Arctic Silver application question

so I applied AS5 on my GPU/CPU. CPU readings are fine, somewhat. for my GPU though, seems temps rose a LOT. Playing Crysis 2 on very high settings hits me up at 100c max.

Attached is a shot of my AS5 application. I think it's pretty close to Inap's thermal paste guide but I'm not too sure on that.

Comments ideas suggestions inputs and such are most welcome.

If any at all, this is my first time doing this

Thanks!

 

Such a high temperature means you didn't apply enough paste (seems so when I look at this pic, but it's hard to tell) or you have some airbubbles between the die and the heatsink.

Anyway, reapply the paste, clean the heatsink and the GPU properly before applying the fresh paste of course... When you lift the heatsink you'll also see whether you used enough paste or not.

 

Actually that is too much. You are insulating the GPU. Here is my advice for you. Since this is getting applied directly to the core unlike desktops, the spreading method is the best to get as thin as possible of a coat. Get a box cutter razor and use that to spread it. Thermal compound is supposed to be applied in the smallest amount as possible. It is just meant to fill the imperfections in the core and heatsink. Any more then that is insulating.

 

actually that should be more then enough paste, i only use about half of that, but open it up again to see how well it spread.

 

all right. cleaning and reapplying paste again. will post pics of when I removed it - after cleaning it - and reapplying. Thanks.

 

Just for your reference. I use AS5 also. My temps with my overclock are:

Idle:
Core - 41C
Mem - 43C
Shaders - 41C

Max temps I have seen after reapplying:
Core - 73C
Mem - 85C
Shaders - 77C

Those temps were obtained playing GTA4. I can't even get benchmarks to get temps that high. I do need new thermal pads for my memory chips though and I need to invest in a cooling pad but my temps are well within the safe range.

Edit: Also, no two chips are alike. What one gets for temps are not going to be the same as another.

 

Cleaned & reapplied.

Boot up temps are as follows:
CPU
53
52
52
51

GPU [accdg to HWinfo32]
DispIO 45.5
MemIO 48.0
Shader 46

results after crysis 2

1 game of crash site at skyline maxed me out at 101c [yes it went higher, same settings]
quick final mission for the campaign maxed at 92c.

Photos here:

 

that is still too much. Once flattened, the paste should be 0.4mm thick maximum. Ideal would be 0.25mm thick. It should be almost translucent.

 

ok so I shall try cutting it in half. Thanks.


one thing though, when I apply less, the whole die doesn't get covered. I'm not sure why. Screws are as tight as they get for the heatsink. they definitly aren't warped. accdg to inap's guide though, the whole die has to be covered.

 

reapplied twice.

On the first one, I used half the amount on my photos. I had temp readings rise up to 117C.

on the second one, I used slightly more than the amount on my photos just enough to cover the whole die [very minor uncovered zones on corners. much better spreading than previous ones] resulted in 95C max. probably my best application by far.

 

perhaps paste isn't the only problem?

 

What about your thermal pads bro your putting those on also right?

Also clean out your gpu fan and heat sink exhaust, personally i use can of compressed air (i've been told that can of compressed air can cause static electricity so be careful just incase bro)

 

I wouldn't spread, actually. I used to believe in the spread method, but now I just use the "dot" or "cross" method. Spreading actually causes more air bubbles, but allowing the paste to spread naturally from the pressure of the heatsink forces all the air bubbles out naturally.

Here's a video that demonstrates:
YouTube - How Thermal Compound Spreads

And this demo shows what happens specifically if you spread Arctic Silver:
YouTube - How Arctic Silver spreads in Spread method (Addon)

These videos provided me with enough conclusive evidence to settle the age-old argument, but make of it what you will

For the record, I used the "cross" method on both my GPU and CPU with AS5, and I have fantastic temps. Granted, I don't have top-of-the-line specs either

 

Reporting in.

Factors for my temp

GPU/CPU heatsinks are clean and dandy.
Thermal pads are put back to place, never touched them and I have never replaced them either [the ones touching the black thingies yes? I believe those are the shaders and core unit but I could be wrong]

I put the paste on using line method I think.

Another thing is I live in south east asia. Philippines to be precise. Area is bloody hot so I know ambient temp plays a huge factor.

 

Those are the memory units, the shader/core units are both part of the GPU die itself Line method should be alright, I still might recommend the cross, but you should be fine honestly. I just don't think you should use the old spread method IMO, those videos I posted above changed my views on thermal paste application completely around Ambient temperature does play a huge role. If you're still getting bad temps, look into getting a laptop cooler.

 

all right gotcha. if that's the case - why is it that my memory units are the ones heating up insanely? I don't remember my shader/core ever reaching anywhere around 90s since the application of AS5. any ideas on how to reduce heat from them?

ok so after a bit of googling, Thermal Pads. Maybe I screwed mine over? I remember when I first removed my GPU heatsink, it was pretty warm and I saw the memory controllers slightly wet, possibly from the pad. Kinda like sweating I think, and I wiped the memo controllers clean.

 

The memory chips are only kept in contact with the heatsink by the thermal pads. If there's something wrong with the pads it'll give you bad temps on the memory. The thermal paste you use won't be coming in contact with the memory, so your memory temps won't be affected by a paste change.

 

yeah I figured that. I changed my pads for the mem chips. Not sure if these have curing or anything of that sort. Will report back in. I took the .5mm thick ones.

quick question: Do brands matter much for thermal pads?

 

Brands don't matter, but it helps when the pads have a decent thermal conductivity... most pads on the web seem to have a t.c. of about 3-5W/mk... you can also find premium pads with up to 17W/mK, that's the highest I've seen so far.

 

Also, keep in mind that the pads might not be thick enough, and they may have to be stacked in some cases. Sometimes it's necessary to have two layers of pads to get sufficient contact with the heatsink. Just don't go crazy, you don't want to insulate anything.

 

The stock thermal pads are not bad. In my M17x I get max 82 on memIO card 1, and 78-79 max on card 2 memIO. My cards are 2x 5870, so it is rather close to your 50 model. My core temps max out on 80-81c on the main card, and I use stock termal paste.

What you need to do is:
1: check that the card is properly seated.
2: check that the thermal pads are not too thick or thin. Too thick pads will lift heatsink from the gpu core, which result in bad temps. Too thin pads will make bad contact with the mem chips and that will result in high memIO temps.
3: clean out all the dust from the vents.
4: try another cooling paste? might help
5: get a good laptop cooler.
6 if none of that worked, get the card replaced.

Have a great day!

 

I tried using Artic Silver 5 and my temps were always above 100c, the stuff just blows when it comes down to it. I traded up and got Artic Mx-3 and it works like a charm. I also bought fujipoly thermal pads. I never go above 80c

 

AS5 isn't bad at all, bad it's harder to apply it properly. MX-3 spreads easier and thus is more comfortable to apply. Technically AS5 is a bit better (thermal conductivity).

 

AS5 is the best rated period when it comes to thermal conductivity. I just takes practice to apply it correct as it is really thick.

 

Thanks for all the feedback.

My current readings went up as far as 101C on my memo chips [that's a 4.8W pad. IDK what my old one was.] and my core/shaders never got anywhere near 90C since applying AS5. I've been crying about my memory temp all the while without knowing. lol.

I took .5mm pads as I read somewhere in this board that .5mm is the thing for m15x.

 

Sounds like the pad is too low to make proper contact with the heatsink. Try 1mm pads on the memIO and see if the memory temps improve.