Thermal Compound

douceurdouceur
edited July 2003 in Hardware
I've got a p4 2.66 which was running kind of hot (43c idle, 52c load) w/ the stock hsf (installed by the manufacturer), so I decided to get a new one. I got an Alpha PAL8942, which I've read is the best p4 heatsink you can get & a thermaltake smart fan 2.

When I first installed the new heatsink, i used a very thin layer of arctic silver 3, and the temps were the exact same. so i figured what the hell, and reapplied it (after cleaning everything off) with a rather generous layour of the thermal compound. now the temps are 41c idle & 49c load.

basically, that doesn't seem like enough of a change considering the heatsink i have. what could i be doing wrong? why would using quite a bit more as3 (not a *lot*, but just quite a bit in thermal compound terms) make the temp go down? i thought u weren't supposed to use much.

Comments

  • CCWCCW Suffolk, UK
    edited July 2003
    You should just have enough to make the surface only jsut visable. AS3 isnt the best anymore, maybe the Intel stuff was similar to AS3, have you tried another thermal compound? Ceramique and SHin Etsu are suppsoed to be the top dogs now.

    Craig
  • Cool-CanuckCool-Canuck
    edited July 2003
    It may not be the Heat Sink that is the problem. You might not have enough case ventilation. Leave the case open for awhile and see what happens with your temps.
  • douceurdouceur
    edited July 2003
    i've had my computer running at full load for an hour now, 1/2 w/ the case side on & 1/2 w/ it off. during that time, my cpu temp has stayed a steady 49c, and my case temp rose from 29c to 30c when i took the side off. good? bad? i don't know...
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited July 2003
    i have this same exact problem, only i have a 2.8C and an slk-900u

    unless someone has a particular solution im just not going to worry about it, because 50 degrees load isn't anywhere near the danger zone, and my slk-900 feels cold to the touch.

    maybe they moved the sensor?
  • douceurdouceur
    edited July 2003
    my heatsink actually gets warm. not hot, but warm. i was messing around & turned off the fan and when the cpu got to 55c, i touched the heatsink & it was actually pretty hot. i would think that's a good thing... it's transferring heat for sure. maybe the fan isn't really doing that much.
  • AgeekAgeek
    edited July 2003
    Ok, actually the heatsink has airflow across it soem from the flow though the case with the side on. With th side off, some air goes ou the side and part of the heatsink stays hotter and this heat spreads across the heatsink.

    Less heat with case closed shows good case and cooling design. Real good design makes that a normal thing. Terrible design would give opposite effect. 48-50 C stable under load is normal for air cooled P4, higher end Athlon, and Barton. Liquid cooled might be more effective, but for normal setups not needed with the temps you tell us about.

    What the fan does is cool part of the heat sink,then the heat from the rest travels into the cooler part, and that heat gets sucked out of heatsink by fan blowing air. So, heat sink place that felt hot should feel cooler, and part nearest fan should be cooler yet.

    John Danielson.
  • Cool-CanuckCool-Canuck
    edited July 2003
    Originally posted by douceur
    i've had my computer running at full load for an hour now, 1/2 w/ the case side on & 1/2 w/ it off. during that time, my cpu temp has stayed a steady 49c, and my case temp rose from 29c to 30c when i took the side off. good? bad? i don't know...
    30C is pretty warm for ambient air. One way to look at how effecient your heat sink is to look at the temperature differential between the HS and the system temp. In your case, you have about a 20C diff. (49C-29C.) As I type, I have 13C differential. (39C-26C). I'm not an Intel guy, but an AMD processor running at 49C under load with an ambient temp of 30C is pretty good.

    Sorry I can't be of more help, but a cooler room would. :)
  • douceurdouceur
    edited July 2003
    Well, I'd like to say thanks for all the replies. It's nice to come to a forum where the people actually answer questions. :)

    It *is* rather hot in my room, but there's not a lot I can do about that w/o an air conditioner.... I am getting a new fan within the next week, as I don't believe that my current fan is producing near as much air flow as it should. Hopefully that'll help a little bit. And I'll be moving out of here in a couple months, and hopefully my next place will be a little cooler.

    Thanks again.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited July 2003
    Along with the room temp thing, is your case under a desk or in a corner of some sort? It might would help to try it on top of your desk, just a thought.
  • Cool-CanuckCool-Canuck
    edited July 2003
    Originally posted by douceur
    Well, I'd like to say thanks for all the replies. It's nice to come to a forum where the people actually answer questions. :)

    Thanks again.
    Really appreciate the compliment. A lot of info went bye bye with the data base, but there are still a lot of knowlegable people around willing to help. Icrontic once was the premier site for technical information. If people like yourself hang around, ask questions and take the time to help others where you can, it will be once again.
  • douceurdouceur
    edited July 2003
    Originally posted by Clutch
    Along with the room temp thing, is your case under a desk or in a corner of some sort? It might would help to try it on top of your desk, just a thought.

    yeah, it is actually in a corner. it's really the only place i can put it right now. i'm planning to get a new desk when i move, so i'll try putting it on top when i get it. i never thought of that, but i can definitely see how that would make a different. thanks for the thought.

    and cool canuck, i'll try to stick around, but i'm not sure how much i can help ppl. :) i'm more of a software man than a hardware man. i can code like a mofo, but when it comes to oc'ing & such, i'm a little sketchy. :)
  • douceurdouceur
    edited July 2003
    well, one of my friends happened to have some ceramique, so i went to reapply my heatsink w/ the new thermal compound, only to see that my heatsink was scratched. it has small scratches about the size of the heatspreader on my cpu.

    is this something i should worry about? i've read a little about lapping and was curious if it was worth doing, whether or not i had the scratches.

    i'm not sure what could have caused them. i was very careful when intsalling the heatsink. i had once before reinstalled my stock hsf, and no scratches were caused then...
  • Cool-CanuckCool-Canuck
    edited July 2003
    I would not polish the CPU and would only do the HS if you can feel a raised edge on the scratch.
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