Thermal Gel

[emeraldice]

Assuming that you put a big enough dot....and the rotation...i dunno.
Mr. Wayniac does have a good quesiton.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Technically they want it spread on the CPU by hand so that the microscopic valleys do have a chance to get filled with the paste.

 

[Wayniac]

Thanks everybody... you've definitely answered my questions.

 

[Him]

Thermal compound is to fit in those little grooves and stuff, where there is space between the HSF and the CPU. When you clamp the HSF on, and there is a clump of compound, it is going to spread where it is needed. When it cannot fit in one place because there is no room for it, it is going to spread elsewhere. To where it is needed. It's like scratching a cat. You scratch it in one place, and let the cat move it's head around and get the spots that the cat wants scratched. You attach the HSF, and let the compound move to where it is needed, and physics will find the best place for it.

Wayniac, i'm glad we answered your questions. I remember when I asked this same question (when I first joined) it took a long time before I got a straight answer.

You're welcome.

 

[Wayniac]

Wow... very informative... thank you. One more thing. When I clean off the old thermal gel from before, I use rubbing alcohol like somebody said earlier, right? Afterwards, should I lightly wipe it down with something, or just put the new gel on with a faint hint of the rubbing alcohol still there?

 

[Him]

Well, rubbing alcohol will evaporate on it's own. So clean it off, use alcohol, and then wipe up the alcohol. Just dab it with toilet paper or something, let the big puddles of it soak up, and let the rest evaporate on it's own. Get Isopropyl with a very high alcohol content, like 98%.

 

[Wayniac]

Ah, gotcha. Wouldn't toilet paper leave particles there though... I guess your point is still the same either way though: dab up what I can and let the rest evaporate before applying the new thermal gel.

 

[Him]

It's not like it's a hard drive or a clean room or anti static place, it's just the exterior of a cpu. Minute particles dont matter, I dont even think large sections of toilet papr would matter. But yeah, all I'm saying is how to get the alcohol off of there. You dont need to worry about small particles, thats just being overly worried. No need to be. Sopmetimes people just make things more complicated than they need to be.

BTW, just out of curiousity, what kind of setup do you have going on?

 

[Wayniac]

Ah yes...

NVIDIA nForce 3 Ultra Chipset Based K8N Neo2 mobo
AMD Athlon 3000+ socket 939 @ 2.6 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT @ 400/1100
1 GB DDR 400 (PC 3200)
DVD player and seperate DVD RW drive
Floppy Drive
80 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
500 watt power supply
Sound Blaster Audigy
SAMSUNG SyncMaster 710T LCD monitor

Am I forgetting anything?

 

[Him]

Nah, thats a pretty killer rig you got there. What core is the AMD? Venice, newcastle, clawhammer, etc...