TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

I just opened my laptop to see what was inside it. There was some white stuff that separated the heat sink from the processor. It was kind of like glue that I pulled apart. I guess this was thermal grease??? I never really noticed before but now my temp after boot up is around 130 degrees F to 140 degrees F. Is this bad? Do I need to reapply the thermal grease?

Its not too bad,

I suggest using Artic Silver thermal compound though, its better than
stock cooling solutions.

Yea I looked at that Artic Silver stuff. When I found out that it was made out of mostly pure silver I though it was going to cost a ton. I was amazed to find out it only coasted $7 for a tube.

Your temps are in the danger zone, and you need to stop using your computer right away until you re-seat your CPU heatsink with some new thermal paste. 140f idle temps are red hot.

Any time you break the seal, you should always clean and reapply the thermal paste. Can't really reuse the thermal paste/pad once you have broken the seal.

Good luck!

Well it was not really idle. It was right after boot up which is a strenuous process. Right now is idle. the CPU load is 6% and I'm only 116 degrees F. But I will go out and buy some thermal grease. Thank you for your help.

Wha! thoses temps are too high. I would suggest like everyone else to not use your system till you get some good thermalt paste and/or a better cooler. Make sure you apply a very thin layer of thermalt paste. Don't glob it on.

Hehehe, well yes boot up can be strenuous, BUT assuming your cpu started the boot process at room temp, for it to reach 140 right away, YEOW!

I really hope you didnt wipe it off in an effort to "Clean up"
I used to run a computer shop, and i had at least 2 people who had done that with athlons and wondered why they had died....

One thing: DONT USE MUCH arctic silver, more ISNT better. you need a paper-thin layer on your die. Also, remember that a lot of laptops cool more than one chjip with the main heatsink, check for other thermal pads etc.

That artic silver stuff really did the trick. There was also lots of dust in the heat sink that I didn't see before. I can now get it down lower than 90 degrees and I am 120 after boot up. It’s really weird how just putting on thermal paste can change the temperature that much. But I think I did glob it on. Nothing was coming out the sides or anything but I just kind of smeared it all around. Does that stuff dry? And what can go wrong?

I heard you're only supposed to apply about the size of a grain of rice on the CPU and then the compression of the HS on the CPU will spread it evenly. Remember, you're just trying to fill in the microscopic gaps between the two.

-Lou

Wow you got me scared. I checked online and you were right. Why don't they put directions on the package? I opened up my computer and saw that when I had screwed the heat sink on top of the processor that I had just smeared out the sides. It didn't look like anything would go wrong. I took most of the excess grease off. I hope I'm good now. What can go wrong if there is too much thermal grease?

Well if its conductive then it could fry anything it touches that its not supposed to. thats why i alway buy the Ceramique version of artic silver because its non conductive

Also it wont cool your cpu very well if you apply to much i ran into this same problem except it was with my gpu (video card)

i want to apply some new thermal compound but i've already got some stock intel termal compound still on my fan and CPU. does it matter if i apply the new thermal compound over the old compound or should i remove it. if so how????????
:hotbounce

yeah take it off, the best method - lighter fluid and tissue,

I dont see the big deal...his CPU was running 116 degrees Fahrenheit that is only 46 degrees Celsius. And while that is a bit hot, it is nothing that is going to fry his CPU. the threshold for most modern CPUs is alot higher then 46 or even 60 (which is 140F)

It is extremely important that you do not apply it over the old thermal compound. Wipe it off with some kind of material that does not leave particles behind like paper towels. Use some kind of a rag.

Yes you can use lighter fluid to remove the grease, but since that's not something that's readily availabe, most people use isopropanol. It is suggested that you use a 99% isopropanol solution, but since that's highly toxic (w/ strong odour too) people just use rubbing alcohol, which has isopropanol as a main ingredient.

Be careful 'cuz all of the above are highly flammable fluids, so no smoking for you while cleaning your CPU