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First time thermal paste application

cleric_warlock

The link below has images of my first thermal paste application, I took the CPU out for relidding and wanted to get some more experienced input to help spot any issues I might be missing. I know that I used a bit too much thermal paste and have read that apparently intel IHSs are slightly convex which would explain the extra pressure in the middle along with the fact that my cooler's cold plate is also very slightly convex. Any and all insights on my first thermal paste job are more than welcome!

 

https://imgur.com/a/rDlgfh2

Current PC:

  • CPU
    Intel i9-12900KS
  • Motherboard
    Asus Rog Maximus Z690 Hero
  • RAM
    Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6600 MT/s, 2 x 16GB, (CL32-39-39-76, 1.40V), CMK32GX5M2X6600C32 for gaming or
    G.Skill Ripjaws DDR5-6000 MT/s, 2 x 32GB, (CL30-40-40-96, 1.40V), F5-6000J3040G32GX2-RS5K for heavy multitasking
  • GPU
    Aorus Xtreme Waterforce RTX 3090 TI
  • Case
    Corsair 7000D Airflow
  • Storage
    2 x 2TB WD Black sn850 SSDs
  • PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1600W P2, Fully Modular
  • Display(s)
    34" 1900R Alienware AW3418DW Black, 32" Samsung Odyssey G7 240Hz
  • Cooling
    Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 420, Built in 360mm gpu rad, 7 x 140mm Noctua NF-A14's (4 used as full case fan set, 3 used to upgrade CPU rad fans), 4 x 120mm Noctua NF-F12's (3 used to upgrade GPU rad stock fans, 1 used to fill last remaining case fan slot)
  • Keyboard
    Fidio Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
  • Mouse
    Asus Rog Spatha X
  • Sound
    SteelSeries Arctis Pro + Game DAC Wired Headset
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
  • PCPartPicker URL

 

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3 hours ago, cleric_warlock said:

The link below has images of my first thermal paste application, I took the CPU out for relidding and wanted to get some more experienced input to help spot any issues I might be missing. I know that I used a bit too much thermal paste and have read that apparently intel IHSs are slightly convex which would explain the extra pressure in the middle along with the fact that my cooler's cold plate is also very slightly convex. Any and all insights on my first thermal paste job are more than welcome!

 

https://imgur.com/a/rDlgfh2

Looks fine to me, a common misconception is that you expect to see thermal paste on the whole surface of the cooler/IHS after unmounting a cooler. This is incorrectly, and you want to ideally have the majority of both surfaces to be clean, which indicates a good metal-to-metal contact, which is what you want, and a remaining fractal/lightning pattern for where contact was inadequate. That more or less looks like what you have, and so I think you application and mounting pressure was adequate.

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On 6/28/2022 at 2:06 PM, For Science! said:

Looks fine to me, a common misconception is that you expect to see thermal paste on the whole surface of the cooler/IHS after unmounting a cooler. This is incorrectly, and you want to ideally have the majority of both surfaces to be clean, which indicates a good metal-to-metal contact, which is what you want, and a remaining fractal/lightning pattern for where contact was inadequate. That more or less looks like what you have, and so I think you application and mounting pressure was adequate.

Great! Thank you for the input!

Current PC:

  • CPU
    Intel i9-12900KS
  • Motherboard
    Asus Rog Maximus Z690 Hero
  • RAM
    Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6600 MT/s, 2 x 16GB, (CL32-39-39-76, 1.40V), CMK32GX5M2X6600C32 for gaming or
    G.Skill Ripjaws DDR5-6000 MT/s, 2 x 32GB, (CL30-40-40-96, 1.40V), F5-6000J3040G32GX2-RS5K for heavy multitasking
  • GPU
    Aorus Xtreme Waterforce RTX 3090 TI
  • Case
    Corsair 7000D Airflow
  • Storage
    2 x 2TB WD Black sn850 SSDs
  • PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1600W P2, Fully Modular
  • Display(s)
    34" 1900R Alienware AW3418DW Black, 32" Samsung Odyssey G7 240Hz
  • Cooling
    Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 420, Built in 360mm gpu rad, 7 x 140mm Noctua NF-A14's (4 used as full case fan set, 3 used to upgrade CPU rad fans), 4 x 120mm Noctua NF-F12's (3 used to upgrade GPU rad stock fans, 1 used to fill last remaining case fan slot)
  • Keyboard
    Fidio Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
  • Mouse
    Asus Rog Spatha X
  • Sound
    SteelSeries Arctis Pro + Game DAC Wired Headset
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
  • PCPartPicker URL

 

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