What do people use for thermal paste?
- Thread starter Grall
- Start date
Umm, for emergency, just any cheap goop sold by computer shops.
For ps4 RAM I use high thermal transfer thermal pads that I forgot the brand. As for the paste I use if not noctua, arctic silver.
Those does makes my ps4 less like a jet engine before I sold it.
For ps4 RAM I use high thermal transfer thermal pads that I forgot the brand. As for the paste I use if not noctua, arctic silver.
Those does makes my ps4 less like a jet engine before I sold it.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Are you sure the cooler is mounted correctly? Idle temps are normal?
Haven't looked into paste for over a decade but I doubt it makes more than a couple of degrees difference.
Haven't looked into paste for over a decade but I doubt it makes more than a couple of degrees difference.
Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 tri-linear ceramic thermal compound. I find a tube will last me for years without going bad, it's pretty easy to work with and lasts along time, and it's an electrical insulator rather than a conductor.
Before that I used Arctic Silver Ceramique, for pretty much the exact same reasons. I do NOT like using conductive thermal pastes, it just seems like an invitation for disaster.
Before that I used Arctic Silver Ceramique, for pretty much the exact same reasons. I do NOT like using conductive thermal pastes, it just seems like an invitation for disaster.
When you used the paste, how was it? Was it still paste or was it like putty you had to smear on? How did you apply it, and how thick?
Anything silicone based (so 99% of what you buy in computer shops) will be contaminated by human skin oils if you ever touch it. If you don't clean both surfaces thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol and/or touch it with your fingers, it will last only a few weeks. That is the number one reason people say it works only for a certain time.
Also if you put too much paste it will be much worse than not enough. Too much creates a barrier preventing heat conduction.
Arctic silver 5 is very good, probably no reason to use anything else. I used arctic ceramic on my ps4 and pro because it's what I had left. I don't recommend it unless you have a professional stainless stencil/scraper applicator. It's not worth the trouble and can lead to worse performance for most users.
Also if you put too much paste it will be much worse than not enough. Too much creates a barrier preventing heat conduction.
Arctic silver 5 is very good, probably no reason to use anything else. I used arctic ceramic on my ps4 and pro because it's what I had left. I don't recommend it unless you have a professional stainless stencil/scraper applicator. It's not worth the trouble and can lead to worse performance for most users.
Oh, I should mention. After I clean the heatsink/CPU or GPU I always then wipe it off with a coffee filter dampened with rubbing alcohol. Coffee filters are lint free, so it gives a great finish.
I also wear vinyl gloves when I'm doing that step and then a fresh set when I apply the thermal paste. (I buy 'em by the carton, I use them for cooking a LOT and they make it soo much easier. Find 'em useful in lots of other ways too. Handy.)
The worst problem I've ever had was due to a cat coming by when I was putting a heatsink on a CPU. Unknown to me after all my careful prep one of his hairs had fallen into the paste on the CPU and MAN did it screw with my temperatures in weird ways! Fortunately I decided to be clever and check the heatsink/cpu first and found it and the problem was solved.
I haven't had much trouble with paste going bad, pretty much not ever on one I've done myself.
I also wear vinyl gloves when I'm doing that step and then a fresh set when I apply the thermal paste. (I buy 'em by the carton, I use them for cooking a LOT and they make it soo much easier. Find 'em useful in lots of other ways too. Handy.)
The worst problem I've ever had was due to a cat coming by when I was putting a heatsink on a CPU. Unknown to me after all my careful prep one of his hairs had fallen into the paste on the CPU and MAN did it screw with my temperatures in weird ways! Fortunately I decided to be clever and check the heatsink/cpu first and found it and the problem was solved.
I haven't had much trouble with paste going bad, pretty much not ever on one I've done myself.
I smoosh it around with my finger wearing the glove, works well once you get the hang of it.
I did try some Rosewill stuff that was non-conductive and came in a bottle like finger nail polish and had a little applicator brush and I really did like that since it made it so easy to apply, but it doesn't have the best shelf life and I can go years without needing it so I usually end up using the Ceramique.
The important thing is smooth surfaces and applying as little as possible of whatever gunk you choose.
I once ran a Athlon X2 (90W TDP) using a drop of olive oil for four weeks before the tube of arctic silver, I ordered, arrived. The arctic silver dropped the CPU temp by one degree celcius.
Maybe the HSF is broken. If it's a heat pipe design, the working fluid might have leaked/evaporated.
Cheers
I once ran a Athlon X2 (90W TDP) using a drop of olive oil for four weeks before the tube of arctic silver, I ordered, arrived. The arctic silver dropped the CPU temp by one degree celcius.
Maybe the HSF is broken. If it's a heat pipe design, the working fluid might have leaked/evaporated.
Cheers
Yes, it's mounted correctly. Not really any possibility of getting it wrong with Noctua.
Idle temps are certainly above what I've come to expect from my previous CPUs, but I'm running all fans on super slow speed when idling...and the 7900X is quite the brute.Tom's published a guide this past summer with A LOT of pastes tested (including tooth and dentures paste
). There was a surprisingly large temp differential, even when excluding the joke products. The metallic compounds performed the best, naturally, but seem to have a lot of gotchas attached to them. Biggest of all of course being if one uses too much and it squishes out the side when clamping down the cooler your system will be toast...Yeah, they're inviting (up to several C:s worth of improved temps compared to the best traditional paste), but man... So scary to work with.
