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I just recently built my pc with an i5-2400 that I installed with the stock cooler but didn't know that the stock cooler comes with thermal paste already on it. It looked like this sort of cooler:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sqbZZ.jpg)
So, not knowing there already was thermal paste I applied a thin layer to the heat spreader on the top of the cpu like everyone told me and just put the cooler on top.
My question is is it worth it to pull off the cooler and try to remove some of the paste or should it be okay? I haven't even used the pc yet since it's missing an OS at the moment but I did power it on for a few minutes and it appeared okay.
Hoping it's fine since I'm out of thermal paste at the moment.
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sounds like too much. but test it and if your temps are ok then whatever.
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It's probably okay since thermal compound isn't that big of a deal to begin with. It'll only make a couple of degrees different. Although if you do get some more thermal compound, you should re-apply it. I'm no SkyR so take my advice with a grain of salt.
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Thermal paste is not expensive, you can always re-apply.
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Might as well try it and monitor temps. As long as none of it is obviously touching anything important really, only the designated area.
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So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply?
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On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply?
1) Any program of choice such as HWmonitor or realtemp for example 2) Depends on your ambient temperatures/case/etc but it should ideally idle below 40 or so and max out around 60? It's fairly subjective as it will depend on your setup. 3) Completely clean it off (using rubbing alcohol and something like a coffee filter) would be ideal.
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On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply?
1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware.
2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load.
3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. (edit -- as the posters below me note, you want need SOME paste, but you want contact between the two. --heres an article on how to apply grease: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/How-To-Correctly-Apply-Thermal-Grease/274/1
EDIT: ninjad.
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On December 24 2011 12:18 caradoc wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply? 1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware. 2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load. 3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. EDIT: ninjad. Whatever you do, you NEED thermal paste, if you dont use thermal paste it's like not using any fan at all because the heat will actually go into the heatsink.. Rubbing alcohol is good and then re-apply with thermal paste is your best bet if temps are too high.
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On December 24 2011 12:24 Josh_rakoons wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 12:18 caradoc wrote:On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply? 1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware. 2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load. 3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. EDIT: ninjad. Whatever you do, you NEED thermal paste, if you dont use thermal paste it's like not using any fan at all because the heat will actually go into the heatsink.. Rubbing alcohol is good and then re-apply with thermal paste is your best bet if temps are too high.
Lol what.. you want the heat to go into the heatsink. That's the entire purpose of it... thermal paste is used to fill in the imperfections as its a better conductor than air.
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On December 24 2011 12:24 Josh_rakoons wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 12:18 caradoc wrote:On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply? 1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware. 2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load. 3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. EDIT: ninjad. Whatever you do, you NEED thermal paste, if you dont use thermal paste it's like not using any fan at all because the heat will actually go into the heatsink.. Rubbing alcohol is good and then re-apply with thermal paste is your best bet if temps are too high.
Lol huuuh? You want the heat to go to the heat sink...the purpose of the heat sink and the fan is to help dissipate the heat much faster...not using thermal paste is not like not using a fan.
A thin layer is ideal but if you see ok temps it's not really worth the trouble unless you're OCD kicks in or you don't mind doing stuff like this. I use SpeedFan.
God damn it the guy above me said like the exact same thing I said now I look dumb...
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On December 24 2011 12:52 TeaGreen wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 12:24 Josh_rakoons wrote:On December 24 2011 12:18 caradoc wrote:On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply? 1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware. 2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load. 3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. EDIT: ninjad. Whatever you do, you NEED thermal paste, if you dont use thermal paste it's like not using any fan at all because the heat will actually go into the heatsink.. Rubbing alcohol is good and then re-apply with thermal paste is your best bet if temps are too high. Lol huuuh? You want the heat to go to the heat sink...the purpose of the heat sink and the fan is to help dissipate the heat much faster...not using thermal paste is not like not using a fan. A thin layer is ideal but if you see ok temps it's not really worth the trouble unless you're OCD kicks in or you don't mind doing stuff like this. I use SpeedFan. God damn it the guy above me said like the exact same thing I said now I look dumb...
LOL, oops, sorry, that was actually a mis-typ,e it's actually the exact opposite as you said, what i meant to say - If you dont have thermal paste then very little of the heat go into the heatsink because air is a bad conductor of heat therefore you may as well not even use one :D LOL i do actually know that... To my defence it is 4 AM in the UK :D
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grain of rice. that's all u need. nothing more.
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On December 24 2011 12:52 TeaGreen wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 12:24 Josh_rakoons wrote:On December 24 2011 12:18 caradoc wrote:On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply? 1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware. 2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load. 3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. EDIT: ninjad. Whatever you do, you NEED thermal paste, if you dont use thermal paste it's like not using any fan at all because the heat will actually go into the heatsink.. Rubbing alcohol is good and then re-apply with thermal paste is your best bet if temps are too high. Lol huuuh? You want the heat to go to the heat sink...the purpose of the heat sink and the fan is to help dissipate the heat much faster...not using thermal paste is not like not using a fan. A thin layer is ideal but if you see ok temps it's not really worth the trouble unless you're OCD kicks in or you don't mind doing stuff like this. I use SpeedFan. God damn it the guy above me said like the exact same thing I said now I look dumb...
he seems to mistype alot.....
