Hey, I'm gonna replace the thermal paste from the stock CPU paste to Arctic Silver 5. Is this safe? (Using two different pastes) I know how to do it, I just need to know if it's safe and if it will make my CPU slightly cooler. Thanks! (AMD FX 8320 @ 3.5 GHz 8 Cores)

9 years ago*

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Clean all of the old paste off of the CPU and Heat Sink! You can use rubbing alcohol to clean it off and it will dry off quickly and safely. Then apply a thin layer to the top of the CPU and replace the heat sink. Artic Silver is an upgrade to the stock thermal paste, but I would not expect to see a major difference.

9 years ago
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If you're paying $6-$12 on paste, you might as well upgrade from the stock cooler. It's like putting the expensive gasoline in your old truck.

9 years ago
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agree. won't do it at all... just get a new cooler it is the only way you gonna notice a difference.
and to be fair, it doesn't cost much at all.

9 years ago
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Don't mix pastes, clean off the old stuff completely first. (Especially if it's cheap stock paste, which in most cases tends to degrade anyway.)
Also, I find that the Arctic MX-2 paste is a lot cheaper and cools better than the Arctic Silver 5.

9 years ago
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Totally agree. It's also a lot easier to get MX-2 or MX-4 off if you need to re-apply it. AS5 can be a bit of a mess to remove, especially if you have to remove it before it's hardened a bit.

9 years ago
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After spending part of the day trying to fix bent pins, I don't want to talk about this...

9 years ago
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lol

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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Nothing that can't be fixed with a pair of tweezers and a bit of hard yakka.

9 years ago
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Every time I see that picture I think of sea urchins. lol

9 years ago
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-shudder- pls god no

9 years ago
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I'm using a 8350 with arctic silver 5, works really well. Much better than stock paste!
(but stock cooler is pretty crap too, get yourself something bigger than that)

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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it wont make a great difference really, one or 2 degrees at best. unless the old thermal is full of air bubbles or not applied well.
the stock cooler is not not that great to begin with
think about the cooler as a water spray head and the thermal paste as the hose linking to it.
if your spray head is shooting less than 10 cc/h then the 10 cc/h hose wont make much difference.

9 years ago
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Its something that I do rarely, but as its been stated its not going to improve temperatures significantly and may not at all unless you've not changed it in a long time (i.e. YEARS). I find just cleaning my computer regularly keeps temps down by itself. I open my case and clean about every 2-3 months and change the paste if I mess with the heatsink at all, which isnt that often.

Clean off every bit of the old paste before applying the new stuff.

9 years ago
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I would honestly say it's safe as long as you know what you're doing. Give it a few days and if you don't see a drop in temperature consider purchasing a third party cooler. Also I can't recall if you posted anything about what you're using to monitor your temperature but I believe most recommend realtemp and/or hwmonitor, if you're not using either consider checking them out.

9 years ago
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PLEASE READ THIS...

Sorry for the caps but I've seen that nobody else has mentioned this: Arctic Silver, and any other silver-based thermal paste, is conductive. So be carefull not to get any of it on the CPU's pins or in the socket, or on the MB.

9 years ago
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Duh!

9 years ago
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Is it safe to eat?

9 years ago
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yes. (this is not recommendation to go eat)

9 years ago
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If you are just doing it to put on a different paste, don't bother its just a waste of time you will not really notice much.

If you are replacing your CPU cooler then yes you will need some new paste. Though 3RD party CPU coolers usually come with their own thermal paste. I still prefer to use the good stuff you buy in a tube. Never mix pastes, always clean off all old paste, even if you just put it on and think you messed up, clean it off and put on some new stuff.

Few things to remember you don't need much, about the size of a grain of rice or small pea. I personally go for the grain of rice size right in the middle. Once you put the cooler on, don't lift it up to look and the put it back down again. Doing that can create air pockets and thats not something you want. Make sure the alcohol you use to clean the paste is 99% isopropyl alcohol. Never use water.

