Basic Thermal Grease Question

[nthexwn]

Hi guys,

I've found over the years that my temps are always higher than others with the same cooling. I'm wondering if this is because I apply my thermal grease incorrectly. I've always spread it out like this:

http://i.frazpc.pl/pliki/2002/artykuly/art468/14.JPG

I then try to place the HSF on top as flatly as possible and turn the HSF about 2 degrees in either direction to smooth it over before bolting it down. Is this correct?

BTW I've got a Zalman CNPS9500 and an Athlon 64 FX-60 right now that I installed that way:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/nthexwn/InternalCooling-1.jpg

My temperatures have been bordering 60 degrees celsius lately under load. That seems a bit high, which is why I'm asking.

Thanks!
-Alex

 

[colbyman]

to apply therrmal grease all you want to do is to put a dot about the size of a pea in the middle of the chip. dont spread it out. then let the heatsink smooth it out all on its own with its own pressure. wiping off the old grease first before you do all of this of course

 

[Dew itt right]

to apply therrmal grease all you want to do is to put a dot about the size of a pea in the middle of the chip. dont spread it out. then let the heatsink smooth it out all on its own with its own pressure. wiping off the old grease first before you do all of this of course

Agreed. When you do it this way and let the HSF spead it out, it eliminates any small air pockets from forming. I've always been a skeptic anyway though regarding how much a temp difference there would be between these two scenarios but this is the conventional method. (we're also assuming you're using a decent thermal grease and have adequate case airflow.)

 

[Arcygenical]

to apply therrmal grease all you want to do is to put a dot about the size of a pea in the middle of the chip. dont spread it out. then let the heatsink smooth it out all on its own with its own pressure. wiping off the old grease first before you do all of this of course

Not a pea, grain of uncooked rice. Peas are huge!

 

[nthexwn]

Well I just reseated the CPU with AS5 like you guys were saying and tried to let the heatsink push it outwards on installation:

So far I'm noticing the exact same temps.

I guess now I can blame the case for crappy airflow? (Raidmax X1)

Oh and as a side note: I spent 4 hours walking around trying to find some isopropyl alchohol. The guys in two separate hardware stores (one corporate, one local) looked at me like I had antennas coming out of my head, and the drugstore only had 91%

 

[Arcygenical]

Really? I've been able to find 99% isopropanol at almost any drug store!

91%'s good though.

 

[nthexwn]

Oh god **** it... I just did a Google image search of "Zalman CNPS9500" and realized everybody else has this thing facing the other direction.......

I guess this means I've had it installed backwards. I really can't tell by holding my hand up to it whether the air is being blown on my hand or being sucked past it.

I feel so stupid, and this seems so obvious now, but if that's true then why have none of the dozens of people who've seen this computer bothered to point it out to me!?

I spent all day on this crap and I just noticed this before I was going to head off to bed...

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

 

[Dew itt right]

It's hard to tell which way it's facing from the picture. Did you have it blowing to the left or the right? I believe Zalman will tell you to blow air to the left and that exhaust fan on the rear of the chasis will pull the warm air out of the case.

You may want to try this though - turn the rear fan into an intake and point your Zalman to blow to the right. This will take room air and direct it into the case and directly into your CPU HSF. Your case temps may rise a tiny bit but at the same time your CPU temp should drop a little too.

BTW, does your PSU have a fan pulling air from it's rear? I can see from the pic that it doesn't have the typical fan pulling air from the bottom of the PSU. I also noticed that that rear fan is the only case fan you've got. You may want to consider adding an intake fan to the front down by your hard drives. Are your case/mobo temps on the high side as well?

 

[nthexwn]

Well today I randomly took apart my entire PC and put it back together with airflow in mind. I moved the 120mm fan in the back of the case to the front of the case as an intake to cool the HDD (HDD temps were bordering 50 degrees celsius). I also reseated the CPU (again) and turned the HSF around so it's now functioning as an exhaust like I'd originally intended. I even went on a two hour footquest for a store that sells zipties to redo the cable management.

Again, the hardware stores didn't have any zipties and the drugstore only had fruit colored "easy release" ones. I also couldn't find an extra 120mm case fan to replace the one I moved at any computer stores. Seriously now... What is wrong with stores these days, it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere!? :-S

 

[Xeth]

Yeah when I called local computer stores asking for 4-pin PWM fans they thought I was talking about fans with molex connectors, 1 sales guy even argued with me. Needless to say local computer stores these days are useless...

 

[antiv6]

Yeah when I called local computer stores asking for 4-pin PWM fans they thought I was talking about fans with molex connectors, 1 sales guy even argued with me. Needless to say local computer stores these days are useless...

Go to FRYS if you want useless...

One guy told me he was running an over clocked 7950GX2 with 4 Hard drives and 5 case fans on a 200watt PSU.