Thermal grease that is too soft and sparse – low thermal conductivity. We will show you some examples of good and bad thermal pastes. The density can often be determined empirically, simply by applying the thermal compound, mounting the water block, removing the water block and observing the spread pattern of the thermal compound. One more attribute that is sometimes stated by some manufacturers is the viscosity. Some manufacturers use the term specific gravity, some just label it as density and both are expressed in g/cm³ which stands for grams per cubic centimeter. Next stop is the “specific gravity” which in layman’s terms is the density. The higher the number, the better the thermal conductivity of the compound is. First and probably the most important is the conductivity, which in cases of thermal paste labeling is often expressed in W/mK which stands for Watt per meter by Kelvin. The role of the thermal compound is simple, to fill the tiny gaps between the cooler and the IHS and to promote thermal conductivity (or just to make some additional heat conductivity possible if the two surfaces are convex or concave).įor that role to be fulfilled, the thermal paste has to meet some requirements. The proper terms for these two situations is that the surface is either convex or concave. It happens from sample to sample that the IHS or the cold plate are not geometrically flat. Micro imperfections of the heat spreader and heatsink surface are often not the only problem. If you would join these two surfaces together without any thermal paste, you would have poor thermal conductivity and the CPU would overheat. So, you probably get the picture by now: the surface of the CPU is not smooth enough and the base of the cooling body is not smooth enough either. Some manufacturers deliberately leave machine grooves on the base of their coolers to get a more even spread of the thermal paste. The situation with the coolers and cold plates of water blocks is almost the same, or in some cases, even worse. CPU manufacturers don’t bother much around the IHS and as you can see, it’s not the smoothest surface if we take a closer look. The CPU chip itself is substantially smaller than the IHS, that is made out of copper and is nickel plated. It is the metal piece that covers the CPU. The IHS is short for „Integrated Heat Spreader“. Here is an example of an AMD CPU and its IHS. Both these surfaces appear smooth to the human eye, but if you magnify it, you could see that it is actually quite bumpy and uneven. Imagine the surface of the water block, or any other cooling system and the surface of the CPU on a microscopic level. But we want to go deeper into this topic. First, we need to discuss why we use thermal paste at all.
APPLYING THERMAL PASTE HOW TO
In one of our previous articles, we showed you how to correctly apply the thermal paste. Customer Support Knowledge database, support tickets.Events EK’s virtual events in one place.
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APPLYING THERMAL PASTE PC
Make sure you place your cooler on as straight as possible the first time. Ideally, applying the thermal paste will be the last step before mounting your heatsink. If you place your cooler and then realize you forgot a bracket or backplate you’ll have to wipe down and start again. No larger than a grain of rice or two.īefore installing your cooler make sure all required hardware is in place. Don’t go overboard or you will sacrifice performance. You only need a small dot a few millimeters in diameter. Squeeze out a small amount of thermal paste onto the center of the CPU. A quick wipe with a non-linting towel and some isopropyl alcohol will do the trick. Before you start squeezing the plunger, it's a good idea to make sure the surface of both your cooler and your CPU is clean.
APPLYING THERMAL PASTE INSTALL
The simplicity of this method works to eliminate the issues with other application methods and guarantees great performance and even spread of thermal paste every time, provided you install your cooler correctly. (Image credit: Future) Using the Dot Method
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