Thermal paste

[martin007]

Hi!

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_paste

I'm going to buy a few grams of thermal paste.
I have some doubts.

How many grams of thermal pasta does a processor need?

How many years does the thermal paste last in storage?

[Burgerman]

A CPU needs much much less than a gram. A super thin layer. One "spot" spread thin across the surface. Does it keep?
Depends what you buy. 1 gram would do half a dozen CPUs.

I use liquid metal. Its literally just low melting point metal. Galium etc. And so it lasts billions of years if undisturbed. It works better than thermal paste too. BUT not for the nervous types! It conducts and has the consistency of thin oil. As such if you use too much it shorts everything out! Dead computer.

But do it properly and its safe. And you lose at least 7 or 8 degrees extra.

https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/prod ... uid-metal/

Really does work miracles. I used it on my wildly overclocked GPU and CPU water blocks on my custom built PC a few years back. Been great ever since in spite of the years and the extreme conditions. 300 watts at the CPU and about 400 watts or more at the GPU. And it barely gets above room temperature.

[Burgerman]

Unicorn poop.

[Burgerman]

So did you get some?

[martin007]

I have put it on my shopping list.

[martin007]

How long has it been since you changed the thermal paste on your processor?

How long does it take for the thermal paste on your processor to dry?

[Burgerman]

The thermal paste I use is a literal liquid metal. A metal that is liquid - just - at room temperature. As such it will likely take hundreds of years if ever for it to evaporate...


https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/prod ... uid-metal/ <<<<< click!!!

So the cooling block on my graphics cards 400 watt overclocked processor, and the 300 almost watts from the overclocked CPU will get the best possible heat transfer indefinitely with no need to ever replace the thermal compound.


https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/prod ... uid-metal/

I use liquid metal. Its literally just low melting point metal. Galium etc. And so it lasts billions of years if undisturbed. It works better than thermal paste too. BUT not for the nervous types! It conducts and has the consistency of thin oil. As such if you use too much it shorts everything out! Dead computer.

But do it properly and its safe. And you lose at least 7 or 8 degrees extra.

Really does work miracles. I used it on my wildly overclocked GPU and CPU water blocks on my custom built PC a few years back. Been great ever since in spite of the years and the extreme conditions. 300 watts at the CPU and about 400 watts or more at the GPU. And it barely gets above room temperature.

[Burgerman]

THIS
Is a mix of gallium, etc. It looks like melted solder. It transfers heat MUCH better than normal compounds.
Get it wrong and destroy the computer. Metal conducts...

[martin007]

OK.

[Burgerman]

Never use on copper. Only on nickel plated copper.

[ex-Gooserider]

The standard I've always seen mentioned is "Arctic Silver" brand - but there are other competing brands that claim to be about the same thing. They all have comparable high content of ultra fine silver particles in a synthetic lubricant carrier, and are not quite as 'high risk' as the liquid metal that BM uses...

However the same thing applies, you only want a very thin layer so a 1g tube will last you a LONG time... It is more critical to make sure you have the CPU and heat sink VERY clean before starting... Once you've put it on, you should be OK for as long as you don't disturb the heat sink attachment.

ex-Gooserider

[martin007]

OK.

Thanks.

[Burgerman]

If you use some abrasive paste, and lap the CPU and cooler together in small circles until its full surface is matt grey on both parts then it has almost no gaps. And you can use either no or almost no paste. And get better heat and transfer. Works almost as well as the liquid metal. You will be surprised how far from flat a CPU is.

[martin007]

I don't want to damage something.

[Burgerman]

Quite the opposite. A lapped flat cooler and CPU make btter contact and get less hot. So you increase performance making it work more reliably or faster.

Modern CPUs are all "clocked" automatically using temperature sensors and the mainboards power system flexibly by some microcode in the CPU.

The frequency it will run at when many cores are in use at once can be LOTS faster if you allow the motherboard to supply the right voltages and if the CPU sees that its not overheating. Then it will automatically run faster. Especially when all cores are in use.

My PC has a FORTY % increase in ALL core performance. Because of lapping, liquid metal, and a over the top cooling system, combined with a motherboard that can provide 220A at the CPU pins whan required.

It does so silently, and still out performs systems 3 or 4 years more "modern"...

Because this CPU should run a single core at 5.1ghz. Which is now 5.5ghz.
But its a 16 core (32 thread) CPU. When ALL cores are active it makes 16 times as much heat! That means that in a stock system they all run at 3.2ghz. In my system all 16 cores will run all day at 5ghz and not get loud, or hot and so no automatic throttling occurs. Thats a 40% (45?%) percent overclock! Made possible by crazy good cooling.