thermal grease alot better than a little??

[kat]

my new peltier came from jleufkins today and I was reading the instructions and it said when applying the thermal grease to the cpu to and I quote

"use a lot- regardless of what you have read use the entire tube on core when the heat sink is in place it will spread out the heatsink compound evenly and make contact with the surrounding area of the cpu die on both the cpu and the heat sink this can lower temps by as much as 20deg F"

every thing I've read to date is exactly the opposite use as little as possible

so I tried it (with out the tec waiting on water block and stuff) and my temp went down 2 deg C definitely not 20 F but every little bit counts

any one else tried this

this is a bitch every time i think I've got a handle on something it changes

[Big Mike]

It may be a pelt thing, the grease squishes around the core and fills it in well, because your cooling is so much more effective than air perhaps the grease is pulling heat from more areas and working well, its definately not good when aircooling though, id guess its just somethin about pelts. I noticed lower temps using very little with my Global Win FOP38

[kat]

im still air cooled the tec is for use with my water block which im still waiting for

[Big Mike]

paying attention is a good thing, lol, I'm not sure whats up with the drop with alot of grease...i guess most would squish out if your HSF has a high clip pressure...

[Newguy123]

Where exactly do you put the thermal paste over the bottome of the Heatsink or on the CPU?? and where on the CPU? the middle where the core is? or just all around the cpu?

Thanks for any information

[Eriksson]

You should follow the instructions, I discovered few months ago that a LOT of thermal grease is good. This is true you can lower your temps a few deegrees by doing that.

[Rob Cork]

Newguy123 (Jan 10, 2001 10:58 p.m.):
Where exactly do you put the thermal paste over the bottome of the Heatsink or on the CPU?? and where on the CPU? the middle where the core is? or just all around the cpu?

Thanks for any information

Just on the core (not the heatsink), in a thin layer (or thick if you want to try Kat's suggestion). Putting any on the ceramic is a waste, that won't heat up and it'll just make a mess.

[Eriksson]

Newguy123 (Jan 10, 2001 10:58 p.m.):
Where exactly do you put the thermal paste over the bottome of the Heatsink or on the CPU?? and where on the CPU? the middle where the core is? or just all around the cpu?

Ok here is the deal.

The goal is to transfer as much heat as possible from the cpu. Therefore we need to get the cpu in the best possible thermal contact to the heat sink.

Most (all) the heat generated in the cpu is generated in the core. Therefore it is essential that the core is in close touch the hs. Only thin film of paste should be used on the core.

However you dont have to worry about this since the clip pressure squeezes all extra paste off the core leaving only the desired thin film when assembled.

There is a small gap between the hs and the processor base. Normally only Air is filling this gap, and as we know air is not a good heat conductor. The heat generated in the cpu core flows not only to the hs but also to the base of the cpu, leaving is hotter than the hs.

If you fill this gap with heat conducting material like thermal paste you transfer heat from the cpu base (and therefore the core) to the heatsink, leaving the cpu core a little colder than if only air were present.

To do this extremely complicated procedure you put a big pile of thermal grease on, and around the cpu core. Then you put the hs back in place and wipe off the excess paste escaping from the edges of the cpu.

I have tried this with Air and water cooling and I got a temp drop of 3-6 degrees. I do not recommend using this method with artic silver, If it is el conductive it will damage your cpu.

This method is also used with peltiers to prevent condense between cpu and hs

I hope this helps. :)

[Deviant]

There's a reason for the air gap, so it doesn't transfer heat.
While filling this gap while using air cooling (above ambient temps) is a good thing, do not do this while cooling with peltiers, (below ambient temps) as the peltier starts cooling the motherboard as well. This can create condensation on you mobo, and provides the CPU core with less cooling, so temps will rise.
Read this article for more detail:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles313/

The heatsink and CPU core are better than thermal grease at transfering heat, so only a small amount is required to fill the tiny gaps between the 2 surfaces. However I do agree that the pressure exerted by the spring tension will squeese out most of the grease anyway.

[kat]

Deviant (Jan 12, 2001 01:33 a.m.):
There's a reason for the air gap, so it doesn't transfer heat.
While filling this gap while using air cooling (above ambient temps) is a good thing, do not do this while cooling with peltiers, (below ambient temps) as the peltier starts cooling the motherboard as well. This can create condensation on you mobo, and provides the CPU core with less cooling, so temps will rise.
Read this article for more detail:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles313/

The heatsink and CPU core are better than thermal grease at transfering heat, so only a small amount is required to fill the tiny gaps between the 2 surfaces. However I do agree that the pressure exerted by the spring tension will squeese out most of the grease anyway.

the 2nd paragraph in my original post was a quote from the instruction sheet that came from my peltier

it seemed a little odd in that it goes against everything that ive about thermal grease application

[Deviant]

I'm not discrediting the idea, it's sounds quite feasible. I think it should be better with plain air cooling only.
But with sub ambient temps on your peltier/cold plate, the thermal compound will be transfering heat from your CPU core & your mobo. Better to only get heat transfer from your CPU core only to your peltier. Read the article, the results speak for themselves.