# Best way to apply paste to a direct-contact heatpipe cooler?



## adcx64 (Aug 16, 2016)

Should I just follow the normal pea sized method?


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 16, 2016)

Have a read of this too
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Thermal-Paste-Application-Techniques-170/


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## peche (Aug 16, 2016)

> *direct-contact heatpipe cooler?*



You mean laptop cooler?
or which cooler is it, please specify, 

Regards,


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## newtekie1 (Aug 16, 2016)

adcx64 said:


> Should I just follow the normal pea sized method?



Yes.


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## thesmokingman (Aug 16, 2016)

adcx64 said:


> Should I just follow the normal pea sized method?



If the pipes are exposed which is typical of direct contact, then you  SPREAD. Pea will get caught in the ridges.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 16, 2016)

I use spread method no matter the cooler


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## peche (Aug 16, 2016)

eidairaman1 said:


> I use spread method no matter the cooler


If the pipes are exposed Its pretty great to tint a little bit of tim to them... for making a greater bond surface....

Regards,


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## RejZoR (Aug 17, 2016)

If pipes aren't smoothed out almost perfectly it's almost better to apply tiny bit more TIM than necessary to fill the slightly bigger gaps. It's better to have slightly more thermal paste than having an air gab which is the worst heat conductor you can imagine.


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## Jetster (Aug 17, 2016)

I never spread. Just squish and its good. Peche direct contact is like the CM 212 not a laptop

As far as Direct contact Ive use as little as a grain of rice and not spread. Always worked for me. The only one I spread is CPUs like the old Duron type with no heat spreader

The only thing you could do wrong is use too much, reuse the paste or forget to take the sticker off


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## silkstone (Aug 17, 2016)

I always just go with a grain of rice in the middle and a smidgen in each corner.
Though I have lapped all of my cpus so even just a grain of rice blob covers 66% of the CPU.

Every other method I have tried, give me higher temps and I've found that the less compound, the better.


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## Dethroy (Aug 17, 2016)

X-shape has proven to be the most reliable method with the best coverage from my experience thus far.

by way of illustration









Cisco's recommendation:


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## peche (Aug 17, 2016)

silkstone said:


> and I've found that the less compound, the better.


agreed, but there may be also a correct mount or block seat that might do the rest of the great job sir, 



Dethroy said:


> X-shape has proven to be the most reliable method with the best coverage from my experience thus far.
> 
> by way of illustration
> 
> ...


video was going great till he spread Coollab over the IHs, personally i just use and recomend coollab for delid porpuses, not for single use on proceesor's IHS, 

also its quite curious that he didnt tried Arctic Silver 5 

Regards,


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## sneekypeet (Aug 17, 2016)

This is the way I have always pasted my HDT coolers. Not my image, just used as reference.


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## 95Viper (Aug 17, 2016)

Some nice examples here -->   Application on HDT Coolers



Dethroy said:


> Cisco's recommendation:



It may be just me... I see to many areas for the possibility of air being trapped.


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## Dethroy (Aug 17, 2016)

95Viper said:


> It may be just me... I see to many areas for the possibility of air being trapped.


I was curious and actually tried this method several times today at work. Was very pleased with the results and I can confirm that no air will be trapped, since the X will push the small peas outwards. Will have to admit that I used too much thermal paste throughout the first 2-3 attempts though.


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## sneekypeet (Aug 17, 2016)

Normally, with solid base coolers. I use a five dot method. Have used this for years on many coolers and have great success with an even spread. Much like the example from Dethroy, but it uses much less paste. Would also tend to work with HDT coolers, as the paste is where the pipes are, rather than trying to set it in the middle and spread that glob outwards. Again, not my image, just an example I found.


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## Norton (Aug 17, 2016)

I use the thin line method on HDT coolers- haven't had a problem with any installs that I've done

Like this (image from a TweakTown review):





http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/47...ht_hawk_edition_cpu_cooler_review/index6.html


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## erocker (Aug 17, 2016)

Dethroy said:


> X-shape has proven to be the most reliable method with the best coverage from my experience thus far.
> 
> by way of illustration
> 
> ...



This is what I use. Before that, if I'm using an exposed heatpipe cooler I will "tint" them as @peche mentioned above, to fill in the creases/gaps between the pipes.


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## sneekypeet (Aug 17, 2016)

Norton said:


> I use the thin line method on HDT coolers- haven't had a problem with any installs that I've done
> 
> Like this (image from a TweakTown review):
> 
> ...



Someone dug deep to find that image!


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## Norton (Aug 17, 2016)

sneekypeet said:


> Someone dug deep to find that image!


Wasn't hard considering the cooler in that picture is 3 feet away from me in my main rig...


