For whatever reason, you've decided that your going to remove your stock thermal pad and replace it with some good ol Thermal paste. The most common reasons for replacing the thermal pad or paste are things like replacing the current cooling solution, or maybe trying to improve the performance by switching to a higher quality compound.
For those of you who don't know how to apply your thermal paste I've decided to put together an in-depth, step-by-step guide on how to.
By the time you ve finished reading this guide you ll be spreading thermal paste like the Pros. Applying thermal paste is actually a very simple task..
..if done right.
If done wrong, your system's temperatures will be much higher than they need to be, or worse, you can damage or destroy your expensive CPU.
In case you don t exactly know what s the purpose of Thermal Paste or why it s so much better than your stock thermal pad, here s a brief explanation:
Thermal Paste has only one purpose, to fill the microscopic imperfections in the heatsink to provide better contact and surface area with the heatsink and the chip. That means that more does not convert into lower temperatures.
For an illustrated explanation on the role of thermal paste, refer to Blake Terhune's Heatsink Diagram
If you have an Integrated Heatspreader Equipped CPU like the Athlon 64 or a Pentium 4, use the IHS Method. If you have a CPU that has a naked core like the Athlon XP or an AMD Duron, use the naked core method.
(This is a list of all the ideal tools you would use to replace your current thermal interface material with thermal paste.
)
Tools that I will be using: (You don t necessarily need to use what I have listed above. Since I don't have all the ideal tools, I will be using the following in this guide:
Isopropyl Alcohol can be bought at most drug stores. Denatured alcohol can be bought at some drug stores as well as places like Home Depot or Lowe's.
- Never use any oil or petroleum based cleaners (WD-40, citrus oil based cleaners and many automotive degreasers) on the base of a heatsink. The oil, which is engineered to not evaporate, will fill in the microscopic pits in the metal and significantly reduce effectiveness of your current thermal paste application and all pastes applied subsequently.
- Toilet Paper is not a lint-free wipe.
Toilet paper will disintegrate and leave strands of itself all over your CPU. Bad Idea
A CPU taken from an existing system will certainly need to be cleaned. A CPU right from the box may not need to be cleaned but I usually give it a good wipe just in case.
Start by dipping your swab or Q-tip into the alcohol.
Then slowly and carefully wipe clean the surface, If you are cleaning off thermal paste or a thermal pad from a previous use, this may take longer but don t worry, it will be off in no time. Once cleaned, try not to touch the IHS with your finger or anything else (Again, oils and skin cells). It should dry on its own in a few minutes
If you are having problems removing thermal paste from the CPU, you can try , a product made by the thermal paste company Arctic Silver .
They are very popular in the enthusiast community and their paste is considered one of the best. Arcticlean has been reviewed and is able to clean almost every thermal paste off easily. I also heard that it leaves a lemony scent on your CPU!
After you clean the CPU, you should also clean off the heatsink. Get the coffee filter and hold it up to the alcohol bottle. Hold it upside down for a second or two and then take it off.
Wipe down the surface of the heatsink until it is sparkly clean.
Now we're in business. Take out the thermal paste syringe and squeeze out a tiny little bit.
Arctic Silver suggest only half of an uncooked grain of rice, I think this is sufficient. Unlike rice though, Thermal Paste doesn t taste good, trust me, I ve tried it. It s crucial that you do not put too much on the IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader).
This may not be much but remember that thermal paste is only there to help aid in the transfer of heat from the CPU to the heatsink, and too fill in the microscope gaps in the CPU IHS and the heatsink, nothing more. So in this case, I can confidently say that more is less and in most cases, less is more.
Depending on what thermal paste you decide to use, there may be some things that you should be aware of.
Arctic Silver and most thermal pastes containing silver are electrically conductive. This means that you should keep it away from processor, memory, and motherboard traces and processor pins. If it does come in contact with traces, there is a chance that you can short your part and become problematic.
Hang in there, were almost done! Whip out your heatsink instruction and install your heatsink. The pressure from the heatsink will spread out the thermal paste evenly.
Note that if you are using a brand new heatsink, there may be a thermal pad already on it. You will definitely want to remove this. This can be cleaned off easily with isopropyl alcohol.
Do not use a knife or other object to scrape it off otherwise you will get scratches in the heatsink surface that can adversely affect your temperatures.
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