Thermal Cream?

[MRCW]

I am thinking about upgrading my cpu and was wondering if all the thermal cream/glue is the same and if anyone had any recommendations?

 

Kind regards

[Tetras]

Do you mean paste?

 

Are you also upgrading your cooler? If so, it usually comes with a tube (or pre-applied).

[MRCW]

Just now, Tetras said:

Do you mean paste?

 

Are you also upgrading your cooler? If so, it usually comes with a tube (or pre-applied).

I thought it was glue that held them together! glad I asked and didn't just use some off shelf glue. I'm not sure yet if my current cooler is enough or if I need a beefier one.

[Hinjima]

6 minutes ago, MRCW said:

I thought it was glue that held them together! glad I asked and didn't just use some off shelf glue. I'm not sure yet if my current cooler is enough or if I need a beefier one.

Do you know what CPU cooler you have? And what CPU are you upgrading to?

What you are thinking about is called Thermal Paste, its not a glue but more of a paste like toothpaste consistency, though toothpaste wont work very well  

 

If you are upgrading your CPU but can use your current CPU cooler, you would need to remove the old paste from the CPU cooler and apply new thermal paste to the new CPU before installing the cooler back on.

 

If you plan on buying a new CPU cooler, they all come with paste in the box   Some come already pre-applied to the cooler.

[MRCW]

4 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

Do you know what CPU cooler you have? And what CPU are you upgrading to?

What you are thinking about is called Thermal Paste, its not a glue but more of a paste like toothpaste consistency, though toothpaste wont work very well  

 

If you are upgrading your CPU but can use your current CPU cooler, you would need to remove the old paste from the CPU cooler and apply new thermal paste to the new CPU before installing the cooler back on.

 

If you plan on buying a new CPU cooler, they all come with paste in the box   Some come already pre-applied to the cooler.

My current cooler is a Noctua NH-U9S 92mm Ultra-Slim and my current CPU is a AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Zen 3. After talking to some people on here, I was thinking about going to the 5700x. Thank you for clearing up the Thermal paste thing made me feel silly . To remove the old paste what would you use rubbing alcohol and a cotton wool ball?

[Hinjima]

2 minutes ago, MRCW said:

My current cooler is a Noctua NH-U9S 92mm Ultra-Slim and my current CPU is a AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Zen 3. After talking to some people on here, I was thinking about going to the 5700x. Thank you for clearing up the Thermal paste thing made me feel silly . To remove the old paste what would you use rubbing alcohol and a cotton wool ball?

The NH-U9S will easily handle a 5700x! So that's great news  

You might feel silly but we learn by asking questions about things we are unsure about, there really are no silly questions.

 

To remove old paste I usually use rubbing alcohol and paper towel or toilet paper.

90% or higher isopropyl alcohol is ideal.

I have been using Noctua NA-SCW1's cleaning wipes a lot lately, they work great but they are an expensive purchase if you are only doing it once or twice.

[MRCW]

3 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

The NH-U9S will easily handle a 5700x! So that's great news  

You might feel silly but we learn by asking questions about things we are unsure about, there really are no silly questions.

 

To remove old paste I usually use rubbing alcohol and paper towel or toilet paper.

90% or higher isopropyl alcohol is ideal.

I have been using Noctua NA-SCW1's cleaning wipes a lot lately, they work great but they are an expensive purchase if you are only doing it once or twice.

Thank you for getting back to me. I'll keep an eye out for the wipes and grab if they go on sale or something seems like it would be easier.

 

Until then I'll just the alcohol would you apply it directly to the paste and then wipe it off or would you put it on the towel first I'm afraid of causing damage to the motherboard If I miss if you get me.

[Hinjima]

1 minute ago, MRCW said:

Thank you for getting back to me. I'll keep an eye out for the wipes and grab if they go on sale or something seems like it would be easier.

 

Until then I'll just the alcohol would you apply it directly to the paste and then wipe it off or would you put it on the towel first I'm afraid of causing damage to the motherboard If I miss if you get me.

No worries at all  I might reply late as I am playing Stalker 2 as well right now!

 

Rubbing alcohol is completely fine and perfect for one time use, absolutely no problem.

I usually apply a little drop onto the CPU and then clean the most off first, then I apply some on the paper towel and do a proper clean.

You'll see when its clean enough.

 

It doesn't actually matter if rubbing alcohol hits your motherboard as it evaporates super quick, as long as its 90% or higher. 

You can actually dip your entire motherboard in 90% isopropyl alcohol, as long as you let it evaporate there will be no damage at all  

We often actually use 90% isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush to clean motherboards.

[MRCW]

10 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

No worries at all  I might reply late as I am playing Stalker 2 as well right now!

 

Rubbing alcohol is completely fine and perfect for one time use, absolutely no problem.

I usually apply a little drop onto the CPU and then clean the most off first, then I apply some on the paper towel and do a proper clean.

You'll see when its clean enough.

 

It doesn't actually matter if rubbing alcohol hits your motherboard as it evaporates super quick, as long as its 90% or higher. 

You can actually dip your entire motherboard in 90% isopropyl alcohol, as long as you let it evaporate there will be no damage at all  

We often actually use 90% isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush to clean motherboards.

Brilliant thank you very much for helping me. Have a great day!

[Hinjima]

3 minutes ago, MRCW said:

Brilliant thank you very much for helping me. Have a great day!

No problem at all!   You as well  

 

If you have any further questions, just tag me here in your question and I will help you out.

Remember to buy some more thermal paste as well.

ARCTIC MX-4, ARCTIC MX-6 and Noctua NT-H1 are good pastes, I personally really like NT-H1, its the same paste that came with your CPU cooler.

[Tetras]

1 hour ago, MRCW said:

my current CPU is a AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Zen 3. After talking to some people on here, I was thinking about going to the 5700x.

I don't know the context of your upgrade and it is moving outside the scope of this thread, but you're aware the difference between those CPUs is not huge, right?

 

Potentially, depending on the graphics card and the games/resolution, you may notice nothing at all.

[MRCW]

3 minutes ago, Tetras said:

I don't know the context of your upgrade and it is moving outside the scope of this thread, but you're aware the difference between those CPUs is not huge, right?

 

Potentially, depending on the graphics card and the games/resolution, you may notice nothing at all.

that is my other thread. 

[Tetras]

5 minutes ago, MRCW said:

that is my other thread. 

Hmm, I see. Well, personally I'd want to monitor your usage in the game fairly closely (CPU/GPU % utilisation) and check out what the games are like, e.g. if they're mainly single thread, or if they make good use of multiple cores. There's also the X3D variants, 5500X3D, right up to a 5800X3D, which in specific games that love the cache can offer very large improvements in frame rates/frame rate consistency.

 

The monitor resolution is another factor, e.g. if you're playing at 4K it will lean more heavily on the graphics card.

[MRCW]

2 hours ago, Tetras said:

Hmm, I see. Well, personally I'd want to monitor your usage in the game fairly closely (CPU/GPU % utilisation) and check out what the games are like, e.g. if they're mainly single thread, or if they make good use of multiple cores. There's also the X3D variants, 5500X3D, right up to a 5800X3D, which in specific games that love the cache can offer very large improvements in frame rates/frame rate consistency.

 

The monitor resolution is another factor, e.g. if you're playing at 4K it will lean more heavily on the graphics card.

Thank you for your insight.