Thermal paste or pad?

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Profile Cliff Harding
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Message 2008964 - Posted: 23 Aug 2019, 18:17:30 UTC

Normally my machine's CPU temps are usually approx. 66-68c (EKWB custom liquid cooling loop) on a consistent basis, even during recent heatwaves where the ambient temps in the room are around 90-95f. The last couple of days machine temps have risen to approx. 78-85c, so I've been thinking of swapping out the thermal paste. Doing some basic research to find a better tim, I ran across thermal pads. Machine temps might increase 2-3c with the pads, and I don't have to be bothered with the mess of cleaning both the CPU and the copper plate of the cooling system, and the pads are reusable. I would like to know if anyone in the Seti-verse have had/are using thermal pads what your thoughts are.


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Profile Siran d'Vel'nahr
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Message 2008972 - Posted: 23 Aug 2019, 19:05:50 UTC - in response to Message 2008964.  

Normally my machine's CPU temps are usually approx. 66-68c (EKWB custom liquid cooling loop) on a consistent basis, even during recent heatwaves where the ambient temps in the room are around 90-95f. The last couple of days machine temps have risen to approx. 78-85c, so I've been thinking of swapping out the thermal paste. Doing some basic research to find a better tim, I ran across thermal pads. Machine temps might increase 2-3c with the pads, and I don't have to be bothered with the mess of cleaning both the CPU and the copper plate of the cooling system, and the pads are reusable. I would like to know if anyone in the Seti-verse have had/are using thermal pads what your thoughts are.

Hi Cliff,

My Raspberry Pis use pads under the heat sinks and they have adhesive to hold the heat sinks on the chips. Personally, I would not use the pads on a PCs CPU. The paste is designed to fill in any abnormalities (peaks and valleys) between the heat spreader and the heat sink. I use paste myself despite the annoying aspect of cleaning the old paste first. But, that's just me and my opinion. Perhaps the pads are better, I don't know. I would not use them myself though.

Have a great day! :)

Siran
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Message 2008977 - Posted: 23 Aug 2019, 19:32:07 UTC

Thermal Paste is way superior to pads for thermal conductivity (when each are used correctly).
However the fact is that a particular heatsink is designed with a particular heat transfer medium in mind- the pads are much, much, much thicker than the paste- so using pads on device designed for paste, or paste on a device designed for pads will most likely result in an extremely poor result.
Grant
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Message 2008978 - Posted: 23 Aug 2019, 19:48:41 UTC
Last modified: 23 Aug 2019, 19:50:16 UTC

There's also these thin, reusable graphite pads which people seem to have good results with, and are relatively new. However, the price per CPU seems high to me, even with it being reusable. Might be a good option if you swap out CPUs quite often, such as on a test rig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpphKzmDiJM

Personally, I stick with high quality pastes. Cheap, easy, and lasts for many many years.
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Message 2008994 - Posted: 23 Aug 2019, 22:41:33 UTC - in response to Message 2008978.  

I use pure petroleum jelly (Vaseline) for TIM. It is cheap, works excellently (conducts heat but not electricity), is easy to clean off surfaces (and fingers) and does not evaporate. My two crunchers (dual Xeons) have been running 24/7 for 2 or more years each with no temp increases at all.
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Message boards : Number crunching : Thermal paste or pad?


 
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