Intel Thermal Paste??

[helidan]

Does the thermal paste that Intel factory applies to the OEM/retail heatsinks that come with the Sandybridge and Ivybridge chips set like glue after a while (much like the factory AMD stuff)?

I want to do some tests on a new MOBO and CPU using the Intel retail heatsink but I don't want to use it if the heatsink is going to end up welded to the CPU and difficult to remove.

The system should be on test for no longer than 1 hour tops.

[TeKraken]

I thought it took years to dry out and set like glue, an hour will be fine.
Shouldn't be hard to clean off though as it's only on the casing.

[helidan]

Cheers for that, I'll get testing shortly

[ElijahChondo43]

If it's hard to remove, before you try and remove it, play some games or run prime95 for a bit to get the temps up and then try and remove it, it'll make the thermal compound in more of a liquid form rather than cement.

[dosbox]

A trick I've found useful when removing heatsinks is to twist the heatsink back and forth before pulling it.

[borg_7_of_9]

Warm things up first with Prime95 I find that help's, cold past is never easy to remove as dosbox said a bit of a twist help's..

If you lap your CPU then things get even harder to remove but that's another story

[MmmBacon]

Any reason for testing an Intel heatsink? Practically I would purchase an 3rd party heatsink like the Hyper 212 EVO and you don't even have to worry about temps as much. The generic Intel ones are mediocre at best.

[Atwooooood]

Originally Posted by MmmBacon

Any reason for testing an Intel heatsink? Practically I would purchase an 3rd party heatsink like the Hyper 212 EVO and you don't even have to worry about temps as much. The generic Intel ones are mediocre at best.

I used the stock heatsink that came with my intel CPU for the first 3 years I had my PC until I got a Hyper 212. Don't know why I didn't purchase it sooner.

[ffejrxx]

the stock intel heatsinks suck

212+/evo is about $20-35 and well worth it for the cooling ability
esp when spending about $300-400 on an intel mobo/cpu setup

back ot, the stock intel paste doesnt seem to set as hard as the stock amd
paste
with the amd stock paste you need to turn the hsf pretty hard to losten it from the cpu
intel ones seem to come off easier

to clean the hsf/cpu use isopropyl alcohol, it wont leave any residue so the new tim will work as designed

[helidan]

Originally Posted by MmmBacon

Any reason for testing an Intel heatsink? Practically I would purchase an 3rd party heatsink like the Hyper 212 EVO and you don't even have to worry about temps as much. The generic Intel ones are mediocre at best.

I have already got a custom water loop which I'll be using for my new build, I just wanted to quickly test the MOBO, CPU and RAM outside of the case to make sure it all works ok.

I only wanted to know if the Intel paste would set like glue after approx. 1 hour of operation.

[Bad_Motha]

Short answer: No it will not set like glue (like the AMD heatsinks) unless it's together for at least a few weeks in most cases.

Details: Like dosbox said, when u ready to remove that Intel heatsink, run a benchmark that is heavy on the CPU, to raise it's temps above 60*C or so. That will loosen up the grease some. Then quickly shut down the machine and remove the heatsink while it's still warm. Get the 4 pins of the heatsink open, then slightly twist the heatsink from side to side a little first, then as you're in a twist-motion, pull the heatsink upward away from the board. If you're doing all this outside the case, be sure your power gets unplugged when u shutdown, for safety reasons. And also grip the motherboard firmly when you go to remove the heatsink so you don't damage anything. Make sure the CPU and/or motherboard are dry (from the cleaning process) before it all gets powered back on again.

If you're installing a different heatsink later on, I suggest cleaning off the CPU (while it's in the socket, no need to remove it) with rubbing alcohol or eye-glass cleaner to get rid of the old paste. Then use better quality paste (like Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX series pastes), or use the paste that came with your 3rd party cooling/heatsink if you are ok with that. I prefer to use a quality silver paste, regardless of my cooling application.

[cr1515]

it will never set like glue to the extent that you wouldn't be able to get it off or damage the cpu, I stripped down some work machines a while back, some of them were well over 5 years old and the stock heatsink came off without any problems. It wasn't even a problem getting the TIM residue off

edit at least one of em was amd as well and really old and came off pretty easily, maybe you guys have had a different experience as it seems from reading the thread that ppl see it as a common problem, TIM gluing a heatsink to a CPU

[Bad_Motha]

Well once the paste is over a 1 or so old, it will basically dry-out and thus comes off easier. Once it drys out, it's basically not able to do it's job and should be cleaned and re-applied if it's a working system that's in-use.

But overall, on platforms since Intel 775 socket, their paste doesn't really get that stuck-on-like-glue effect (AMD's can though in most respects) due to the way the Intel socket is designed. There is no way you're going to have an Intel (775 or later) CPU be pulled out when you remove the heatsink. Where as I've seen and had this happen on many occasions with AMD CPUs (because of the ZIF-style clamp socket) where when removing the AMD heatsink, the CPU would get pulled out of the socket upon removal, due to the pink thermal paste that hardened over time. Lately though (since AM2+ or so) AMD's heatsinks no longer come with that kind of paste, and instead ship with silver paste already on them.

[helidan]

I once tried to remove the stock HSF from my Phenom 965, ended up ripping the CPU straight out of the socket with the clamp still locked, bent some pins and all

Can't believe how c**p that AMD stuff is.

My paste of choice is Arctic MX4, I just use a very small amount right in the center of the chip and let the heatsink spread it out.
Always had good temps.
Contrary to Arctics recommendations I don't use the vertical line method, I feel it ends up being way too much compound applied.

[Bad_Motha]

It's nothing to really do with AMD, other then their aged socket design. If it had a way to LOCK the CPU into place, like Intel, then this wouldn't ever happen.

I have had it happen a few times, even with AMD's newer CPUs, but only because the silver paste was on SO well, which is actually a good thing, as that means there weren't any air-pockets in the grease. But it is very annoying, especially these days, given how many pins the AMD CPUs have.