Arctic Silver 5 + PS4

[Kohta]

My warranty ran out and I started playing Destiny recently, I noticed the fans were unusually ramped up, looking back at my receipt it had been over a year now so no point in seeing what sony had to say.

I popped in another game FFXIV and the fans went to hairdryer behind a closed door kinda loud, it's sitting on a desk wide open and about 71F ambient.

So I took it upon myself to strip it apart to find the factory thermal paste was like Ole play dough ... after cleaning everything up I spread method some AS5 out it back together but the fans were still pretty high... I pushed down where the tension bracket set and the fans went down, meaning it wasn't making good contact, either because the spread method isn't the way to go or I didn't tighten it enough.

Ripped it back open and verified everything was as tight as it could go, so I replaced the AS5 again but this time I just globbed it on, too much would still be better than bad contact.

Double checked that everything was tight but I still seem to be having issues with it separating... I'm wondering if AS5 is too thin because after about 30 to 45 mins in intense area and it ramps up and can be remedied by pushing down on the case in the area of the APU, is there some other thicker compound for situations like this?

 

[Nebulous]

You can try MX4 as it's pretty thick. Also taking a look around here might give you an idea for a cooling mod.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Sounds like you'd be better off with a shim.

 

[Nebulous]

Sounds like you'd be better off with a shim.

Yeah I would have to agree also.

 

[bob4933]

"spread method"?

 

[Kohta]

"spread method"?

It is when you spread the thermal compound out with a credit card, it is arguably worse that dotting, however when you have a loose clamp system like a GPU, or consoles it's generally the only way to make it properly spread evenly, but in this case I believe the ps4 clamp is either designed for thicker compound like it had on it, or mine is just unusually loose and that's why the factory compound was dried out. I don't know which but in either case the spread method is old and most people don't like it since it causes air pockets, it would be similar in effect to taking the heat sink off and putting it back on without reapplying the compound, but again, for older gpus and in the past when clamp systems were much less aggressive, it was a good way to go.

 

[Kohta]

Sounds like you'd be better off with a shim.

Thanks, I'm going to try this, do you have any recommendations for a material to put between it? Maybe something like a piece of an old credit card or is that not thick enough?

 

[Nebulous]

Thanks, I'm going to try this, do you have any recommendations for a material to put between it? Maybe something like a piece of an old credit card or is that not thick enough?

Has to be made of copper to transfer the heat. You put a piece of a credit card between the chip and sink and you're just asking for trouble.

Copper Shim

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Has to be made of copper to transfer the heat. You put a piece of a credit card between the chip and sink and you're just asking for trouble.

Copper Shim

What he said

 

[Kohta]

Has to be made of copper to transfer the heat. You put a piece of a credit card between the chip and sink and you're just asking for trouble.

Copper Shim

I thought you meant under the bracket to create more tension via leverage.

 

[Nebulous]

I wouldn't recommend that. If you are set on doing it that way, I suggest using something that is metal, not plastic. I copper coin like a penny might work.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

Some thermal paste needs time to cure, I think AS5 is like this, not sure though, anyway give it some time before you do anything else.

 

[Mpegger]

I wouldn't recommend that. If you are set on doing it that way, I suggest using something that is metal, not plastic. I copper coin like a penny might work.

If using a copper coin, I would also suggest sanding it down smooth, as the raised face of the coin just means you'll have to glob on more TIM to fill it all in, and there may be some points that are higher then others that cause uneven or little contact.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

If using a copper coin, I would also suggest sanding it down smooth, as the raised face of the coin just means you'll have to glob on more TIM to fill it all in, and there may be some points that are higher then others that cause uneven or little contact.

He's saying to use the coin to apply pressure, not to use it as a shim

 

[Kohta]

He's saying to use the coin to apply pressure, not to use it as a shim

The shims are cheap, I'm going to give that a shot. I just hope they are big enough to cover the die, should I put compound on both sides of the shim?

The ps4 die is 19x18.5mm the shims are 15x15 would it be fine?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yes, compound on both sides.

It does need to cover the die completely.

 

[Kohta]

I wanted to update, I ordered the shims but they are coming from China apparently so I'm looking at an estimated 30 days shipping...

I started getting artifacts in heavy primal fights in ffxiv and it got me worried, I took my headphones off and it was extremely loud, like a high end GPU at 100% fans, pushed down on it and it went down over half speed, so I did the penny thing under the bracket just now and the fan was so dead silent I thought something had come unplugged, I have to put my ear physically on the machine to hear it now, the fans speed in game now is what is was just sitting on the XMB. I hope the shim gets here soon, the chip is 19x18.5mm and I ordered 20x20 I think it should be fine. But this bandaid is working beautifully, I was basically letting my ps4 die slowly.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

20x20mm should be perfect

 

[jdrednation]

I wanted to update, I ordered the shims but they are coming from China apparently so I'm looking at an estimated 30 days shipping...

I started getting artifacts in heavy primal fights in ffxiv and it got me worried, I took my headphones off and it was extremely loud, like a high end GPU at 100% fans, pushed down on it and it went down over half speed, so I did the penny thing under the bracket just now and the fan was so dead silent I thought something had come unplugged, I have to put my ear physically on the machine to hear it now, the fans speed in game now is what is was just sitting on the XMB. I hope the shim gets here soon, the chip is 19x18.5mm and I ordered 20x20 I think it should be fine. But this bandaid is working beautifully, I was basically letting my ps4 die slowly.

I wanted to check in and see how the shims were working for you, if you did indeed end up using them. I have a launch PS4 and have been experiencing this jet engine fan problem since about the time Rocket League came out.

I replaced the thermal paste to no avail. I decided yesterday I'd give it another go with Uncharted 4 coming out. I bought a better paste this time, a new fan (why not?) and some new thermal pads for the memory chips.

I don't know if I'm having a problem with CPU/heat sink contact, and I'm not entirely sure how to tell. If anyone has any input on how to tell, I'd be grateful. Anyways, I'd love to hear back on how this went for you. Thanks

EDIT: and I guess on that note, how do I determine the size of the gap between the CPU and heatsink?