Is aftermarket thermal paste really necessary??

I have a small doubt regarding CPU thermal paste,Recently my motherboard was replaced under warranty and during that gap my proccy and fan were kept aside in a box.Now my doubt is,is that gonna affect thermal paste in any way and do u really need to apply aftermarket thermal paste again???

My Processor thermal margin is showing 44-45C right now and is in green in intel desktop utilities normally.But occasionally a warning pops out that my proccy thermal margin went below 13C.My guess is that would be a false report since it goes into 40-45 range within no time.
but i want to be sure that I'm not risking anything with my proccy and Do I need to apply thermal paste again.
Alos wanted to what exactly are the benefits of using aftermarket thermal paste apart from cpu running cooler.

yes. thermal paste need to be applied if the heatsink is detached and it's a must!

+1.

You better do that..the first thing, before even booting your computer again.

Also use RealTEMP along with Prime95 and get a differential gradient chart, for your CPU temperatures. PLEASE do this after putting new TIM.

desiibond said:
yes. thermal paste need to be applied if the heatsink is detached and it's a must!

Anna suggest some along with their price,also availability at S.P. Road
Is anything alarming in that screen shots??
Is stock C2D heatsink enough for normal use??No overclocking

@asigh
are u running @4ghz on stock cooler,heard E8400 can be overclocked to 4Ghz on stock cooler

^^
Get Coolermaster Fusion for RS 350-400. Has no settle in period.

Am running it on a Hyper 212 HSF with the above TIM.

Cannot make out your screen shots. Post a screen shot of the diagnostic I suggested. Will let you know.

Stock HSF is good enough for NON-OC. But the TIM should still be there, to insure integral mating of the HSF and CPU header. Doubt you can push the E8400 to 4 Ghz on stock. Too much vCore will go in. Immense heat. Its risky.

@asigh
downloaded both,now which tests should I run??

sriharsha_madineni said:
Anna suggest some along with their price,also availability at S.P. Road
Is anything alarming in that screen shots??
Is stock C2D heatsink enough for normal use??No overclocking

@asigh
are u running @4ghz on stock cooler,heard E8400 can be overclocked to 4Ghz on stock cooler

no need for aftermarket cooler if you are not overclocking and the stock cooler should do well for small overclock.

follow asigh's suggestion for thermal paste.

some shops there will try to give you 50 rupee local made thermal pastes and say that branded ones are unavailable. don't fall for that.

You can even try searching to Tuniq TX2 which costs Rs.200.

oops ran sensor test and suddenly proccy temp rose to 100C and IDU started showing pop ups that proccy margin went below 13 and was continuously blinking in red.
Oh no I should have read your post clearly

,I did this on stock TIM

sriharsha_madineni said:
@asigh
downloaded both,now which tests should I run??

1. Launch RealTEMP.
2. Via Setting set TjMax to 90
3. Click on sensor test.
4. Show the Application the Prime95 EXE. (It will ask for it).
5. Choose 2 worker threads.
6. Let it run till the end. You will get a temperature log on the RealTEMP front end.
7. Post a screen shot of that.
8. Keep Task Manager Open.

Keep a close watch. If you get an over heat signal (like you were before), immediately make a screen shot of Prime95 (I want to see the threshold), and kill RealTEMP and Prime95 via tax manager.

Please do not run the above, and walk away. You will need to monitor.
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Posted again:
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sriharsha_madineni said:
oops ran sensor test and suddenly proccy temp rose to 100C and IDU started showing pop ups that proccy margin went below 13 and was continuously blinking in red.
Oh no I should have read your post clearly,I did this on stock TIM

Guess you typed this, while I was typing the above.

See if you can make a screen shot.

Shall I run it now or wait till I get new thermal Paste

Actually do not run it. The way you described, your temperature shot up too fast. Keep this post as a bookmark, and do what I suggested once the TIM is installed and the HSF re mounted.

Clean the CPU and HSF contact surfaces lightly with Isopropyl Alcohol. Let it dry, then mount. Spread the TIM thinly over the CPU header.

Post back once all this is done, we can then take it forward. Till you do not have the new TIM placed, try not to stress the system (gaming, encoding).

Best of luck...!

sriharsha_madineni said:
Shall I run it now or wait till I get new thermal Paste

Get the thermal paste first.

Well yes temp is shooting up to 100 within secs of starting the test :shock:

*img21.imageshack.us/img21/6272/captureut.th.png,is that alarming or normal??

^^
Yes this is really bad.

1. Your HSF is 100% not seated correctly.
2. TIM needs to be applied.

You seriously made this screen shot a few seconds after starting the Sensor test.

What have you set TjMax too..?

wow thats really hot temp...u must surely do something about this

asigh said:
^^
Yes this is really bad.

