thermal grease deterioration!?!?!?!

[alpha_gamer]

my comp used to run at a cool 40 degrees with my volcano 5, a thunderbird @ 10.5 x 133! now my temps exceed 53 degrees! i've heard that thermal grease can wear out, but that seems kind of weird, anyway, i was just wondering what could have caused this massive change

 

[SkunkApe]

Dust

Assuming your room temperature has remained constant, the answer is "dust".

These modified cases we have with fifteen intake fans and 38,00 RPM CPU fans suck up dust like crazy.

I've got a Swiftech MCX370 heatsink for my CPU. It has a bunch of grooved pins sticking out of the base that get loaded with dust over time. I can gradually watch my CPU temps rising. Every couple of months, I pull the fan off and run a business card in between all the pins to get the dusty gunk out, then clean the fan blades with cotton swabs. The best way to clean the heatsink, though, is to run it through the dishwasher. Obviously, I have to redo my thermal paste with this method, so I do it less frequently.

That's the price you pay for never vacuuming your room.

 

[danorthface]

just take out the hs and run it under some hot water.. then use a hair dryer to make sure it's not wet before putting it back in the system

 

[HaywirE]

Well, try to reapply... There's only so much that grease can handle, you can think of it as "car oil" needed to be changed so very often. I try to do my'n every 6 Months, or maybe even 4.

 

[Oni]

Remember not to use too much grease. You only need a paper thin layer. Any more can actually have a negative impact on your cooling.

 

[The Coolest]

Yea thermal grease can propably dry out, I had it happening some times, but rarely. I'm used to seeing it on computers that haven't been treated for a long time. So reapllying the thermalgrease once in a while MIGHT be a good idea. But generaly its the dust that is the main problem, my heatsinks contsatntly getting loads of dust on them, but it only takes my CPU temps a couple of Cs higher, I just take 'em off and wash under some running water, leave them to sit on a piece of paper to dry, and connect the fan so it spins, it dries it out in minutes. Put it back on and I have a couple of C less!

 

[kevmarks]

Funny that MCXC370 cleaning should come up as this is something I did today. I ran the whole thing under tha tap at full speed to jet the dust out of there and then used kitchen roll between the helecoils to dry them. I also found soft scrub works very well on the base almost giving it a very (wouldn't notice unless I pointed it out) mild lapping. running 2c cooler now.

Temps usually go up around this time of year, as long as you have no heat related lockups you are fine. I am running 40c case temp and 60c processor temp with no problems.

 

[alpha_gamer]

thanks for the ideas, i'll try those and see if they work. i'm also considering trying a liquid nitrogen cooling system. as long as my parents don't notice the tank and that the comp is smoking i'll get away with it!

 

[packratbob]

how do u guys get access to ln2 u need special liciences here to work with that kinda stuff..

oh yah i thought my problem with my water cool sys was the as3 too but when i checked out my radiator it was blocked to the max hardly any air if any was gettting through.
still havent had time to go out and get filters. so i have to clean it almost every week

 

[craigiz1]

I asked that once and got some responses of every 3-4 month's. I use a generic silver and I notice that it does dry a bit. I don't know about real AS3.

 

[hellwolf]

well atm i using some cheapo thermal grease (ac3 on order) and well first day my temp are lower then 2nd day and so on.... the thermal paste im uisng turn grey?... dunno why but i think the paste burns up or something... everytime i chek it has a grey brownish couler... so if ya using cheap thermal paste get some ac3

 

[alpha_gamer]

no, this is real AC3, i'll try cleaning out my HS soon, haven't had time

 

[alpha_gamer]

sorry 'bout not replying sooner, i cleaned all of the dust out of my hs, (a good half pound of it) and my temps dropped back down to 45 degrees (i lied on my first post), it seems to have worked great, thanks for the help!

 

[JaY_III]

I have never had a problem with AS...
I have had problems with gerneric thermal paste drying out however....

But AS doesnt seem to dry out....
then again i dont think i have had the same thermal paste on any of my CPU's for over 6 months

 

[diehrd]

I just did basic maintance to my Dual heatsinks...At 100% load for 3 months the Artic silver 2 was toast...Almost all of was gone lol...

Cleaned and reapplied Artic silver 3 will see how well this holds up under constant load...

 

[ThePunkGeek]

i have never had a problem with as3 waring out maybe thats because its always on and when it gets shut off it is usally to change something with usually ends up with me remounting my block