Burn

By: Burn


The extraordinary question about thermal paste. How much? Too little? Too much? Am I putting it on the right way? Well, this guide should point you in the right direction. First off, you need to understand how thermal interface compound, or TIC, works. Its main purpose is to transfer heat from the CPU core, and only the CPU core. On some CPUs, there is a heat spreader that moves heat out from the center of the core into a larger surface area to be better dissipated. The heat spreader is removed from the process because only TIC is being used to promote the best heat transfer. So now you have a good understanding of how TIC works, and what its purpose is. Now, we can move on to how to apply TIC.



First off, I’d like to recognize Arctic Silver for a great quickie on how to apply their compound. It’s a good thing to refer to, and if it’s published by the manufacturer, hey, it’s got to be correct, right? I’ve taken some photos from the published page, and I’ll indicate what ones were taken and what ones are my own.



Here’s where the guide splits.



For Exposed Die Processors



You want to put TIC on the very top of the core, and not anywhere else. Arctic Silver’s website states that, “While much safer than silver greases engineered for high electrical conductivity, Arctic Silver thermal compound should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. The compound is slightly capacitive and could cause problems if it bridged two close-proximity electrical paths.” Basically, what this says, is that you shouldn’t get TIC on your PCB, because it’ll short the board when it hits, because there are electrical paths channeled into the silicon, and the TIC will bridge the gap and cause an electrical short. Don’t get TIC on the PCB!



Let’s get started. First off, you want to remove your heat spreader, and when you get to your core, it should look like this:



This was taken from arcticsilver.com.



The core is highlighted in red. This is where you’ll be applying your TIC. Now, be careful where you put the TIC because it is electrically conductive. Only place TIC on the core, not anywhere else!



Start off with a very small bead of TIC, a bb size-worth should be sufficient or smaller. Now, this is a matter of preference, but you can choose what to spread your TIC with. Some people use a credit card, some use a knife, but I prefer a razor blade. These are the most sharp, and therefore the most precise. I don’t like to use a credit card because I can just wash off the TIC, with a credit card, I’ll have to worry about the TIC staining the plastic. This, of course, is a matter of preference.

NOTE: Thank you muffin, me spreading the paste is a matter of preference. Tou don't have to spread it, just let the heatsink work its way down onto the core. I, however, do it just so i know how much is going to turn out with on the CPU.



Begin spreading your TIC with whatever you’ve chosen. I’m using a razor blade to do mine, but you can use a credit card if you don’t have a blade. Or, you can just put a small bit on and let the heatsink's pressure spread it. Begin in small sections, covering the entire core with TIC. Be careful not to spread it over the core onto the silicon. You should have a very flat covering when you’re done. A point of reference: you should be able to stick a needle onto the core, and come out with enough just to make a slight covering on the head of the pin. This is how thin it needs to be. Just thin enough so that it covers any writing, but not so thick that when you go to put your heat sink on, you squeeze TIC out the sides. Weigh these factors when deciding how much to put on. If you’ve spread the TIC properly, you should get something like this:













See how they’ve spread the TIC so that it covers any writing, but also is not on really thick. You also notice how no TIC is covering any part of the PCB or silicon. This is an Intel core.


Ok, so now you’ve properly spread your TIC on your core, set your heat sink in place, making sure that you go directly down, not on an angle because that will remove a lot of TIC from the core, and you’ve just spend 10 minutes correctly spreading it on, and there’s a precise amount on, you don’t want to remove a lot of TIC from the core by moving the heat sink around. Set it directly on top, slightly rotating it to get any air pockets out, but not moving it side to side, only on one axis. Next, attach the heat sink to your motherboard using the supplied mounting hardware. You’re done! Make sure to put a fan onto your heat sink and fire up your system! Go into your BIOS and make sure that your idle temps are where they should be, you should know of a general area where the temps should hover, for my 2.8 Pentium 4 Northwood, I idle at 28 C. if you have a higher clocked processor, then you’ll require more voltage, and therefore produce more heat. Use my benchmark as a guideline to determining your temps.


