[jhemfl]

Hi,


I bought some MX-2 and their thermal compound remover. I'm going to be changing to a new heatsink. My questions are:


1.) Do I need to take the processor out of the motherboard?

2.) How much thermal compound do I apply?

3.) What are the means of spreading it?

4.) is there anything else I need to know?

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Basically you want as thin a layer as possible with the CPU covered. It doesn't need to be spread all the way because the preasure of the heatsink will finish the spread. I use a credit card to spread.

Here is a decent guide I found: Thermal Paste and How To Use It

[quote]is there anything else I need to know? [quote]

If you get a metalic based compound on your pins or in your socket that can easily be it for that componant.

Edited by Titan8990, 01 February 2008 - 03:24 AM.

[Titan8990]

Basically you want as thin a layer as possible with the CPU covered. It doesn't need to be spread all the way because the preasure of the heatsink will finish the spread. I use a credit card to spread.

Here is a decent guide I found: Thermal Paste and How To Use It

[quote]is there anything else I need to know? [quote]

If you get a metalic based compound on your pins or in your socket that can easily be it for that componant.

Edited by Titan8990, 01 February 2008 - 03:24 AM.

[vorybory]

Hi, Jehm!

To answer your first question, I am going to say Negative. The thermal paste goes on top of the processor, and then the heatsink.

[hfcg]

The link that Titan has provided is a very good explanation.
You do not need to spread thermal greese over the entire chip. The processor is actualy a small square in the middle of the chip.
You only need to cover the center of the chip.
As Titan said "do not get any thermal greese on any of the pins or underside".

Edited by hfcg, 01 February 2008 - 07:05 AM.

[happyrock]

Whenever you install a heatsink on a CPU you always have to apply thermal paste....
Thermal paste is a very high heat conductive paste that is used between a CPU and heatsink to get better heat conduction. It fills in all those microscopic imperfections on the heatsink and CPU that can trap air in them and cause a loss in the heatsink's performance. Air is a very poor conductor of heat....

However... too much thermal paste will hinder a heatsink's ability to cool properly....
go here ..to get the lowdown on applying the paste and/or follow the directions that came with the paste you get..

Metal based thermal paste are the most popular ....These pastes have lots of little metal particles in the grease that have a high thermal conductivity.... One disadvantage of this type of paste is that it is also electrically conductive as well so you must be careful not to get it anywhere on the mobo or it can cause a short...

Ceramic-based thermal paste are also a popular solution that doesn't perform quite as well as metal-based pastes, but the difference is minimal (1-3C). These consist of some form of thermally conductive material with lots of little ceramic particles. The advantage of ceramic-based pastes is that they do not conduct electricity....

Silicon-based thermal paste are usually what thermal pads that come on stock heatsinks are made of.... These work well also...

For brands of thermal paste the best around are...in no particular order
Arctic Silver 5.. metallic based... there is the risk of causing a short in the electronic components..

Arctic Cooling MX-2 ...it is completely metal free. The biggest advantage to this is the lack of conductivity ...

Coollaboratory liquid pro ( you cannot use it on aluminum heatsinks )

IMHO..Others may work but maybe not as good...pay the few extra dollars that are needed for some of the more expensive brands...it is usually worth it....
some reviews on comparing the thermal pastes are here and here

to get extra cooling you can lap the heatsink..the lowdown is here..
lapping your heat sink can create a better surface for heat transfer. You should notice close to a 5°C drop in CPU temperature, although your results may vary....
IMPORTANT NOTE ON LAPPING...
if you don't do this properly...you can wind up with a heatsink that is not flat and be worse off than before you started...the surface you put the sanding paper on MUST be perfectly flat ..and you must keep the heatsink flat against the paper...
When you lap your heatsink... and you do a good job of it.. you will require even less thermal paste as these microscopic imperfections have got even smaller...

[jhemfl]

So I put a dot about the size of a rice grain in the middle, and then I spread it out with maybe a plastic bag over my finger? I've been told by others that it will spread out by itself when I press the heatsink down onto the CPU, which is the proper way?

[hfcg]

About half the size of a dime.

[Titan8990]

I usually spread it about half way so I can get an idea of how much more it is going to spread when I install the heatsink.

[Doby]

I put a dot about the size of a grain of rice then take a 1/2 inch slice off a credit card and use it to spread the paste as thin as possible, withMX2 I don't know but with as5 you should be able to see through the paste, any more and its too thick.

Check the MX2 website for instructions and follow them you should be OK

[jhemfl]

Ok so I put in my Artic cooler pro air cooler in, and I got about a 10C degrees drop. Which is good, I'm running at like 32C degrees idle, I still think thats kinda hot compared to what I'm reading, but whatever. Anyway, is Coretemp a good tempurature checker? I use it, and it displays 32C degrees for idle then itll like randomly jump up to 45C degrees idle for like a split second, is this thing messed up or is my core actually jumping temps like that?

[Titan8990]

I would say that it's probably the sensor. They are by no means perfect. If you get a CPU that idles below 30C then you got lucky.

[james_8970]

Ok so I put in my Artic cooler pro air cooler in, and I got about a 10C degrees drop. Which is good, I'm running at like 32C degrees idle, I still think thats kinda hot compared to what I'm reading, but whatever. Anyway, is Coretemp a good tempurature checker? I use it, and it displays 32C degrees for idle then itll like randomly jump up to 45C degrees idle for like a split second, is this thing messed up or is my core actually jumping temps like that?

What CPU are you using?
James

[Titan8990]

It says e6850 in his profile.

[james_8970]

Thank you titan.

Ok so I put in my Artic cooler pro air cooler in, and I got about a 10C degrees drop. Which is good, I'm running at like 32C degrees idle, I still think thats kinda hot compared to what I'm reading, but whatever. Anyway, is Coretemp a good tempurature checker? I use it, and it displays 32C degrees for idle then itll like randomly jump up to 45C degrees idle for like a split second, is this thing messed up or is my core actually jumping temps like that?

Give TAT (Thermal Anaysis tool) a try. It was designed by intel for the Memron but works well with Conroe (Core2duo) series CPU's.
It can be found here.
http://www.techpower...392/mirrors.php

Just a word of advice. Software is very inaccurate to measure the temperatures of hardware, it is for this reason that it's important to use many applications to measure your temps as one can be off. I personally like to use 4.
James

Edited by james_8970, 03 February 2008 - 08:53 PM.

[happyrock]

ALL of the software that reads your temps get the data from the same sensors...if there are any differences in what they say the temps are its because they are getting their readings at different times and refresh rates...
as a test launch speedfan and everest...keep a eye on them and you should only see a degree or so between them if any at all...