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## peche (Aug 17, 2016)

Norton said:


> I use the thin line method on HDT coolers- haven't had a problem with any installs that I've done
> 
> Like this (image from a TweakTown review):
> 
> ...


ill perform a little tint over there.. i dont trust the space between every heatpipe and cooler base...


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## sneekypeet (Aug 17, 2016)

peche said:


> ill perform a little tint over there.. i dont trust the space between every heatpipe and cooler base...



The aluminum plate/base of such coolers do very little to cool the CPU anyways. You want the paste on the copper bits.


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## peche (Aug 17, 2016)

sneekypeet said:


> The aluminum plate/base of such coolers do very little to cool the CPU anyways. You want the paste on the copper bits.


not just over the cooper, check this elemental fact:




tim is used to fill al the gaps between cpu and heatsink right? 
Since the heatpipes are little bit exposed and not joint togheter there is a space, that might be tinted or filled for trying to get a flat surface for optional contact or heat exchange between both surfaces, helped by TIM



Regards,


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## sneekypeet (Aug 17, 2016)

peche said:


> not just over the cooper, check this elemental fact:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That image is for a solid base cooler. I am simply stating this. When using an HDT cooler, even feeling the two components, the aluminum does not warm up like the pipes do near the base. With such little contact for the Aluminum to make with the CPU IHS, it does very little for cooling the CPU. However, the wider copper parts take on the majority of the heat dissipated into the base of the cooler, and is where it is important to get the TIM. If you look closely at the image that Norton added above, you will see that Xigmatek did not even use TIM between the pipes and the aluminum spacer plate. This means thermal transfer from the pipes to the base is very limited. Some companies will paste this surface during assembly, and you will see a bit of the TIM squeezing out. Then again, when you use the finger test or an IR thermometer to get readings of the spacer plate versus the heat pipes, it is plainly obvious that the aluminum does very little for overall results. To each their own though! Thing is though, when using a line on each pipe, the paste will fill the gaps, I can take images and prove to you what I mean if you would like to see this in action rather than just words.


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## FR@NK (Aug 17, 2016)

I need to pull my cooler off and see how well the paste has spread.

Also, doesnt anyone use AS5 anymore? Maybe I need to get a better paste...


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## peche (Aug 17, 2016)

FR@NK said:


> I need to get a better paste..


arctic MX4 and also Thermal grizzly, 



sneekypeet said:


> To each their own though!


agreed, i do respect that fair point you've exposed, also when possible ill try to do some tests and try to explain my point in private! but again thanks for sharing your though!

Regards,


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## hat (Aug 18, 2016)

I use the method Sneekypeet suggested (thin lines on the pipes of the cooler). If it's a flat base, pea sized blob on the CPU (or appropriately sized blob on GPU... or whatever). I've tried spreading the TIM out before and got truly horrible results, then I tried the blob method and it worked just fine. Maybe I just didn't do it very well, or maybe my method was bad, but hell... it's not like there's a 10c difference between these application methods. An appropriately sized blob of any decent paste (MX4 being the current go-to paste in my eyes) will do the job, unless it's a direct pipe cooler like this, then put a little line on the pipes.


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## RejZoR (Aug 18, 2016)

I always apply a thin layer through entire IHS (pre-spread it fully with a flat screwdriver). Been doing this for years and after removal of heatsinks, I always had a perfect spread. Don't see any reason to change the method which just works.


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## fullinfusion (Aug 18, 2016)

Forgive me if I missed,  but what cooler is it for? 
Gpu,  CPU? 

I had a gtx 680 a friend  gave me to look at why it could cook an egg on it was so dam hot.  This is what it looked like.. 












Needless to say is sure the Gpu chip looked great for spread,  but it wouldn't transfer heat as one would expect. The dam thing would heat up so much the video would just blank out and the heat that thing put off was unbelievable! 

I pulled out some MX4 and did a frozen pea size about on the chip and sandwiched the cooler back on.  After the new paste job the Gpu would sit right around 60c under full load.  I don't know what paste the guy used before but it was crap. 

Pretty much it all depends on the paste used and what chip is being used.  But I also agree with the guys that recommend tinting the base at it does make a big difference in the transfer of heat.


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## RejZoR (Aug 18, 2016)

Essentially 2 heatpipes do nothing at all apart from conducting a bit heat transfered through the heatpipes next to them. This direct heatpipe contact is a bit silly if you ask me...


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## peche (Aug 18, 2016)

There is also a older post with information about thermal Pastes!

*Thermal paste applied on your GPU / CPU, survey!*

there you might find info about brands, application method, how long has been used, several more things!


Regards,


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 18, 2016)

peche said:


> If the pipes are exposed Its pretty great to tint a little bit of tim to them... for making a greater bond surface....
> 
> Regards,



Forgot to mention that. I do it still.


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