H50 & Thermal Paste

I'm new to liquid cooling & until I get a new case (an Antec P183) tomorrow my old case wouldn't fit the add'l clearance needed for the H50--the old case in the demo appears identical to my Velocity Micro case with the top PSU (HX850W) mounting blocking a vertical install.

Neither the installation video or Yellowbeard's helpful install guide show paste added (I have Artic Silver 5 & Ceramic). Is it fair to assume that none is needed (or already on the coppeer CPU plate)??? I plan on mild OC at best & wouldn't want to take the risk of leeching paste into the CPU if it's unnecessary.

Thanks for any advice.

The H50 comes with default TIM in situ. A bit too much if you ask me. Others might recommend removing this TIM and going with AS5, or some such, but if you ask me, TIM application is way overrated.

Being a hydraulic engineer, and realizing that the TIM will move out to the sides under constant applied pressure over time, requires tightening of the retaining screws, until metal meets metel (H50 copper surface with the CPU housing top).

Note that the CPU housing and the actual IC inside already have a TIM layer interface (at least for LGA1156 i7's).

Run your CPU at it's maximum thermal envelope as viscosity of the TIM decreases with increased temperature (i. e. it will ooze out faster).

Do not overtighten, snug is fine, just resnug over time until applied torque, screw pitch and diameter are such that you do not exceed Intel's recommendations for total applied downward force;

http://download.intel.com/design/processor/designex/322167.pdf

Unless the TIM is "soupy" to begin with, once pressure is gone, the excess TIM will stay on the perimeter of the heatsink/CPU cover interface.

everettsj

Thanks for the quick reply & advice. NOT being a hydraulic engineer--tax lawyer--so at least "in situ" isn't over my head, please correct the following if I misunderstood:

1) it's OK to use as is without any addition of thermal paste--just be careful to tighten the retainer bracket with equal pressure, but do not overtighten (snug, without full force to the point where the screws cannot be tightened without stripping the screws--I don't have tools measuring torque); &

2) "stress testing" the CPU will decrease the likellihood that the already applied paste might seep into the CPU socket.

Did the piker sort of get this right in a simplistic kind of way?

Thanks again

Richard

everettsj

 

Thanks for the quick reply & advice. NOT being a hydraulic engineer--tax lawyer--so at least "in situ" isn't over my head, please correct the following if I misunderstood:

 

1) it's OK to use as is without any addition of thermal paste--just be careful to tighten the retainer bracket with equal pressure, but do not overtighten (snug, without full force to the point where the screws cannot be tightened without stripping the screws--I don't have tools measuring torque); &

 

2) "stress testing" the CPU will decrease the likellihood that the already applied paste might seep into the CPU socket.

 

Did the piker sort of get this right in a simplistic kind of way?

 

Thanks again

 

Richard

Pretty much. The H50 TIM is fairly stiff to begin with IMHO. It won't go anywhere on it's own. Running hot (stress testing) just speeds up the resnugging if you know what I mean.

I did the same method several times, snug all screws equally and slowly in a diagonal fashion per the instructions. Run the PC for several hours, then check screws for snugness, if you apply roughly the same torque and the screws "slide" then snug them up again and repeat as necessary.

I was surprised the first time just how loose the screws were, after about a few times, you'll notice that each iteration the screws slide less and less to a snug position.

Bottom line? Check the screws for snugness over time, better safe than sorry (i. e. don't overtighten to begin with).

Hope this helps.

Again, I appreciate the the quick response & useful info.

Now all I have to do (besides revisiting the seating) is see it it works OK--new mobo (earlier mobo fried due to paste leakage &, no doubt, over-zealous tightening) on [not Corsair product--no need to redact] pretty good, but huge air cooler (1156 platform not very forgiving here--particularly with Dominator raised heat fins). OK, NOCTUA (won't survive Forum rules, no doubt). Astericks otherwise seems a good product.

With any luck I get to see that my CORSAIR HX850W PSU, CORSAIR DDR3 8GB MEMORY (1600) & CORSAIR P128GB SSD all work fine with new MSI (not a competitor, P55-GD85--1156 plaform) in redacted case--tomorrow, I hope. I WOULD have bought the seemingly excellent CORSAIR CASE except I wanted front doors for sound muffling & I didn't know they offered a $19 NON-window option--this is, of course, off-topic.

Muchos gracias.

Thanks again.

Again, I appreciate the the quick response & useful info.

 

Now all I have to do (besides revisiting the seating) is see it it works OK--new mobo (earlier mobo fried due to paste leakage &, no doubt, over-zealous tightening) on [not Corsair product--no need to redact] pretty good, but huge air cooler (1156 platform not very forgiving here--particularly with Dominator raised heat fins). OK, NOCTUA (won't survive Forum rules, no doubt). Astericks otherwise seems a good product.

 

With any luck I get to see that my CORSAIR HX850W PSU, CORSAIR DDR3 8GB MEMORY (1600) & CORSAIR P128GB SSD all work fine with new MSI (not a competitor, P55-GD85--1156 plaform) in redacted case--tomorrow, I hope. I WOULD have bought the seemingly excellent CORSAIR CASE except I wanted front doors for sound muffling & I didn't know they offered a $19 NON-window option--this is, of course, off-topic.

 

Muchos gracias.

 

Thanks again.

Ouch on the TIM leakage!

But that reminded me to mention that the first few times that I tightened the H50 screws while pushing the maximum CPU thermal envelope, my computer case was on it's side, so that the CPU was in a horizontal (flat) orientation. Doing so, ensures that any excess TIM will be pushed out evenly from all sides of the CPU housing/H50 interface.

I have two Corsair P128's (RAID 0) as my boot drive and the Corsair HX750W PSU (I need to fill out the "PC Specs" stuff here).