Thermal Grease and CPU

4th May 2007, 22:19

Hello! I have a quick question
Just finished installing my CPU (AMD 64 FX2 4200+) and heatsink (arctic cooling Alpine64) last night, ran around 38C all night on Supreme Commander. Today, turn it on and its stuck at 48C at idle. Granted its new and the thermal grease hasn't sunk in yet, however I pulled the heatsink off and noticed a light build up of thermal grease on the edges of the heatsink and processor. Cleaned a little bit off to keep it thin, however a tiny little bit got on the green lip of the processor which I could not remove. Is this dangerous? I'd be lying if I said this wasn't my first time to do this, because it is. Everything still runs fine (typing on it now) and its still hovering around 47-8 degrees. For specs, I have this setup:
MB: MSI K8n Neo2 Plat.
AGP HIS 512MB X1950Pro IceQ
2 GB Ram
75 GB WDC Raptor
4 case fans (2x intake 80mm, 2 exhaust (top and back) 80mm)

Configuration of the video card (which could kill a small child its so big) covers the NB a little bit,but not completely. I didn't want this to turn into a "is my computer to hot?" post, however I guess its gone down that road...so, question is: Do I need to worry about the tiny dab of paste on the green part of the processor? Also, considering no burn-in yet, does 48C reflect poor thermal grease application?
Thanks guys!
Oh, and names Jeff, first time board user.

jmke · 4th May 2007, 23:22

welcome to forums

that dab on the green part is no cause for concern; the temperatures are alos well within safe region, as long as it stays <70°C you have no risk of overheating damage.

5th May 2007, 00:44

Hey! And welcome to the forums!

Let me tell you a story of mine. I have a processor (Athlon 3000+ 754) that I wanted to perform a pin-mod on (attach a piece of copper wire between the pins and increase voltage for higher OC). I ended up bending and loosening about 10 pins (naturally I failed to do the pin mod correctly, so I just decided not to go with it). I also usually overload on the thermal paste as well and have to end up cleaning off the processors "green" part with rubbing alcohol. Anyway, moral of the story. Processor has absolutely no problems at all, even AFTER going through all that. These chips are tough

I also used to freak out about my temps, even though they were quite normal (about what you are experiencing right now with the 48C). However, after cleaning up my case (doing ALOT of wire management) and turning my top fan into an intake (you don't by any chance happen to have a Lian Li?) I now idle at 39C even with room temps as high as 30C.

5th May 2007, 00:45

Thanks for the reply. I am running folding@home for burn-in as we speak, 51-2C are the max on the CPU. Much better than I was getting on my OEM 64 3800+! (65C). Amazed how much a new CPU/heatsink and vid card can do for an aging system like mine. Sup. Commander runs high settings like a beast!

4th May 2007, 22:19	#1
Gandiva Posts: n/a	Thermal Grease and CPU Hello! I have a quick question Just finished installing my CPU (AMD 64 FX2 4200+) and heatsink (arctic cooling Alpine64) last night, ran around 38C all night on Supreme Commander. Today, turn it on and its stuck at 48C at idle. Granted its new and the thermal grease hasn't sunk in yet, however I pulled the heatsink off and noticed a light build up of thermal grease on the edges of the heatsink and processor. Cleaned a little bit off to keep it thin, however a tiny little bit got on the green lip of the processor which I could not remove. Is this dangerous? I'd be lying if I said this wasn't my first time to do this, because it is. Everything still runs fine (typing on it now) and its still hovering around 47-8 degrees. For specs, I have this setup: MB: MSI K8n Neo2 Plat. AGP HIS 512MB X1950Pro IceQ 2 GB Ram 75 GB WDC Raptor 4 case fans (2x intake 80mm, 2 exhaust (top and back) 80mm) Configuration of the video card (which could kill a small child its so big) covers the NB a little bit,but not completely. I didn't want this to turn into a "is my computer to hot?" post, however I guess its gone down that road...so, question is: Do I need to worry about the tiny dab of paste on the green part of the processor? Also, considering no burn-in yet, does 48C reflect poor thermal grease application? Thanks guys! Oh, and names Jeff, first time board user.

4th May 2007, 23:22	#2
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,020	welcome to forums that dab on the green part is no cause for concern; the temperatures are alos well within safe region, as long as it stays <70°C you have no risk of overheating damage. __________________

5th May 2007, 00:44	#3
Nessmaster Posts: n/a	Hey! And welcome to the forums! Let me tell you a story of mine. I have a processor (Athlon 3000+ 754) that I wanted to perform a pin-mod on (attach a piece of copper wire between the pins and increase voltage for higher OC). I ended up bending and loosening about 10 pins (naturally I failed to do the pin mod correctly, so I just decided not to go with it). I also usually overload on the thermal paste as well and have to end up cleaning off the processors "green" part with rubbing alcohol. Anyway, moral of the story. Processor has absolutely no problems at all, even AFTER going through all that. These chips are tough I also used to freak out about my temps, even though they were quite normal (about what you are experiencing right now with the 48C). However, after cleaning up my case (doing ALOT of wire management) and turning my top fan into an intake (you don't by any chance happen to have a Lian Li?) I now idle at 39C even with room temps as high as 30C. Last edited by Nessmaster : 5th May 2007 at 00:48.

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5th May 2007, 00:45	#4
Gandiva Posts: n/a	Thanks for the reply. I am running folding@home for burn-in as we speak, 51-2C are the max on the CPU. Much better than I was getting on my OEM 64 3800+! (65C). Amazed how much a new CPU/heatsink and vid card can do for an aging system like mine. Sup. Commander runs high settings like a beast!