[link590o]

Well, yesterday I checked my CPU temperature as I normally did, and I noticed that there had been a rather steady climb from about 39 degrees C, to about 50 C over the last few months. I'd had just about enough so I decided that tonight I would clean the old compound off and replace it. The main reason for it being that for one it was getting rather high, and the other reason being that, if I remember correctly, the heatsink came with some preapplied thermal compound which I'd accidentally left on and mixed with my other compound.

Being a devoted computer kind of guy, and not wanting my CPU to explode with the heat, it was time to have a peak under the bonnet and clean it out.

And boy oh boy that was a B****. I'd forgotten just how much of a pain in the butt it was to take out all the screws, detach all the cables, reach in those hard to reach places...I'd even forgotten how exactly to detach my own heatsink :3

Everything needed to be removed so I could safely and easily get at that processor of mine and clean it etc. I just can't help but feel like it's almost too much work just to replace a little bit of paste, y'know? Of course, going from the standpoint of not having to do it all that often is a bit of a blessing, it's not that bad. But going through all that every time is going to suck a big one.

I even managed to get a paper cut rifling through my various manuals to find my thermal compound. It even felt ten times hotter than it was and I found it almost unbearable, to the point where I was beading sweat. Hence my title.

Steps taken:
Shutdown, and detached all cables.
Removed RAM cards to gain better access to one of the motherboard support screws.
Removed video card to lighten the load and provide more room to work.
Unscrewed motherboard support screws, and removed motherboard.
Detached supports of the heatsink, and continued to removed and replace paste.
Did everything over again in reverse order.

Does anyone else feel my pain? If I'm making it more work and worse than it actually is, tell me what I'm doing wrong Is there a part of the process I can skip and make it less of a chore and more of a simple and quick routine?

P.S. At least there were some immediate benefits. Hopefully more as the thermal paste begins to break in and take full effect. The temperature immediately dropped to 44C on one core and 47 on the other whereas before they were at least 49 and 51 respectively. So it wasn't for nothing.

[Howard]

Well, I definitely wouldn`t have taken the mobo out in order to replace the thermal paste.

Normally, I just remove a few cables, if they`re in the way, take off the heatsink, clean off the old thermal compound from both the heatsink and cpu die, then re-apply some new thermal paste to the cpu die and re-attach the heatsink.

Takes me about five mins, if that.

Regards Howard

[link590o]

I'm starting to think it's a lot more dependent on your motherboard and type of heatsink from the looks of it.

It was incredibly awkward to remove my heatsink. It's this intel piece of junk that came with the processor. It's got these 4 pins, and these pins have a black piece of plastic on top that has a wide top for your thumb to push down on. And in order to lock it in place, you have to grab and turn that piece of plastic counterclockwise.

It's that annoying bit that got me all worked up. I couldn't get a good grip on the piece of crap. So I took the entire board out just so I could get at it. I've also got a few heatsinks on the board itself that go almost bumper to bumper so to speak with the CPU heatsink. So it becomes an even tighter squeeze to actually reach the pins holding it in place.

Maybe I should buy a Zalman at some point...heheh. Guess that'll be my next endeavor.

I also noticed now that I've gotten the computer up and running again that I'm getting a much cooler rating now. About 42C for Core 1, and 46C for Core 2 idle. Looks to be cooling down nicely thankfully.

[Spleenharvester]

takes me a couple of minutes, all I have to do is unscrew 4 thumbscrews

[Albert Lionheart]

Originally Posted by link590o

It was incredibly awkward to remove my heatsink. It's this intel piece of junk that came with the processor. It's got these 4 pins, and these pins have a black piece of plastic on top that has a wide top for your thumb to push down on. And in order to lock it in place, you have to grab and turn that piece of plastic counterclockwise.

Those black things have a slot in them for a flat bladed screwdriver - and it is one way so you are forced to turn it only one way and to reset it by hand before them pins will relock once removed.
Not sure what all the fuss is about - four 1/4 turns of a screwdriver and remove one cable connect - straight out!

[bushwhacker]

1 min, thanks to Socket 939 rentition clip.

