Thermal Paste
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Nate Robbie
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2015 12:03 am
Thermal Paste
New here to PC building. I've identified that at idle my stock CPU fan is the loudest component in my PC. I'm going to replace it with a Scythe Kotesu. What sort of thermal paste and cleaner do I need for the job? Do heat-sinks generally come with thermal paste?
Re: Thermal Paste
Welcome to SPCR.
Coolers generally come with thermal paste and the Kotetsu is no exception - you can see the paste in the SPCR review.
Isopropyl alcohol and q-tips work fine for cleaning the old paste off.
If you want to use an aftermarket paste, I like Arctic Cooling's Ceramique II as it's easy to use, is electrically non-conductive, and inexpensive. Unless you are a wild overvolter, there is very little difference in performance between pastes.
Coolers generally come with thermal paste and the Kotetsu is no exception - you can see the paste in the SPCR review.
Isopropyl alcohol and q-tips work fine for cleaning the old paste off.
If you want to use an aftermarket paste, I like Arctic Cooling's Ceramique II as it's easy to use, is electrically non-conductive, and inexpensive. Unless you are a wild overvolter, there is very little difference in performance between pastes.
Re: Thermal Paste
If you want more info: Very good recent TIM comparison and My favorite article on applying TIM
But this is a subject that builders tend to obsess over more than it really deserves. You can see from the above that all the TIM choices in the top half of that chart are within a couple of degrees of each other, as are all the different application patterns tried. And a couple of degrees either way just isn't important unless you're running closer to your CPU's limits than you ought to.
That said, I like to dote on my rigs and buy them nice components, even when it doesn't really matter in a practical sense, so I've always used high end (but not super-premium) pastes. Nowadays I tend to prefer Noctua heatsinks, and they all come with Noctua's private label NT-H1 paste which is very good, so I use that in an X-pattern. But anything in the top half of the list is close enough to equally good, so use whichever you have, or what's on sale. Lower the heatsink down square and flat to the CPU, don't tilt it so one side touches first or it'll squeeze the TIM out away from that side. And it helps if you twist the heatsink back and forth a little once fully pressed down, before securing it.
If you end up redoing it, make sure you start each application with a totally clean CPU and heatsink; residues from prior attempts can create insulative air bubbles. And I like to clean mine with paper coffee filters, they're dirt cheap, reasonably absorbent, and lint free. Q-Tips work OK too, but they can shed tiny fine cotton fibers that are like boulders at the microscopic level you're trying to fill. And isopropyl alcohol is fine for normal cleaning, but if you ever need to clean off old baked on gunk or melted thermal pads or something, ArctiClean is amazing stuff, and one small cheap kit will probably last you for life.
But this is a subject that builders tend to obsess over more than it really deserves. You can see from the above that all the TIM choices in the top half of that chart are within a couple of degrees of each other, as are all the different application patterns tried. And a couple of degrees either way just isn't important unless you're running closer to your CPU's limits than you ought to.
That said, I like to dote on my rigs and buy them nice components, even when it doesn't really matter in a practical sense, so I've always used high end (but not super-premium) pastes. Nowadays I tend to prefer Noctua heatsinks, and they all come with Noctua's private label NT-H1 paste which is very good, so I use that in an X-pattern. But anything in the top half of the list is close enough to equally good, so use whichever you have, or what's on sale. Lower the heatsink down square and flat to the CPU, don't tilt it so one side touches first or it'll squeeze the TIM out away from that side. And it helps if you twist the heatsink back and forth a little once fully pressed down, before securing it.
If you end up redoing it, make sure you start each application with a totally clean CPU and heatsink; residues from prior attempts can create insulative air bubbles. And I like to clean mine with paper coffee filters, they're dirt cheap, reasonably absorbent, and lint free. Q-Tips work OK too, but they can shed tiny fine cotton fibers that are like boulders at the microscopic level you're trying to fill. And isopropyl alcohol is fine for normal cleaning, but if you ever need to clean off old baked on gunk or melted thermal pads or something, ArctiClean is amazing stuff, and one small cheap kit will probably last you for life.
Re: Thermal Paste
Despite antiquated publication date, you can still find many useful thermal paste info from below reviews.
Many pastes mentioned in the review are still available in 2015 market.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... dup-1.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... dup-2.html
Many pastes mentioned in the review are still available in 2015 market.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... dup-1.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... dup-2.html