Tech Help - New CPU Cooler Install Question

[sosolidshoe]

Hey folks.

I've never actually had to replace a CPU cooler before, in the past I've either been building a fresh machine or upgrading the whole CPU/fan setup at once. However this time, the stock cooler on my CPU died, and I've ordered a replacement, so the question is -

When replacing the stock cooler with a new one which comes with thermal paste pre-applied, should I scrape the existing thermal paste off of the CPU, or leave it on? I'm assuming I should get rid of it, but I want to be sure.

Cheers.

 

[CCountZero]

Clean it all off.

Once you're done, use some cleaning alcohol to remove the last bits of grease/oil layer.
I recommend Isypropyl alcohol for this (propan-2-ol).

 

[xDarc]

Stock applications of thermal paste/grease are junk. What you wanta do is scrape that stuff and then clean the surfaces with a cloth and some rubbing alcohol. The alcohol evaporates quickly and should leave you with a nice clean, dry surface.

Then get some artic silver 5... or other silver/high conducting material based paste- and just add a drop about the size of a bb. Once you smoosh the heatsink down, the paste should spread thinly and evenly over the surface... provided you dont wiggled it around too much securing the fasteners through the mobo.

Silver 5 really does make a difference. When I had to buy a new board and used it instead of some ceramique i had used previously, idle temps dropped about 5-10C- down to 29C with a modest overclock.

P.S. Take off the pre-applied stuff on the cooler too. Wondering what kind of cooler you bought that came with it... I bought this giant ass thing with fins galore and copper heat pipes... pretty sure it didn't come with paste pre applied. But that was almost 5 years ago and my memory is fuzzy.

 

[CCountZero]

snip

It's true that using premium pastes can make a difference, but for the average builder it's not at all neccesary.

Unless you plan to overclock, the standard sinks and pastes are perfectly fine, and considering the OP's question I feel it's safe to assume that he/she doesn't plan to.

Non-standard sinks are only useful in an advanced rig or for silent cooling, and a silent CPU cooler has to be tandemed with a silent GPU cooler, as your GPU cooler will make loads more noise than your CPU.

I'll be happy to give tips on advanced rigs, but I see no reason to burden the OP with more than he/she really needs, for now

 

[xDarc]

snip

It's true that using premium pastes can make a difference, but for the average builder it's not at all neccesary.

I suppose. I'm just fussy about stuff. If it were my rig... ah well. He would be just fine using the pre-applied grease on the replacement cooler and cleaning off the old gunk on top of the CPU's heat spreader.

 

[sosolidshoe]

snip

It's true that using premium pastes can make a difference, but for the average builder it's not at all neccesary.

I suppose. I'm just fussy about stuff. If it were my rig... ah well. He would be just fine using the pre-applied grease on the replacement cooler and cleaning off the old gunk on top of the CPU's heat spreader.

My rig is self built, but it's not amazing and I'm running everything stock as I can't afford replacement parts if I cock up. I used the standard paste, but thanks for the suggestions, the installation went fine.

Perhaps you chaps can help me with something else. Since installing the new cooler, the auto fan controls appear to have stopped working, it won't drop below 2722rpm in SpeedFan, and the auto settings in that program make no difference. It's not the mobo as the casefans are still running on auto. It's plugged right into the 4pin CPU fan controller on the mobo, and the BIOS settings don't appear to have changed at all. Anyone give me a quick rundown of which settings to choose and what values on Phoenix Award BIOS(ASUS P5Q-SE mobo)?

The noise is appalling.