Edited = Albert, I can feel your pain. Have been doing like that on Pentium Pro, Pentium 2 and few older chips without clip that get really stuck.

[Albert Lionheart]

I am in no pain - just permanently slightly pissed (as in the English as opposed to American vernacular = plastered, locked out, bladdered, slaughtered, drunk, rat-arsed, smashed, piddled, etc etc. )
Interesting point tho' - does anyone do routine wipe and reinstall the OS on a regular basis?

[Howard]

No mate, I don`t.

I haven`t reinstalled my OS in a very long time. I make regular backups and prefer to restore from a backup, should something go wrong.

This means that in the case of a total crash, I can be back up and running with everything in place in about 35 mins or so.

Regards Howard

[Albert Lionheart]

I have a client who has two sites with over 200 machines on each site - most of them Dells in purchase blocks of about 50 so we only have to deal with 4 or 5 different models. They have a policy of wipe and replace every 2 years - and I get to go in and work with them doing about 12 at a time each. Boring or what? Anyway, I have always done the same and I do think it is worth it as they do collect all sorts of ***** over the period.

[samjohnson]

wow that sounded like it was a pain to get out. thankfully I havn't had to redo the thermal paste. I just got the pre applied crap on there to. but my AMD runs right around 40C idle. and 46 to 50ishC at load.

[bushwhacker]

54oC here, Sam. Just toasty enough.

[link590o]

Albert, I have no such screw pattern in my heatsink/fan's pins. It's nothing but a piece of flat plastic with a design on top telling me to rotate in a certain direction to lock or unlock.

Perhaps you were lucky or you're thinking of a different heatsink/fan. Obviously if I got so up close and personal with my assembly, I'd have noticed such a screwhole. And I'll tell you this, I was even LOOKING for a place to grab a hold of it. I got no such luck.

Just for the sake of clarification, this is my exact heatsink/fan assembly:
http://www.frostytech.com/articleima...Dstock_top.jpg

See those plastic things for yourself.

[Albert Lionheart]

You are using a stock Intel CPU cooler from their retail pack - they are all the same: have a look at the att image and look at the slot on the top near the arrowhead - that is for a screwdriver to undo it. It is shaped to stop you using the screwdriver to turn it back - you need to do that by hand once the cooler is off.

[link590o]

Well, as hard as I find it to believe that I missed something like that, I can't dispute it. No point, after all the proof is there.

Apologies if I came off a bit arrogant. Just couldn't see it.

Either way, I'll likely be ordering a new one one anyhow once I have the money. Hopefully that'll be in a few months from now. I'd prefer one that doesn't attach in such an annoying fashion, and actually cools it better than this stock piece o' junk. It's undeniable that stock parts are almost never any good, and I would prefer some cooler temperatures as I'm worried that the rise in temperature that I saw will occur again.

[Daveskater]

I'd get a Zalman if I was you, mate. To replace my paste all I had to do was take out two screws from the hsf, clean off and reapply, then screw hsf on again. Didn't even have to take mobo out

My stock hsf had this horrible clip that went onto the socket itself, and was almost impossible to take off. It's a surprise I didn't destroy my mobo trying to remove it, I had to use a screwdriver to press on it because I couldn't really get to it with my fingers, and I think I slipped a couple of times

[samjohnson]

Ya I got a clip thing on mine to. Luckily I havn't had to remove my hsf as of yet. I had a heck of a time trying to install it, I thought I was gonna break the thing.

[Albert Lionheart]

Some of the older fittings were mad because you had to put on a lot of downward pressure with a screwdriver to get the clips down. I was advised years ago to put a big wadge of paper or something so that if it did slip it would not hit the board underneath.

[Daveskater]

That's a good idea actually mate, that would prevent damage to the board. Fortunately I don't use the horrible "clip" heatsink with the 5k rpm fan any more

[Albert Lionheart]

And while we are on the subject of heat transfer gunge - more is not good! We had a thread about that I seem to remember.....

[Joshuashawharvey]

Definitely mate. The amount of people that think more is better shocks me. It's here