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Apply Thermal Grease

M

mMike01

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
110
Hi, i'm building my first pc this weekend and the only thing that has me nervous is applying the Arctic Silver 5. The build is an i7 build using the 920 model proc.

I've watched some videos and have read the Arctic Silver guilde on how to apply it on an Intel Quad core. There seems to be 2 methods, thin layer on the whole heat spreader or the one in the AS5 guide which is a thin line across the middle and let the HSF do the spreading for you. I personally like the AS5 method, as it just simply seems easier. Will that method work perfectly fine? I also saw in another thread "Too much thermal grease" someone said w/ the new processors the AS5 method is the best way now, is that true?, if so, i guess my question has been answered.

Thanks in advance.
 
The correct amount of thermal paste to use should be roughly about the size of an uncooked grain of rice. People say it is better so draw a line for a quad. The way I tend to do it is to put the desired amount then spread it with my finger in a plastic wrap or spread it across with a plastic card. Be sure not to put too much because it is supposed to file the grains and grooves rather than be a bonding agent or heat transfer-ish. Wait for others to put in their two cents because I am not aware of which one performs better or anything else that may play a role.

Good Luck.
 
Thanks for the replies all, it's seems both methods are sound. I think i'll go w/ what seems to be the easier line method.

I've read the diff techniques, I guess I just needed an actual account of success w/ either.

Thanks again.
 
I have done it both ways and the strait line method is the best way for sure.....
 
I found that my Arctic Ceramique was too thick to spread, so I just put down a thin line in vertical, horizontal and both diagonal directions to get a good spread, so far so good.
 
Careful with the straight line method as it does seem to depend on the processor and where the actual chips are under that metal cover. For example, for a dual core verses a quad, the orientation of the line varies (i.e. vertical verses horizontal).

Now for an i7 as opposed to a C2D standard dual core as opposed to a quad core, what do you do with that "straight line"? Is is vertical or horizontal? Is it edge to edge or only covering 2/3rds of the chip? Or perhaps it is two lines like a +? Or perhaps two diagonal lines like an X?

Well, I have no idea and I'm not sure if people recommending straight line here really know else we'd have some details. (Does anyone here really know?) Anyway, to be safe, I just coated the whole chip and it seems fine.
 
This should work with any thermal grease:

NOTE: The Core i7. Please use the quad core instructions at left with one modification: If you orient the CORE i7 chip where the triangle marker is up and to the left it will put the cores on a horizontal plane. With the cores (quad) being on a horizontal plane you will apply a horizontal line of thermal compound as depicted in our quad core instructions.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/ins_route_step2intelas5.html
 
You should only spread thermal grease on the entire surface if the chip has no heatspreader, ie: GPU.
For CPUs the heat spreader is much larger than the actual core.
 
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