way to apply/smooth thermal paste. I even remember when Newegg sold Rosewill TIM in a finger-nail polish-type bottle with a little brush attached to the cap. Someone needs to bring that back.
 
Y'all are doing it wrong. The Paintbrush Method is the only right way to apply/smooth thermal paste. I even remember when Newegg sold Rosewill TIM in a finger-nail polish-type bottle with a little brush attached to the cap. Someone needs to bring that back.

Uggghhhh... and the brush wasn't long enough. You only ever got to use about 40% of what was in the bottle.

Anyway, I have been using a smaller than pea drop in the middle and then an x from the center to the corners with smaller lines going to the sides... so it looks more like a * in the end.

That usually makes it pretty even and of course I always check to make sure that I am getting good contact over the whole surface. Usually have to add a tiny bit near some of the edges. I end up having very little squish out at the edges.

The problem I have with the credit card method is that you can never be 100% sure that everywhere is getting a good covering once you install the cooler. Squishing out is better IMO.
 
I've always credit carded it. Smoothed it over like jelly on bread. lol

So have I. Those physical store discount cards that I keep in google wallet on my phone are now good for something :)

But I actually prefer the method in the linked video
 
Uggghhhh... and the brush wasn't long enough. You only ever got to use about 40% of what was in the bottle.

Anyway, I have been using a smaller than pea drop in the middle and then an x from the center to the corners with smaller lines going to the sides... so it looks more like a * in the end.

That usually makes it pretty even and of course I always check to make sure that I am getting good contact over the whole surface. Usually have to add a tiny bit near some of the edges. I end up having very little squish out at the edges.

The problem I have with the credit card method is that you can never be 100% sure that everywhere is getting a good covering once you install the cooler. Squishing out is better IMO.

How so? I cover the entire heatspreader with a thin layer of paste, and I have had zero paste leak out the sides. Ive been doing this on direct die and heatspreaders for a very long time. I have pulled the heatsink off to verify good contact, and I have never had it not look good.
 
Not a convincing method when they show the sides aren't even covered.

Would recommend against this new paste, even though I have never used it. Diamond dust works well in TIM, but it also erodes the laser etching.

I have used many different pastes over the years. Here are my general conclusions:
1. Liquid metal pastes give you the ultimate performance, however they dry up quickly and bond the heatspreader to your heatsink. Not recommended, unless you are doing something crazy like LN2.
2. Diamond dust pastes give you the second best performance, however they erase the laser etched chip information off the heatspreader.
3. The best right now (when I last looked a year ago) is probably Cooler Master Mastergel Maker. It's a b*tch to spread, though. It is what I am currently using.
4. No reason to buy AS5 anymore, because it is conductive and the performance has long since been surpassed by non-conductive pastes. Realistically, although silver conducts electricity better than anything else, the amount of silver in AS5 was probably so limited that the TIM used was the driver in performance. FWIW, I used it for years on dozens of components. At most, I had one thing destroyed by it, if any.
5. All pastes perform within a few degrees of each other. Difference in performance in top TIMs is probably 0.5°. The differences you see are way more likely to come down to variability in testing/application. I have seen little improvement from going from AS5 to anything outside of liquid or diamond TIMs.
6. I use the credit card method 99/100, unless I'm lazy. I don't think there is much difference from the line method.
 
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How so? I cover the entire heatspreader with a thin layer of paste, and I have had zero paste leak out the sides. Ive been doing this on direct die and heatspreaders for a very long time. I have pulled the heatsink off to verify good contact, and I have never had it not look good.

Direct die, sure. If I am doing direct die I put a thin layer on the whole die.

I guess it just depends on how thin you make the layer on the heatspreader. I've just had bad luck in the past with very unflat heatspreaders. I am more of the school of thought that if there is no paste at all that gets squished out when the cooler is tightened down, then there might just be not quite enough there in the first place.
 
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I don't care about the temp difference between application methods. If I wanted 100% coverage, I'd credit card it. But I'm fine with the pea in the middle for years now. If I'm 2 or 3 degrees warmer for it, I've never minded.

pea in the middle was ok for single core, heck, even dual core. but things are different now. maybe want to do some research. especially w/ ryzen.
 
What I do is put 5 rice sized lines, one in the middle, and then 4 in a square around (about halfway between the center and the edge of the CPU).

Then I use like a piece of cardboard to flatten them out and bit and spread around. Not sure if this is considered the "credit card" method, seems to work for me.
 
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