For Metal Heat Spreader Processors



You guys are lucky. I count myself among you; it’s much easier and safer to spread TIC with a metal heat spreader because you don’t run the risk of cracking your core. Ok, picking up your little syringe of TIC, put a medium-sized pea of TIC onto your core. Begin spreading your TIC with whatever you’ve chosen. I’m using a razor blade to do mine, but you can use a credit card if you don’t have a blade. Begin in small sections, covering the entire core with TIC. Being careful not to spread it over the core onto the silicon, spread it all over the core. You should have a very flat covering when you’re done. A point of reference: you should be able to stick a needle onto the core, and come out with enough just to make a slight covering on the head of the pin. This is how thin it needs to be. Just thin enough so that it covers any writing, but not so thick that when you go to put your heat sink on, you squeeze TIC out the sides. Weigh these factors when deciding how much to put on. Personally, I like to cover the entirety of my CPU, because heat sinks were designed to make full contact with the entire heat spreader, not just the small core. If you’ve spread the TIC properly, you should get a CPU that looks like this:


Picture taken from arcticsilver.com
Although that core has a rounded spread, and I prefer a full spread, you can see that you can’t see any writing on the metal heat spreader and block. This is what you’re aiming for. Ok, so now you’ve gotten you TIC all spread, set your heat sink in place, making sure that you go directly down, not on an angle because that will remove a lot of TIC from the core, and you’ve just spend 10 minutes correctly spreading it on, and there’s a precise amount on, you don’t want to remove a lot of TIC from the core by moving the heat sink around. Set it directly on top, slightly rotating it to get any air pockets out, but not moving it side to side, only on one axis. Next, attach the heat sink to your motherboard using the supplied mounting hardware. You’re done! Make sure to put a fan onto your heat sink and fire up your system! Go into your BIOS and make sure that your idle temps are where they should be, you should know of a general area where the temps should hover, for my 2.8 Pentium 4 Northwood, I idle at 28 C. if you have a higher clocked processor, then you’ll require more voltage, and therefore produce more heat. Use my benchmark as a guideline to determining your temps. That’s it! Happy overclocking!


GPU Spreading

This is basically the same concept as a CPU with a heatspreader. When you take off your heatsink, you will find a chip with a heatspreader on it. Begin by taking off all the thermal gunk that was on your chip. Next, put a tiny amount of AS5 on your chip, then spread it around. Next, put your heatsink on, according to your manufacturer's directions. You're done!


Conclusion


OK, so you’ve done what I’ve said in the guide. Hopefully you’ll be able to get some good temp readings from your BIOS, if you get a mis-read or something that isn’t right, post in the forums. Everyone will be more than glad to help you.



This place will also be somewhere for people to post pictures of what they’ve done when applying TIC. If you’ve taken pictures when putting TIC on, please post here with them. It’ll show some of the newbies how much exactly to put on, because there’s a lot of confusion as to how much to put on.


If you have any questions, please PM me.

Pictures used in here, where noted, were used from artcticsilver.com. Here is where they were found: Pictures

Burn

Sloth_Boy

That is long, i'm glad i dont have time to read it....lol. Well done though!!!

Burn

thanks dude, it does help if you have an exposed die or a metal heatspreader, i split the guide into two there.

thanks again,
ATVkid

TwEaK_MoNkeY

braught my temps down 5 degrees thx

Burn

:)

bigvaL

why does it look like a circle in the center of the P4 chip ???

above you said to cover the entire surface and below it doesnt show it fully covered

im confused..

Burn

well, the people over at AS just say to do the circle, but i like to do the entire thing. a matter of personal preference. i like to spread teh whole thing because it makes full use of the metal heatspreader.

bigvaL

oh nevermind i missed some writing

ok now i see

thanks, so im getting the ZALMAN 7700CU soon and i hope this helps

Burn

good, from what i've heard, it's an excellent cooler that really helps.

Mr. Mumbles

Why does the processor with the heat spreader have a tan layer on it?