can you use too little thermal grease?

[c627627]

My thoughts are the same as what you've already been told:

I've never done this but

Lapping is the process of sanding the bottom of the heatsink, so that it is very smooth and shiny. When you first receive your heatsink, run your fingernail across the bottom of it and you will feel lots of little ridges or bumps. The purpose of lapping is to remove these ridges.

What you want to do is take a piece of wet sandpaper and lay it on a smooth flat surface, and then set the heatsink on the sandpaper. I use a figure 8 motion to sand the bottom of the heatsink myself. I start with a 600 grit sandpaper, then move up to a 1000 grit, and finally a 1500 grit. When finished, the bottom of the heatsink should be smooth and shiny looking.

Be sure to carefully read:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina_instructions.htm
http://www.arcticsilver.com/ceramique_instructions.htm

Finally look into correct heatsink mounting.

99% alcohol is better than 95% alcohol. Let it dry after cleaning it.

 

[Steve978]

hmmm i think I'll take out the heatsink clean it up and the core then leave them out overnight then retry it in the morning D:

 

[bk94si]

Are you using the stock heatsink and how many case fans do you have?

 

[Steve978]

its a thermalright SLK-800A with a vantec stealth rest of my comp is in my sig and its at default voltage and speed, and I have 2 case fans in the back as intake

 

[Nanotherm]

hmmm i think I'll take out the heatsink clean it up and the core then leave them out overnight then retry it in the morning D:

Steve978,

Clean 'em up, but you don't have to leave them overnite to dry. Use whatever kind or isopropyl alcohol that you have (70%, 91%, 99% - the higher the better, but they will all do the job) and use a coffee filter because they are lint free.

Let me ask you a couple quick questions: 1) What thermal compound are you using? 2) How and where are you applying it?

Please reply at your earliest convenience.

 

[Steve978]

Arctic Silver 3, I put a large amount on the heatsink then take a wee bit with my razor blade then spread that on the core its a very thin layer the rest i used the bag the heatsink came in to rub the thermal grease in then wiped it off with an old t shirt. I might try putting a vantec tornado on it to see if its the fan but this isnt a fix for me as I have grown to hate the noie of the tornado.

 

[unreal]

um wait u said 2 intakes in the back? nonono u want air flowing out near the top not in. use enough artic to almost still see the chip writing, paper thin, u already lap so thats good, airflow should be something like intake front bottom and outtake back top, or as high as possible...

 

[Steve978]

well i dont have any other fan positions and I really dont want to cut up my case its a very nice aluminum with and acrylic front panel and side window. But there are 2 80mm fan places in the back. I should change these to out?

 

[Steve978]

k im gonna switch to my tornado see what happens

 

[Steve978]

k well now its running same temps with a tornado sat on it so im perty sure its gotta be the contact

 

[CGR]

Wait a minute, you put a large amount of AS on the HS and the Core?

Shoudlnt do that... follow these application directions precisely.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

If you follow all the instructions then you will get a good contact and amount of AS...

 

[Steve978]

"spread that on the core its a very thin layer the rest i used the bag the heatsink came in to rub the thermal grease in then wiped it off with an old t shirt." I wiped the as3 off the hs this is supposed to get grease in all the lil cracks

 

[bk94si]

k well now its running same temps with a tornado sat on it so im perty sure its gotta be the contact

I'm betting it is high case temps. I would switch those rear case fans around. You sure there isn't someplace to put a fan in the front? Most cases have someplace to put one in the front at the bottom. Try running it with the side panel off. If the temp goes down then you know it is airflow and not the heatsink. A tornado should have made the temp come down some.

 

[Steve978]

im gonna run it all night without the sides on see what temps are like in the morning

 

[c627627]

Motherboard Monitor
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/download.html


Example: How to use Epox 8RDA+ onboard LED to display temperatures:

Right click on the MBM icon in your system tray and select 'Settings'

* General (left side of the window) > Basic (right side of the window) >

Set the following menu option as double click: Settings

Scroll all the way down to 'Enable RD2Pro Support' and make sure it's CHECKED and >
Port '$80' and Sensor 1 is selected underneath


* Temperatures (left side of the window) >
MBM sensor: Sensor1 > Should display Board sensor: WinBond 2 (CPU Temp)
MBM sensor: Sensor2 > Should display Board sensor: WinBond 3 (Case Temp)
Now click on Apply in the lower left side of the window.

 

[RobP4P]

how much of a difference does this make?

lapped my sk7, gave me about 5 degrees lower temps...the finish on some thermalright products is horrible.

my trick for thermal paste is to put a dab on the heatsink, then spread it almost transparently thin with a credit card.

 

[Nanotherm]

"spread that on the core its a very thin layer the rest i used the bag the heatsink came in to rub the thermal grease in then wiped it off with an old t shirt." I wiped the as3 off the hs this is supposed to get grease in all the lil cracks

If you applied the TIM in a very thin layer with a clean plastic bag, then why in tarnation would you then rub it off with a dusty, linty T-shirt and then attach the HSF to the CPU? Why would you rub it off at all? Am I missing something here? Please help me understand...

 

[c627627]

No matter what anyone says, spend a minute or two reading this, that's the way it should go, the rest is improvising:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina_instructions.htm
http://www.arcticsilver.com/ceramique_instructions.htm

 

[Nanotherm]

Well, I guess that depends on what type of TIM you're applying - doesn't it? If that's what AS recommends for their compounds, then that's what you should do. For applying other TIMs, AS' application instructions may not be so applicable...

 

[CGR]

hes using AS3 thats why i posted the AS instructions.