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Originally Posted by Redroar No kidding. Just to make sure of what I'm doing before I start pulling stuff apart, I want to double-check the procedure for cleaning and setting thermal paste. I've put down thermal paste a few times, but have little experience at taking it off. Tell me if this sounds right:
1) Remove the heatsink by pulling upwards, maybe twisting it slightly to break the seal?
2) Use a lint-free cotton cloth and 96% Isopropyl Alcohol to remove the old thermal paste from both the heatsink, and the core.
3) Spread a very thin layer of AS5 over the core, just enough so you can't see the top of it.
4) Reattach the heatsink, then hope like crazy it does a good job. |
The part that's very often left out is to be very careful when loosening the screws on your mobo for removing the heatsink. As I've read you're using a heatsink with is attached with a backplate on the mobo and screwed on. After a while, depending on how you attached the heatsink in your first build, those screws could be rather stuck. Make sure you don't use excessive force as you may slip up and damage your board.
I sent a mobo to the eternal mobo lands that way.
For applying the thermal compound I always apply it only to the cleaned heatsink. It's very easy and much faster that way.
Use some light plastic tape and tape it around the area of the heatsink where you want to apply the thermal compound. It should be shaped in a rectangle which should be a little bigger area than the
CPU core. Then place a bit of AS5 in the middle of the rectangle and use some kind of flat object, like a credit card, to even it out. When the AS5 surface is evenly distributed in the rectangle and the layer is not higher than the plastic tape you're good. Of course you will also need to remove the plastic tape.
This is of course only a suggestion
When attaching the heatsink again you need to make sure you don't apply too much pressure with one screw at a time. The best thing to do is to evenly distribute the pressure points with the screws. Otherwise you might chip your core or even break it. Fasten the screws until you need to make a reasonable effort to fasten them even further. Don't go too far or you'll crush the core.
The rest of your procedure is very much okay. Good luck and have fun
