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Does thermal paste need to cover entire cpu?

Courage the Cowardly Dog
By Courage the Cowardly Dog
in Cooling
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Just now, Courage the Cowardly Dog said:

When installing my cpu fan, the thermal paste was smudged more on one side than the other. do I need to reapply?

I would always clean and then re-apply when installing or re-installing a cooler.  

 

And yes -- covering the entire IHS is the goal.  So put enough paste on the IHS so that when the cooler is installed and pressure applied the paste will spread across the entire IHS.  

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once you snug down the cooler it should spread out enough

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Just now, MrMcMuffinJr said:

once you snug down the cooler it should spread out enough

just realized you we-re re-applying. clean it off

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The Beast (My Rig)   |CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X|  |Cooling: Enermax Liquimax III, 6x 120mm Noctua Redux|  |Motherboard:  MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus|  |RAM: 4x32gb 3200 G.Skill TridentZ NEO|  |Graphics Card: EVGA(RIP) GeForce RTX 3070TI FTW3|  |Power Supply: Corsair CX-M 750W|  |Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow Mid Tower Case(Black)|  |SSD: 1Tb WD BLACK NVMe, 500gb NVMe, 1Tb Samsung 850 EVO|  |Monitor: MSI Optix MPG341QR 34" Ultrawide|  |Keyboard: Logitech G815|  |Mouse: Logitech G203 LIGHTSYNC|  |Audio Interface: FiiO K7 DAC/Amp|  |Headphones: Sennheiser HD6XX|  |Webcam: Logitech C920, Logitech C270|

 

My Network Rack  |Switch: Cisco Dell PowerConnect 5548P|  |Router: Unifi USG|  |Rack: 12U|  |Server: HP Z420|  |Services: Proxmox PVE, Wireguard, Pihole, NVR, NAS|

 

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1 minute ago, MrMcMuffinJr said:

just realized you we-re re-applying. clean it off

I lifted the cooler to see if it spread out evenly but it was like 3/4 covering the cpu

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2 minutes ago, Courage the Cowardly Dog said:

I lifted the cooler to see if it spread out evenly but it was like 3/4 covering the cpu

lifting cooler isn't smart. it creates air bubbles

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The Beast (My Rig)   |CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X|  |Cooling: Enermax Liquimax III, 6x 120mm Noctua Redux|  |Motherboard:  MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus|  |RAM: 4x32gb 3200 G.Skill TridentZ NEO|  |Graphics Card: EVGA(RIP) GeForce RTX 3070TI FTW3|  |Power Supply: Corsair CX-M 750W|  |Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow Mid Tower Case(Black)|  |SSD: 1Tb WD BLACK NVMe, 500gb NVMe, 1Tb Samsung 850 EVO|  |Monitor: MSI Optix MPG341QR 34" Ultrawide|  |Keyboard: Logitech G815|  |Mouse: Logitech G203 LIGHTSYNC|  |Audio Interface: FiiO K7 DAC/Amp|  |Headphones: Sennheiser HD6XX|  |Webcam: Logitech C920, Logitech C270|

 

My Network Rack  |Switch: Cisco Dell PowerConnect 5548P|  |Router: Unifi USG|  |Rack: 12U|  |Server: HP Z420|  |Services: Proxmox PVE, Wireguard, Pihole, NVR, NAS|

 

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What CPU do you have?

usually if the end corners didn't get any paste it's ok, nothing to worry about, as the chip itself is in the middle.

CPU:i7 9700k 5047.5Mhz All Cores Mobo: MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC, RAM:Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 OC 3467Mhz GPU:MSI RTX 2070 ARMOR 8GB OC Storage:Samsung SSD 970 EVO NVMe M.2 250GB, 2x SSD ADATA PRO SP900 256GB, HDD WD CB 2TB, HDD GREEN 2TB PSU: Seasonic focus plus 750w Gold Display(s): 1st: LG 27UK650-W, 4K, IPS, HDR10, 10bit(8bit + A-FRC). 2nd: Samsung 24" LED Monitor (SE390), Cooling:Fazn CPU Cooler Aero 120T Push/pull Corsair ML PRO Fans Keyboard: Corsair K95 Platinum RGB mx Rapidfire Mouse:Razer Naga Chroma  Headset: Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Sound: Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker Case: Modded Case Inverted, 5 intake 120mm, one exhaust 120mm.

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1 minute ago, MrMcMuffinJr said:

lifting cooler isn't smart. it creates air bubbles

You think I should wipe and re apply?

 

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Just now, Constantin said:

What CPU do you have?

usually if the end corners didn't get any paste it's ok, nothing to worry about, as the chip itself is in the middle.

i5-9600k

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Just now, Courage the Cowardly Dog said:

i5-9600k

It's fine

 

1 minute ago, Courage the Cowardly Dog said:

You think I should wipe and re apply?

no you do not need to.

But if the blank area is "big", you should re apply. 

CPU:i7 9700k 5047.5Mhz All Cores Mobo: MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC, RAM:Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 OC 3467Mhz GPU:MSI RTX 2070 ARMOR 8GB OC Storage:Samsung SSD 970 EVO NVMe M.2 250GB, 2x SSD ADATA PRO SP900 256GB, HDD WD CB 2TB, HDD GREEN 2TB PSU: Seasonic focus plus 750w Gold Display(s): 1st: LG 27UK650-W, 4K, IPS, HDR10, 10bit(8bit + A-FRC). 2nd: Samsung 24" LED Monitor (SE390), Cooling:Fazn CPU Cooler Aero 120T Push/pull Corsair ML PRO Fans Keyboard: Corsair K95 Platinum RGB mx Rapidfire Mouse:Razer Naga Chroma  Headset: Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma Sound: Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker Case: Modded Case Inverted, 5 intake 120mm, one exhaust 120mm.

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I had used IC diamond at one point, when I went to repaste it I had like 2/3 coverage. IC diamond is pretty good, but my thermals maxed at like 65 on my 4790k so it wasn't all due to paste quality. If you're covering a very large portion of the IHS then you're good.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 10 and Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

How many watts do I need? ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 spec, PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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The IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader) exists for this specific reason. If you can make the thermal paste cover the center of the IHS with a rough circle nearly touching all four edges, that's more than adequate to keep the CPU cool.

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21 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

I had used IC diamond at one point, when I went to repaste it I had like 2/3 coverage. IC diamond is pretty good, but my thermals maxed at like 65 on my 4790k so it wasn't all due to paste quality. If you're covering a very large portion of the IHS then you're good.

I used the Arctic Silver 5 compound and when I had check my cpu temp, it was at 50

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19 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

The IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader) exists for this specific reason. If you can make the thermal paste cover the center of the IHS with a rough circle nearly touching all four edges, that's more than adequate to keep the CPU cool.

This is my first build and Im just curious as to whether or not I should just wipe the processor clean and re apply, when I checked cpu temp idle, it was around 50 after gaming

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5 minutes ago, Courage the Cowardly Dog said:

I used the Arctic Silver 5 compound and when I had check my cpu temp, it was at 50

Yeah if CPU temps are in check then it hardly matters what the coverage is. You only have to worry if the temps are too high.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 10 and Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

How many watts do I need? ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 spec, PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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2 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Yeah if CPU temps are in check then it hardly matters what the coverage is. You only have to worry if the temps are too high.

is 50 a good temp after gaming?

 

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3 minutes ago, Courage the Cowardly Dog said:

is 50 a good temp after gaming?

 

Very good

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 10 and Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

How many watts do I need? ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 spec, PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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