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On December 24 2011 13:39 slytown wrote: grain of rice. that's all u need. nothing more.
I'm curious about this - I recently installed a CPU cooler, but I couldn't cover the entire surface of the heat plate with so small a quantity - also the instructions made is clear to put quite a bit on. I used a credit card to spread it as thin as I could, but i probably used 1/4 of a tube of Artic Silver 5. Cooler is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus, if that helps
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If the temperatures are ok then you did it right. Its fairly obvious when you screw it up completely. Remember the only purpose of thermal paste is to fill in cracks and small spaces. It isn't there to make a thin layer across everything/
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On December 24 2011 23:23 boredrex wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 13:39 slytown wrote: grain of rice. that's all u need. nothing more. I'm curious about this - I recently installed a CPU cooler, but I couldn't cover the entire surface of the heat plate with so small a quantity - also the instructions made is clear to put quite a bit on. I used a credit card to spread it as thin as I could, but i probably used 1/4 of a tube of Artic Silver 5. Cooler is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus, if that helps The theoretical right amount is the amount that fills in the gaps on the CPU and heatsink, created from an imperfect manufacturing process, so you get 100% surface contact between the 2. By adding too much thermal compound you are creating extra material that the heat needs to travel through.
I have the same cooler and I used a bit less than you and spread it with my finger in a plastic bag, although I think I could have probably used less.
Not that it matters too much, I'd say a bit too much is better than a bit too little and as long as its not spilling out onto the motherboard it should be fine.
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Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all their help, definitely made this first time PC builder a lot less paranoid. I got Speedfan and I'm idling at 30-31 C. I'm going to get Skyrim going and see what happens but I think things are looking good so far.
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Thermal paste can and will act like an insulator. The reason it is used is because the metal on the top of the processor and the connecting part of the heatsink is not a completely flat surface, there are millions of cracks and crevices in the surface of the metal. You only need an incredibly small amount of thermal paste to "fill the cracks" and that is the only reason you use it. The cracks are not even usually visible to the human eye unless you look quite closely, that is a representation of how little thermal paste you need; you cant even see what it fills. The intel coolers usually have an enormous amount of thermal paste. Adding more to it should not cause much problems but if you are overclocking i'd recommend removing it all and reapplying a very small amount of like noctua nt-h1 or similar paste. People need to learn what thermal paste actually does before posting, having too much will drastically increase temperatures. IMO with thermal paste, the smaller the amount the better, if it's going over the edge of the top of the cpu you have wayy too much. The ring (or box if you use line method) it makes during compression should never extend the edge of the top of the processor, you have too much if that's the case. http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u57670/applyingpaste.jpg Is about the right amount(although i'd put less), the intel cooler comes with over 3x that. I feel your load temperatures will be impacted by 2-3degrees if you added more ontop of what intel already has. It wont impact a general user much, but 2-3 degrees will help substantially when going for higher safe & stable overclocks.
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On December 24 2011 13:46 Boblhead wrote:Show nested quote +On December 24 2011 12:52 TeaGreen wrote:On December 24 2011 12:24 Josh_rakoons wrote:On December 24 2011 12:18 caradoc wrote:On December 24 2011 11:59 Phyre wrote: So a few follow up questions then: 1) How would I check the temperature of the cpu? Is there a preferred program for this? 2) What would acceptable temperatures be? 3) How would I go about removing some paste if it was too hot? Would taking an old credit card or something to skim off some extra and simply putting the fan back on be a good idea? Or do I need to completely clean off all of the paste and reapply? 1. I like to use speedfan for this. You can check voltages/temperatures/fanspeeds/HD temperatures depending on your hardware. 2. If its idle you don't want it above 50, which is already a tad warm-- below 40 is a better range (in windows, BIOS is sometimes a bit warmer). I think the maximum spec temperature for that cpu is 72C or so, but it really shouldn't be running near this at full load. 3. You could, but having a decent fan is more of an issue imo. It might run a tad warmer with a stock fan. EDIT: ninjad. Whatever you do, you NEED thermal paste, if you dont use thermal paste it's like not using any fan at all because the heat will actually go into the heatsink.. Rubbing alcohol is good and then re-apply with thermal paste is your best bet if temps are too high. Lol huuuh? You want the heat to go to the heat sink...the purpose of the heat sink and the fan is to help dissipate the heat much faster...not using thermal paste is not like not using a fan. A thin layer is ideal but if you see ok temps it's not really worth the trouble unless you're OCD kicks in or you don't mind doing stuff like this. I use SpeedFan. God damn it the guy above me said like the exact same thing I said now I look dumb... he seems to mistype alot.....
I don't think i've ever mis-typed before this actually.. :D made a lot of mistakes though..
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