I've done this a number of times, the first few times I was nervous about doing it right. I looked up many times on youtube and google how to do it before hand. How to clean and how to apply. Do's and Don't basically.

9 years ago
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This may help you to understand why only a small amount in the middle is needed. Never apply more thermal paste without cleaning off the old stuff, because it causes problems much like in the video with the 'full spread'. The tiny air-pockets it creates when the paste has nowhere to flow to actually help trap heat rather than get rid of it.

It might seem like a lot of hassle, but upgrading from the stock cooler to even a low-priced third party cooler will get you way better results. With a stock cooler, my old computers ran at about 50-60c, with the Hyper 212 it dropped to 30c... in summer, in a room where I have to sit in front of a fan with my shirt off to avoid sweating. :V

It helps if you have assembled other parts of a computer before, and also if your case has easy access. If not, I suppose a quick change of thermal paste would be alright. Besides, if you have been using the stock CPU paste, it comes pre-applied as a 'pad', which always has pocketing effects like in the video...

9 years ago
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Also, the reason I mention case accessibility is because it seems most non-stock heatsinks (and definitely the Hyper 212, a great low-cost cooler) require a back-plate to be attached to the motherboard, which can be a real chore if you don't have easy access to it.

Without access, you would have to unscrew the motherboard from the case, lift it out, attach the backplate 'underneath' the motherboard, then screw it all back in again. The backplate is used to basically anchor the new screw-holes you'll be using for the new cooler. So naturally, removing the motherboard (and by extension, everything else that plugs into it) might be your only option there.

Then again, another good way to help reduce temperatures is to make sure you have a good case. A bad case acts like an oven, trapping air inside the enclosed space and making heat build up. A good case will have ventilation grates and perhaps some pre-mounted fans to not only let the hot air naturally escape (or just cool), but will also cause an actual airflow through the case to prevent an 'oven' situation. When it's too cramped or if the cables are a crazy jungle, that can be another factor hurting your temperatures.

You could perhaps save yourself the paranoia and take your computer into a store, and have them switch the cooler AND case along with the thermal paste. A good case can last you seemingly forever, and will make upgrades way easier as well as drastically slowly dust build-up and promoting airflow, a non-stock cooler along with proper paste application can knock a solid 15c off. Switching the case and heatsink wouldn't take long in professional hands, either.

9 years ago
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Umm, that is considered the trickiest and most disastrous if done wrong part of PC assembly. Put too much, too little, or do not get a firm, bubble free connection and the CPU can overheat and fry in no time at all.

So be careful, make sure you understand all advice, remove the old paste, and watch that video Uroboros just linked to in his post ^.

9 years ago
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I'm pretty sure all modern CPUs have measures to prevent frying. I forget which is which, but Intel and AMD CPUs will effectively 'underclock' themselves to reduce heat, and the other will literally just shut off. Even if you use an absurd amount of thermal paste, all that will happen is your temperatures will remain bad. The only time it's really bad for the CPU health is when there is no paste or an improperly mounted heatsink.

Too little is kinda bad, but if you're using conductive thermal paste, too much can be -disasterous-. I always recommend using non-conductive thermal paste for this reason. It gives you some room for imperfect amounts, and if worst comes to worst, no harm will be done.

9 years ago
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don't mix the pastes...And always clean away ALL of the old paste before applying the new one. Use a small pea size amount in the center, and it will spread when you put the cooler on. Upgrade from stock too, its worth it. When you remove the paste, try to use rubbing alcohol dabbed onto a coffee filter. Coffee filters are really good at cleaning up the paste. This can be one of the most grueling part of replacing the paste. You should make sure ALL traces of the paste is gone, so rub rub rub away until no more residue comes off onto the filter. Don't go crazy with the rubbing alcohol and make sure its dry before applying to the cpu. (remember u need to clean both the cpu off and the cooler...BE careful with the cpu !Rubbing alcohol dries fast) Make sure the grooves if any, are clean because any residue leftover in the grooves or anywhere else may cause conductivity issues. It wont spread heat properly if its still dirty.

9 years ago
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