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Bad thermal paste?

J

JoeUser

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
3,919
To make a long story short...

I installed a Kuhler 620 on my 7970 a week ago using some thermal paste that came with my old Cooler Master 212. Temps maxed around 60C in Crysis 3 and around 50C in Tomb Raider.

So tonight I found my tube of Arctic Silver 5...I admit it's a few years old but it wasn't hard or anything and came out of the tube just fine. I thought, "lets put this on instead because I KNOW it's better!".

Temps in Tomb Raider have jumped to like 67C..."OK", I think...must have not put enough on or I had the cooler badly seated. So I take the block off again, clean what was on there (using alcohol of course), apply a more "generous" amount and make sure the block is on there nice and tight and even across all four screws.

Same results.

SO! Is my thermal paste BAD or am I doing something wrong? The AS5 has no discoloration nor is it hard or flaky or anything, but the temp differences make no sense. I mean, we're talking a LARGE jump in temps.

Is my AS5 bad despite all evidence to the contrary? Should I do it all over again in case I just messed something up?
 
AS5 isn't too much worse than the best traditional pastes. The liquid-metal varieties might net you some additional benefit in some cases.

You're right that something is wrong... heh... that's all I can confirm. I've had bad TIMs before, so that's not impossible. But I, too, have an old tube of AS5, and it seems to perform ok (but it performed fine @ new condition as well). So all that says is that my AS5 did not deteriorate to the extent that you're experiencing.

We all know AS5 is easy to apply - so I think your 2nd test was probably enough to rule out misapplication.

This is on a GPU, however. Hmm... my last GPU had MX-2 applied (which performs about the same as AS5 really), and that worked great. I have no idea why it'd make a difference here... I'd think it'd be fine on a GPU.
 
I would clean that shit off your GPU ASAP.

For GPUs without an IHS over the core, you should be using non conductive and noncapacitive TIM. AS5 meets neither requirement. I'm somewhat surprised you haven't smoked tour card yet... Presuming your GPU lacks an IHS.
 
I assumed they had an IHS. I didn't know they'd ship these things without one...hmm

Even so - that doesn't explain the poor performance. Whatever - simple answer either way is to switch TIMs
 
Archmage said:
I assumed they had an IHS. I didn't know they'd ship these things without one...hmm

Even so - that doesn't explain the poor performance. Whatever - simple answer either way is to switch TIMs
Click to expand...

Within my knowledge all AMD GPUs don't ship with an IHS lid.... I might be wildly off base on my knowledge of 7900 chips, but I don't believe I am.

Even so, as5 is known for needing a burn in period for temps to settle down.
 
7900 series use a shim, but not an IHS. As for using nonconductive, noncapactive thermal paste, it's not necessary so long as the paste stays on the GPU die. It's when it accidently gets squeezed out between two contacts and makes an electrical bridge when problems occur. To be on the safe side it is best to use nonconductive, noncapacitive paste in case too much paste is applied and the mounting pressure squeezes it out past the GPU die. Also, remember, less is more with thermal paste.
 
Skripka said:
Even so, as5 is known for needing a burn in period for temps to settle down.
Click to expand...

^ This

Smythe said:
Also, remember, less is more with thermal paste.
Click to expand...

^ and this.

You'll also want the compound to completely cover the chip (including the corners) without spilling over.

It's also a good idea to make sure you're playing the same level for the same time period. Different levels have different effects that can place additional demands on the chip and skew your informal testing.

Did you bother to measure your ambient room and case temperatures? That can make a huge difference as well.
 
speaking of thermal paste. I was thinking of buying the cooler master 400 thermal paste. What thermal paste are all of you using?
 
Thanks for all the replies! It would appear that in mounting the water block that the copper shim used between the block and die slid off to the side and was resting on the metal outside the die thus creating a space between everything. So I remounted it again this time paying close attention to the copper shim and success! My GPU at 1150mhz is now rocking with a max temp that I've seen while gaming staying around 50C...53C is the highest I've seen while gaming (Crysis 3).

All is well now and to answer my question, no, it would seem that AS5 doesn't age...at least as well as it's kept relatively cool and sealed properly.
 
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