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Thermal paste keeps getting pushed off

B

Bop

2[H]4U
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Oct 1, 2003
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My comp has been crashing alot lately and at first I thought it was the RAM but after a couple hours of memtest that theory was proved wrong. I checked my CPU temp and I was hitting upwards of 50C+ during intesive programs so I decided to take a look at my CPU.

I found out all the thermal paste was smushed to the sides whenever I put my heatsink/fan on. I use the Vantec Aeroflow and Arctic Silver 5. No matter how many times I apply it when I put the heatsink on and then take it off all the paste it pushed off the core. I still get 50C+ during load and my case cover is off. Even with it closed I have 7 case fans so I'm stumped.

Should I get a new CPU cooler?
 
firstly if your getting thermal paste runoffs then your putting way to much on. you only need a very very then layer otherwise it wont cool correctly. remember the paste is only to help transfer the heat from chip to heatsink. if you have too much paste then the cpu/heatsink cant get close enough to make contact.
 
As shane said you only want a very thin layer of the AS5. The function of the paste is to fill the pits in the heatsink. The ideal situation when you remove the heatsink from the CPU, you should see very little paste between the heatsink and the CPU. it shouldnt be still in a layer.. it should only be in certain spots on teh heatsink. If the heatsinks were perfectly flat adn the CPu was perfectly flat you woudlnt need any paste. Your temps arent too bad since your Overclockering you chip. Your sig shows that your running the XP 2500+ @ 2.2 gig.. which is the XP3200+ speed. I woud look into a better heatsink then the aeroflow if you want to lower your temps
 
Ditto the above,
The purpose of the paste is to fill in the voids at the microscopic level.
Put alittle paste in the middle than take a credit card or similar and schmeer it flat, almost to the point where you can just see through to the core. On the fan schmeer it on and wipe it off, you'll should see what looks like a stain. Never use anything like cardboard or paper towels or anything that can leave fibers.
The other thing to watch is air pockets. sometimes to much can trap air and that will raise temps. One last thing, don't try to "twist" the heat sink when seated to spread the AS around, just put it on and as you've seen the heat an pressure will help the AS5 to settle down. Some say it takes a week, But as Kyle says "Your milage may vary"
One more last thing, take care in not getting the stuff on anything other then the core and HS, could cause a problem. If you do get it on places where it shouldn't be use a Qtip with some (no less then) 91% isopropyl alcohol. Leaves no residue and use many, many
Qtips.
Good luck
 
No matter how much I put on it eventually goes right to the side. I put an amount around the size of a grain of rice and then I level it out thin with a plastic zip-lock bag. I'm thinking of buying a Thermalright 900A with a 92mm tornado to keep my CPU super cool. 35C under load is one lone reason to buy the thing :)

UPDATE: My motherboard died, If I save something in the BIOS and hit save and exit my computer hangs after it tries to boot up again with the hard drive light staying on with no beeps. If I reset the CMOS it works again but right as I hit save and exit the same thing happens. I can't make any changes in the BIOS. I replaced the battery and that didn't work.

I just ordered a new motherboard, the Abit AN7.
 
sorry about the bad luck. STill consider a better cooler as well, all copper - ya. Also maybe apply some of the paste on the hs side ... just fill in the cracks if any visible and then lightly apply to core as usual. Now when it spills out the side, you know the micro-channels are filled.
Im guessing either heat migrated and killed something or memory controller - GL with new board.

:)
 
all copper isnt necessarily better......copper is better at removing heat while aluminum is better at dissipating heat.....they have found that the best cpu heatsink is aluminum with a copper base......
 
i dont mean to un-validate or argue with anyone, but i have not come across a single aluminum based sink (with or without copper) that performed as well or better then a all copper unit. Knowing that copper takes longer to dissapate heat, maybe its the high-speed delta fans that compensate for the coppers heat retaining effects. I dont believe the praises of aluminum apply to everyone, especially considering my experiences irl.
 
i wasnt praising aluminum...or ANYTHING for that matter...both together actually work the best....but that doesnt mean that others wont work....or even work well.........i mean a vantec tornado on even a piece of shit heatsink is gonna get the job done...just my sheer air volume :D
 
^^^Sepal

Are you shitting me?

Swiftech uses a hybrid aluminum/copper design that actually beats out most of the other heatsinks, including all copper ones on the market.

Also, by your theory, a cheapo all copper unit from Taiwan could beat a Zalman ALU/CU cooler?
 
*sigh*

Copper only _seems_ to dissipate heat slower than aluminium because of its higher thermal capacity. It takes more energy to war up a specified amount of copper by 1 K than to do the same with the same weight of aluminium. Additionally, copper is denser, meaning that more thermal anergy can be stored in a smaller chunk. Thus, copper chunks _seem_ so retain heat better, but actually, they do not, as copper has a nice thermal conductivity, meaning heat can easily move around in it, and also easily exit it (depending on the cooling medium).

This must be the 500th time...
 
Sepal - Are you shitting me?
Click to expand...
... um no i dont think im shitting you :)

again i am only disagreeing with all you aluminum owning mistakes is all :p

and as for that links validity :rolleyes: ... i stand by my humble 100+ heat sinks ive experienced and used as a reference. Just kills some of you that i wont conform to lame advice huh ?

*Update* ok im not a compete ahse, i saw a review of that Zalman three quarters aluminum one quarter copper... and it beat out some hs's. Seems you people speak some truth about mixed metals working well... im still not 100% convinced though :)
 
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