Like I remember Noctua's paste to be. Gooey.
Yeah, well, I didn't touch the CPU cap before installing it, but maybe the heatsink. I dunno, it's been sitting for over 4 years in its box since I last used it, and that was only briefly (long enough to discover it overlapped the primary PCIe slot... D'oh.) I'm gonna get some isopropyl alcohol and then clean it all up and re-apply when I get my new (black!) case fans.
I mixed up two things, what causes the oil to separate with silicone based ones?
Edit: Okay so aparently it's the surface that gets contamination from touching or not cleaning, skin oil is preventing the compound from filling the metal pores. The oil separation is not related.
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A lot of the serious/professional modders really like Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste, has good performance and durability.
Just need to warm it up a little to make it easier to spread.
Good video showing ways to spread this:
However the greatest thermal improvement comes from using the Grizzly Conductonaut delidding the CPU (more applicable to the more modern Intel CPUs and their thermal solution and how packaged.) - only use the Conductonaut when delidding and need to be careful due to its properties.
Just need to warm it up a little to make it easier to spread.
Good video showing ways to spread this:
However the greatest thermal improvement comes from using the Grizzly Conductonaut delidding the CPU (more applicable to the more modern Intel CPUs and their thermal solution and how packaged.) - only use the Conductonaut when delidding and need to be careful due to its properties.
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Thanks for the tip.
I'm gonna skip the delid and conductonaut bit tho - wanna keep my warranty intact.
Technically 104C, since 105 is the limit, so it doesn't actually seem to hit that high. I went into UEFI and knocked back the thermal limit for the CPU to 90C - all that happens is that a red LED lights up on the mobo when the CPU exceeds the UEFI limit... *sigh* /golfclap
It's not overclocked, as such; I bumped the mesh slightly, RAMs run at 3600MT, that's it, but it's a small case and it has two R390Xes pumping out heat into it. That bumps CPU temp up quite a bit. When just the CPU runs it sits about 5C cooler on average. Something like that anyway.
Running Folding@Home. Some work packets seem to hit the AVX units pretty hard, while other work packets run cooler.
Sounds like you simply have a bad cooling configuration in your case. You never answered what you ambient is. When everything's idle, what are your motherboard and CPU temps? How high is your room temp?
If the GPUs are Crossfire'd, are they still clocking down core and mem?
If the GPUs are Crossfire'd, are they still clocking down core and mem?
Grall, just for background which air cooler are you using with the 7900X?Yes, it's mounted correctly. Not really any possibility of getting it wrong with Noctua.
Tom's published a guide this past summer with A LOT of pastes tested (including tooth and dentures paste
Yeah, they're inviting (up to several C:s worth of improved temps compared to the best traditional paste), but man... So scary to work with.
Like I remember Noctua's paste to be. Gooey.
Yeah, well, I didn't touch the CPU cap before installing it, but maybe the heatsink. I dunno, it's been sitting for over 4 years in its box since I last used it, and that was only briefly (long enough to discover it overlapped the primary PCIe slot... D'oh.) I'm gonna get some isopropyl alcohol and then clean it all up and re-apply when I get my new (black!) case fans.
One thing worth checking is monitoring voltages as the motherboard/firmware-microcode could be aggravating this or also whether all cores are synced for Max frequency (so all cores hit the Turbo Boost 3 frequency that is 4.5GHz, some BIOS call this Multicore Enhancement) , just mentioning because as Malo says the temps your hitting is very unusual if you are using one of the top air coolers (say equivalent to D15) and importantly not overclocking.
In the meantime maybe try reseating with a new paste while checking voltage behaviour and separately cores/frequency behaviour.
With the standard TIM and a very good air cooler I would make sure Multi-core enhancement is not enabled (to begin with for these higher core count CPUs) and voltages stay a fair bit below 1.25V and really no more than 1.20V if possible.
Apologies if you have done this already.
That said I would expect a high quality air cooler such as for comparison the D15 with both fans to be able to support the 7900X (but Multi-core Enhancement possibly a stretch too far without replacing the default TIM with say Conductonaut) as long as it stayed around 1.21V and never truly OCd, but you would need to ensure fans could spin up although they should not need to be 100%.
Just make sure AVX offset is say 300MHz-500MHz or lower as it hits the voltages.
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I just notice you say certain loads meaning more than just general use/gaming.
Yeah it will unless set the cooler fans (assuming similar spec to Noctua D15) to a higher speed and even then it will struggle with some loads such as Prime/definitely AVX/some others; comes back to replacing the TIM with something like liquid metal such as Conductonaut as the TIM really limits the cooling with these generations.
This is even before considering Multi-core enhanced.
The thermal paste such as Grizzly Kryonaut should lower temps by 3-8c, but Conductonaut replacing the TIM on the latest Intel CPUs will lower temps by 13-20C.
To put it into context a Noctua D15 could comfortably run (meaning not require max fan speed) a 6950X OC'd up to around 1.25V and with Multicore Enhancement enabled because that was the last generation to use solder from Intel, that is no longer the case.
