Kinda scared to replace Thermal Paste

[Letsago]

Hi, today i bought some new thermal paste for my pc. I said it will be easy, but now that i think about it, im kind of scared to replace it. what if i dont put the cooler back correctly? can anyone give me some tips or something to feel better?

[Moonzy]

what cpu is it?

[Letsago]

an i7-2600 non k

[Moonzy]

5 minutes ago, Letsago said:

an i7-2600 non k

ah, then you dont have much to worry about when pulling the cooler up, specifically, the CPU sticking to the bottom, it's an AMD socket issue

 

what cooler are you using? intel stock cooler?

[SupaKomputa]

6 minutes ago, Letsago said:

what if i dont put the cooler back correctly?

Intel stock cooler is relatively easy to work with.

As long as you plug all sides correctly it will work.

[Letsago]

no,its not a stock one, its a little bit thicker than a stock one, and its held by screws, thats my problem

 

 

[Moonzy]

12 minutes ago, Letsago said:

no,its not a stock one, its a little bit thicker than a stock one, and its held by screws, thats my problem

if it uses screws, you'll need to access the back of the motherboard as well, specifically to access to metal backplate, but remember to power off and unplug your system from the wall

once you're there, you can use a piece of tape to tape it in place so it doesnt move around, you may hold it in place with your hands while unscrewing the cooler as well

slowly unscrew the screws in an X pattern (top left -> bottom right -> top right -> bottom left, to evenly spread the pressure on the CPU), perferably 1 rotation each screw in repeated sequence that i listed out until the cooler comes loose

slowly pull the heatsink up, dont forget to disconnect the fan connector from the motherboard (by grabbing onto the block, DO NOT yank on the wire, there's a latch on there so u may have to wiggle it slightly to get it loose)

 

once the cooler is out of the PC, you may get rid of the old paste (which probably have hardened by now) with tissues, i tend to get rid of the bulk with tissue + finger nail if it's hardened, then after the bulk of the paste is gone, i use some solvent (isopropyl alcohol would work great) to give it a nice final clean, solvent isnt really needed if you can get the metal on cpu and the cooler to have zero crusty paste left

 

you may clean your cooler now, rid of the dusts

 

then apply some paste on your CPU, like so

this is slightly too much, but having slightly too much is fine, but not so much that it makes a mess

then mount your cooler back, the process is in reverse of how you took it apart, screw in in X pattern, one rotation at a time for each screw, the tape should hold the backplate in place, so remove the tape after you finish installing the cooler

how much force is needed? normally cooler is designed to screw in until you feel a stop, but if you dont feel comfortable, you can stop and see if temps are fine, and continue tightening if the temps are still high

and plug in your fan connector

[jwwagner25]

3 hours ago, Moonzy said:

if it uses screws, you'll need to access the back of the motherboard as well, specifically to access to metal backplate, but remember to power off and unplug your system from the wall

once you're there, you can use a piece of tape to tape it in place so it doesnt move around, you may hold it in place with your hands while unscrewing the cooler as well

slowly unscrew the screws in an X pattern (top left -> bottom right -> top right -> bottom left, to evenly spread the pressure on the CPU), perferably 1 rotation each screw in repeated sequence that i listed out until the cooler comes loose

slowly pull the heatsink up, dont forget to disconnect the fan connector from the motherboard (by grabbing onto the block, DO NOT yank on the wire, there's a latch on there so u may have to wiggle it slightly to get it loose)

 

once the cooler is out of the PC, you may get rid of the old paste (which probably have hardened by now) with tissues, i tend to get rid of the bulk with tissue + finger nail if it's hardened, then after the bulk of the paste is gone, i use some solvent (isopropyl alcohol would work great) to give it a nice final clean, solvent isnt really needed if you can get the metal on cpu and the cooler to have zero crusty paste left

 

you may clean your cooler now, rid of the dusts

 

then apply some paste on your CPU, like so

this is slightly too much, but having slightly too much is fine, but not so much that it makes a mess

then mount your cooler back, the process is in reverse of how you took it apart, screw in in X pattern, one rotation at a time for each screw, the tape should hold the backplate in place, so remove the tape after you finish installing the cooler

how much force is needed? normally cooler is designed to screw in until you feel a stop, but if you dont feel comfortable, you can stop and see if temps are fine, and continue tightening if the temps are still high

and plug in your fan connector

pretty sure that;'s way over complicated. Why would the backplate be relevant here? All coolers are held down with some sort of screw. What does the backplate have anything to do with it. he's not holding the motherboard in mid-air is he??

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, jwwagner25 said:

Why would the backplate be relevant here?

most LGA 115X cooler i've seen that uses screws comes with a backplate that pokes through the holes

some of them have retaining mechanism to keep them in place while u screw in the cooler, but cheaper coolers dont and the backplate will fall off after u remove the last screw if your motherboard is upright in a casing

 

4 minutes ago, jwwagner25 said:

All coolers are held down with some sort of screw.

some cheaper LGA 115X coolers uses push pins, like the stock cooler

the holes on LGA 115X socket doesnt have threading, they rely on backplate to provide the threading for the cooler to screw into

[jwwagner25]

Just now, Moonzy said:

most LGA 115X cooler i've seen that uses screws comes with a backplate that pokes through the holes

some of them have retaining mechanism to keep them in place while u screw in the cooler, but cheaper coolers dont and the backplate will fall off after u remove the last screw if your motherboard is upright in a casing

 

some cheaper LGA 115X coolers uses push pins, like the stock cooler

the holes on LGA 115X socket doesnt have threading, they rely on backplate to provide the threading for the cooler to screw into

thanks for clarification. I was imagining my situation where I always have the PC laying flat on desk before doing that sort of maintenance, not realizing others may have different methods/situation.

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, jwwagner25 said:

thanks for clarification. I was imagining my situation where I always have the PC laying flat on desk before doing that sort of maintenance, not realizing others may have different methods/situation.

i prefer to remove my cooler with my PC upright because of the backplate, they tend to drop off after unscrewing

 

my dark rock pro 3 has to be unscrewed from the backplate side as well, not the front, so there's that