I went to the store and found that they did have the “Arctic Alumina Thermal Compound” in stock in spite of what they told me online.
The instructions say to first spread a small amount over both the CPU and the heat sink using a plastic card and then to wipe both surfaces with a lint free cloth. They refer to this as tinting the surfaces and say that this is done to fill in microscopic imperfections.
It says to then apply a rice grain sized amount to the CPU and spread that out with a razor blade or plastic card.
It then requires a minimum of 25 hours for a break-in period, including several cycles of heating and returning to room temperature. I’m clueless as to how long to heat it and how long it takes to return to room temperature. I’m assuming on for an hour and then off for at least an hour or two for each cycle.
It isn’t clear from the instructions whether or not I need to spread it out so as to coat the entire surface edge to edge. It just says “spread and smooth out the compound”.
Okay, all those instructions are pretty overcomplicated, if you ask me. Do the coat-and-wipe step if you’re REALLY feeling thorough, then spread the stuff to cover the entire heat transfer surface edge-to-edge as thin as you can get it.
Power up that bad boy, monitor temps for a little while. If they look good, run Prime95 or something that uses 100% CPU in a controlled way, monitor temps. Do that for an hour or so, then power it down for an hour, etc. Repeat until bored, but I typically don’t even do that much.
Note, also, that if you read the fine print on that, the break-in period is supposed to settle it in so that your average temp drops by as much as 1-2C. I don’t think you’re loading it high enough to worry about that.
I just use my (recently cleaned!) finger to spread the paste around. You should spread it around until you just about see the heatspreader under the paste–if it’s totally opaque, you’ve added too much.
Once I’ve rested the heatsink on it, I slide it around a bit (before fixing it in place) to get things fully spread around. You should be able to slide and rotate the heatsink easily, but at the same time there should be enough suction that you can nearly lift the motherboard up with just the heatsink. You know how two flat surfaces will stick together if there is a thin layer of water between them? Same deal. I’m assuming here that your CPU has a heatspreader instead of a bare die.
I’ve assembled many systems with this method and never had a problem. But several times I’ve disassembled systems with thermal problems, and almost inevitably there is a problem with the thermal compound–too much, too little, or a poorly installed pad.
There’s no way to monitor the temp. Even if there was I wouldn’t have a clue as to what is or isn’t an acceptable temperature. The only way I know there’s a problem is when it shuts down.
From what I have read (numerous pieces…no cite) is most thermal compounds work about as well as the next one. There are differences but usually it is a matter of a few degrees and generally not much to fuss about.
I have read differing versions of the break-in period. I have seen some swear by it and some say it is bullshit. Same with tinting the heatspreader. Personally I have never “tinted” and I have never had problems. I think that effort is only worth it if you are going for ubermax overclocking. I overclock but do not push it to the absolute limits of my PC.
Where the difference lies is if you are a power user. Someone wanting to push the machine to its limits. Kinda like when they build an ultralight plane or solar racing car. They literally toss any gram of weight they can wherever they can. Each incremental toss of weight is negligible but if you are anal about it that stuff adds up and makes a difference.
So too with CPUs. There is a diminishing return for the effort but if you want to push it then each little degree matters and they add up and you get lots of performance. It is a LOT of work though (run Prime95 for hours…tweak one of multiple settings, do it again, rinse and repeat if looking for max performance and stability…I’ve done it, it is a pain in the ass and I have given up to be happy with modest performance gains and not max ones). If that is your thing or you care go for it. If you are building a PC for your mom who uses it for email only then don’t bother.
The difference between “good” and “bad” thermal grease, so I have read, is how it performs over time. Good stuff like Arctic Silver will last far longer than your PC will. Cheap stuff will do the job on Day-1 but diminish over time. After a year or two its performance sucks. Thing is modern CPUs will throttle their speed when overheating so many users never know the difference. It’d be the power user who would notice the slowdown in their machine.
Bottom line is most people will not notice but they will be buying a new PC sooner because theirs seems slow. A bit of work and attention and a little extra money spent on good stuff, I think, gets another year or two out of a PC. In the end it saves you money.