1. Your HSF is 100% not seated correctly.
2. TIM needs to be applied.

Thank god at least I realized somethings wrong with my proccy temps early.
I mean not during the tests,but after fixing it back just a few days ago,If this is the case then I guess i've been running like this for a year now!!!!
coz my proccy and heat sink were removed even before this,i.e last time when my mobo went kaput some 1yr ago.

You seriously made this screen shot a few seconds after starting the Sensor test.

Is that a question or expression :?:

sriharsha_madineni said:
Is that a question or expression

Question...

Also I asked..about TjMax. What is that set too..?

First time I ran it on defaults and temps were 100 within just a sec or two.

then I changed max tj to 90 and ran test again,the screen shot was after second attempt,again temps were max within seconds

^^

ok..thanks..

Just do not stress the system. Be very gentle with it. Do what we all suggested. And run the test.

asigh said:
^^

ok..thanks..

Just do not stress the system. Be very gentle with it. Do what we all suggested. And run the test.

ohh it would take atleast a week for me to get the thermal paste and I'm upgrading my PSU too just in case.

@asigh
This is what I was talking about E8400 @4.0Ghz.I'm not into overclocking BTW my concern is to run proccy at cool temps

.
Was reading this yesterday about c2d and i7 temp calibrations,nice detailed info,got to know a lot from this.
So what is the ideal temp range for my proccy under normal loads and Full loads???
check out the temp at diff loads in that first link,At present my proccy is averaging 50C at just 4-5% load.
Also my gfx card is showing 54C at idle,is it ok??

^^ Ideally for your processor - at stock.

Idle : 33c-35C
Full Load : Should not go above 55C

@asigh
The culprit was loose heatsink which was not seated properly.After fixing it,I performed those tests again with Tj max set to 90,thankfully this time the temp changes were not sudden.temps were increasing slowly as loads increased.Anyways all these were done with cabinet side panel removed.
Will again test it with side panel closed tomorrow and let you know the results and yeah thermal paste looks like it's dried out,hmm gotta replace it with new one.

Also the stock cooler has this problem of not seating properly,are there any sub 1K aftermarket coolers or Should I stick with the stock one.
Here are the results
*img21.imageshack.us/img21/6272/captureut.th.png
*img69.imageshack.us/img69/7921/70974326.th.jpg

^^ These temperatures are good. With good TIM, they should come down 4-5 degrees more.

Yes, stock HSF is bad. It at times does not seat properly, no matter how hard you press the push pins. Though if you are not OC'ing you can live with these temperatures.

You plan to OC...?...We can suggest better HSFs. Keep a budget of at least 2.4k.

asigh said:
^^ These temperatures are good. With good TIM, they should come down 4-5 degrees more.

Yes, stock HSF is bad. It at times does not seat properly, no matter how hard you press the push pins. Though if you are not OC'ing you can live with these temperatures.

You plan to OC...?...We can suggest better HSFs. Keep a budget of at least 2.4k.

ahhh relieved man :))

no plans to OC as of now and that too i'm on Intel Original board so no OC for me I guess.
BTW is 55C ok for my XFX 9600GT on idle??
So may I skip using newThermal paste as of now coz iIcan spend that amount on my other upgrades now.

hehehe found this old thread below the page in similar threads

OT @desiibond
Anna is this you by any chance??Found this in the thread above. Profile name sounded familiar

oh yes. that was mine. i used my company's userid. after sometime, created new account

couldn't wait untill tomorrow :))

,So ran blend torture test with Tj max set to 90,cabinet closed and processor Fan response set to aggressive in BIOS.
*img693.imageshack.us/img693/2757/c33.th.jpg

^^ Still a shade on the higher side, but will not harm.

Post good TIM, you should see nice change. I still do not trust stock HSF.

@Asigh
what do you think about these temps,are they reduced
*img197.imageshack.us/img197/3983/86654869.th.jpg

What is this sensor movement in the first row??

^^ Have you applied the new TIM.

Sensor movement is a small test done, to check if the core sensor is moving...i.e. not stuck. It should show value different to '0'. Seems like the sensor for your first core is faulty.

Though over all your temperatures seem fine.

@asigh
looks like my purchase is gonna be delayed.So in the mean while my friend offered his Dow corning thermal paste 5gm tube for 100 bucks. He got it free with some intel proccy. But since he already had a arctic silver one he wants to sell that Dow corning one. I saw that pack it was sealed and had one syringe filled with grey paste and the expire date was aug 2011. So expiry for what is that the unopened shell life or the content's expiry. Should I go for it or wait and get a cooler master one.
Is there any interval for changing it or only if I remove hsf again??

^^
Ya take it and use it. Ideally one changes the TIM when the HSF is dismantled.

Enthusiasts do it every 7-8 months. Its just rs100. Use it once. Throw it, if it expires. Do check the viscosity. It should not be to hardened, or lumping.

@asigh
core 0 sensor seems to be fixed at 0.So is it permanently damaged??

Would not say 'damaged'. It is non-functional. The part came like that from the foundry. It can happen, is normal.