Thermal Paste Time!!

Ive never removed or applied thermal paste before so any tips on how to get the old stuff off (ive heard rubbing alcohol and coffee filters) and how to apply the new stuff well.

also, anything i should avoid doing?

k thanks

The higher the percent alcohol, the better.  Less impurities to leave behind. 

As for applying the new paste, I'd search google for a good up-to-date tutorial with pics.  Ignore the ones that tell you to spread the paste before putting on the heatsink.  Just remember that some heatsinks are meant to attach to the motherboard a certain direction.  Put it on the right way the first time.

You should avoid putting too much thermal paste. About 1 grain of rice (literally) will be way enough.

The optimal application pattern depends on your processor and your fan+heasink combo.

Rubbing alcohol is the best, I've used nail polish cleaner(acetone) myself and just some toilet paper even if neither are recommended (acetone dissolves plastic and toilet paper leaves paper fibers on the CPU).

Basically, you should probably use the rubbing alcohol and coffee filters (no traces left) as you stated and you should be ok.

cool. i used 91% rubbing alcohol and got it as best i could. the heatsink is the stock dell XPS heat sink which has the CPU at a 45 degree angle and mounts using a hinge on one side and 2 screws on the other. so just put a rice grain sized line and be done with it?

(this sounds easier than i thought its be)

What's the CPU? I've read that it should be applied differently for dual and quad cores

the quad core Q6600

I used Antec Formula 5 because apparently it is the only available thermal paste within a 50 mile radius. ive gone to like 10 stores looking for this stuff and thats all staples had (best buy didnt even have any)

Im not sure of my temps as my mobo doesnt monitor those apparantly as any program i use just reports it as 0 degrees of something in the tens of thousands.

My computers been locking up while playing Tf2 which I assumed was my new graphics card but i have the fans at 100% and the temps all seem normal (i was finally able to monitor them while playing) so i guessed it was the cpu because i remembered that i had taken off the heatsink to run wires and didnt reapply paste

Quote:

>.<

I've done stuff like that.

Can't you order thermal paste from Newegg? This is the paste I use and it works wonderfully.

I could have but I needed it imediately because I needed to use the computer to try to figure out why it doesnt boot.

in the future, ill replace it again with something better, but i just needed it to work better than it had for now