Also, really cheap thermal compound you have to wonder about. It is important the stuff is not conductive of electricity. Some cheap stuff might conduct some electricity. Not a big deal if you are careful on installation but if some squeezes out from under the heatsink there is a potential to short circuit stuff.
Personally I am a fan of doing it well the first time. More hassle, more expensive but once done I think it more than pays off down the road.
Do not let all the crap above I am talking about confuse or scare you.
It all depends on how much of a dork you are about getting the best performance from your machine.
Kinda like some audiophiles go to extreme measures for the last 0.01 decibel. For most of us the ear buds on your iPhone are fine.
If you can get Acrtic Silver then great. Otherwise sounds like for your machine most anything will do. You MUST have a pad or thermal compound between the heat sink and CPU but sounds like, for your purposes, any of them would do fine.
Likewise you can put a dollop on or spread the compound with a credit card. Either should work (I have done both methods and had zero problems either way).
Only when you really want the best setup you can manage and want to push your PC to its limits does the stuff we are talking about really matter.
From what I have read your problem is a lack of a thermal media between heatsink and CPU (you have to have that). Second to that would be case cooling. Get some case fans on there. That said no need to go nuts. An intake fan or two and an exhaust fan behind the CPU should suffice for most purposes. If you are playing modern games and cranking the graphics to the limit then you need to do more but from what I gather a casual approach to it all should suffice.
I did get Arctic Silver compound so I’ve got the good stuff. I did notice a loss of performance over the years which I couldn’t explain. Maybe it was due to cheap factory thermal paste that degraded over time.
Regarding fans; it came with three, including the one over the CPU heat sink. I assume some are intake and some are exhaust but I don’t know for sure. They worked for years so I assume they’re sufficient. I did purchase a PCI slot fan to provide a little extra cooling. There’s no place else to put a fan.
Actually if you’ve put in a new mother board you may want to check the manufacturer’s web site for a utility program that will let you monitor the temperature. So for example my motherboard is an intel DP35DP and intel provides a utility program that lets me check hard drive health and various temperatures. (And in the case of the cpu lets me know if it’s a “good” temperature.) I’m guessing other motherboard manufacturers do the same.
I have seen various results. Mostly the differences, while there, are minor (a few degrees) and only matter for the person milking every last drop.
I have heard that some of the “poor” thermal compounds break down over time and lose their efficacy. I have seen PCs I took apart where the thermal compound seemed kind of crusty (not good). I know with my PCs in the past after 4 years Arctic Silver was still goopy (as it should be).
Still, that is anecdotal. Considering even the good stuff only costs $5-10 you might as well get the good stuff if you can (although considering what you get for that money, on a per weight basis, that is actually very expensive stuff but you only need a teeny amount so unless you are putting thousands together it is not worth fussing about).
PCs tend to degrade over time with use. Mostly I think it is Windows getting mucked up with junk over time. Usually a re-install of Windows will put the machine back to peak performance.
Although, if your CPU was overheating, Intel CPUs have been able to throttle their speed in a first attempt to avoid damage (heat is the bane of computer electronics). If that doesn’t work they shut off to avoid damage as you found out.
Considering your CPU shut off it would seem there is a temperature monitor on the board else how did it know to shut off? You should be able to find a utility that will read that temperature and tell you. Search the web for temperature ranges for your chip. IIRC it is somewhere around 75C (167F) but not 100% sure on that.
Know that even working just under the max threshold still hurts your chip. Heat, over time, degrades the chip and the hotter it runs the shorter lifespan it will have (although you could run in the 40-50s pretty much indefinitely). 60s would be iffy and low 70s start looking for more cooling.
Oh. I always install the processor and heatsink first. In fact, installing in the case is usually the very last thing I do. Well, the point is that there should be a fair amount of suction force involved. If the heatsink detaches immediately when you pull on it, it means that either the paste didn’t make it to the edges, or that there was so much that it just flowed around.
It’s already installed in the case now and I really don’t want to take it all apart again if I can avoid it.
Come to think of it, I can’t install the heat sink with the motherboard out of the case since the heat sink screws go through holes in the motherboard and screw into the case.
Even if there was I wouldn’t have a clue as to what is or isn’t an acceptable temperature. The only way I know there’s a problem is when it shuts down.