Delidded 4690k, which thermal paste to use between the die and IHS?

[cst1992]

EDIT: Due to lots of replies suggesting liquid metal, I'm adding this here: liquid metal is not available to use. Only looking for a usual thermal paste that's not runny and conducts heat well, and is (preferably) not electrically conductive.

I delidded my 4690k a year ago, because it was thermal throttling at almost 96C.
I have a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 v2 cooler.

I purchased and used the Arctic MX-4 because it's not electrically conductive. Unfortunately, it's also a thinner paste.
When, after a few months, the temp problem cropped up again, I removed the CPU and realized that the MX-4 had spilled off the CPU die. Needless to see, I was disappointed.

I think I also have old AS5 left - but I believe it's electrically conductive due to the presence of silver particles. I don't want to brick my CPU because of it.

What other choices do I have? I want a thicker paste that won't spill because of the temperature variations.

 

[nguyen]

Conductonaut or other liquid metal TIM between the die and IHS and Gelid GC Extreme between IHS and cooler

 

[cst1992]

Don't get Conductonaut here In fact, there are no liquid metal thermal compounds available unless we want to import it at exorbitant prices(2-3x)
Also liquid metal is conductive too - however, it's got a low risk of seepage like this, as long as only a small amount is applied.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

you can use AS5 so long as you use nail polish on any of the 'contact points' or pokey out bits around the CPU die that it could maybe come into contact with.

which means this stuff here in red

Otherwise try some Noctua NT-H1

 

[Keullo-e]

Liquid metal on the die and any high quality paste on the IHS. I usually go with MX-4.

 

[cst1992]

As I said already, liquid metal is not available.

 

[nuggdoctor]

If you cant obtain any of the major liquid metal brands you can use a standard HIGH quality thermal paste. I dont recommend kryonaut since they still have thousands of tubes of a bad batch floating around and they cant track them to pull them from market so its luck of the draw. I would say use noctua nt-h1 but your temp drop wont be nearly as significant as it would be with liquid metal like conductonaut. With using a standard paste you will only see a few degree c difference. usually around 3-5c at most. not worth voiding your cpu warranty for it. But if youre on a non warranty cpu then any cooling is better than no cooling

 

[cst1992]

Warranty is dead and buried already.
Just want my temps to not exceed 80C at 100% usage when gaming, and be anywhere between 30C and 45C when idle.
What paste could Intel be using originally? Seems like it's quite thick and doesn't run. Something like that would do well.

 

[Deleted member 193596]

Liquid Metal or nothing.

i delidded my 4690k back in 2017 and changed the paste to Kryonaut and i got a temperature difference of like 2-3°C.

Liquid Metal changed that to almost 20°C.

 

[Toothless]

How does my overclocked 4690k with an EVGA ITX cooler run cooler than yours? Is your cooler really that bad?

 

[cst1992]

Not sure what's the problem.
Currently these are the temps I get when running p95 blend test vs idle:

Just 65.4W package power consumption and I'm already pushing 92C on core#1 - this is supposed to be a 88W TDP processor!
Something definitely wrong with the cooler/thermal paste.

Update: I was able to control the temps a bit by disabling turbo, wherein it consumes 50 watts:

Except when sometimes it doesn't:

 

[Toothless]

Bad mount, fan ain't spinning, or your cooler is actual junk.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

To be fair. your choice of cooler is a bit of a budget one. Maybe worth considering something a bit more beefy.

 

[evernessince]

Not sure what's the problem.
Currently these are the temps I get when running p95 blend test vs idle:
View attachment 183208View attachment 183209

Just 65.4W package power consumption and I'm already pushing 92C on core#1 - this is supposed to be a 88W TDP processor!
Something definitely wrong with the cooler/thermal paste.

Update: I was able to control the temps a bit by disabling turbo, wherein it consumes 50 watts:
View attachment 183223
Except when sometimes it doesn't:
View attachment 183224

Are these temps before or after a delid? I see plenty of 4000 series CPUs like what you have here and every time delidding and replacing the thermal paste fixed the issue.

 

[freeagent]

If you cant get LM maybe try some Thermalright TF8 or TFX. Both of them are pretty good, but I have never delidded anything..

Out of the two I mentioned, I would probably choose TFX..

 

[cst1992]

Bad mount, fan ain't spinning, or your cooler is actual junk

If the cooler's at fault, I'd say it's this that's the issue considering the cooler has plastic mounts similar to the stock Intel heatsink.
Fan is always spinning, at 900 RPM idle and 1500 load max. It's faint but I can actually hear it, so I know this for a fact.
Cooler is not junk, at least not for this power level; the level that it's supposed to handle is up to 150 watts, according to their website.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/deepcool-gammaxx-400-slim-tower-cpu-cooler,4460.html <- Here's a review by Tom's.

 

[Toothless]

If the cooler's at fault, I'd say it's this that's the issue considering the cooler has plastic mounts similar to the stock Intel heatsink.
Fan is always spinning, at 900 RPM idle and 1500 load max. It's faint but I can actually hear it, so I know this for a fact.
Cooler is not junk, at least not for this power level; the level that it's supposed to handle is up to 150 watts, according to their website.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/deepcool-gammaxx-400-slim-tower-cpu-cooler,4460.html <- Here's a review by Tom's.

Verify mounting is working and plastic is off the base of the cooler. There's something seriously wrong if it'll work on a 5930k and not a 4690k.

 

[cst1992]

Verified, both is fine.

 

[Toothless]

You mentioned earlier that liquid metal is 2-3x the price in your area. What is the actual cost? (I know you keep saying it's not an option but hear me out)

 

[cst1992]

What is the actual cost?

Around $25 per 1g syringe.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Cooler is not junk, at least not for this power level; the level that it's supposed to handle is up to 150 watts, according to their website.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/deepcool-gammaxx-400-slim-tower-cpu-cooler,4460.html <- Here's a review by Tom's.

Nobody said it was junk -- I said it was budget. its a £22 CPU cooler, basically a hyper 212 Evo which is a budget CPU cooler.

in any case. Another issue could be that the IHS has become slightly warped and no longer making good contact with the die. Its a rare occurrence but it does happen

 

[Caring1]

Or run a bare die.

 

[W1zzard]

What paste could Intel be using originally? Seems like it's quite thick

the cooler has plastic mounts similar to the stock Intel heatsink

Could this be your issue? The Intel pin mounting mechanism will mount the cooler at a certain z-height, which is designed for CPU+IHS+paste under IHS. If you replace it with a thin paste under the IHS, your contact will be bad, because mounting pressure is too low.

Huge deltas between the individual cores also hint at an uneven mounting, i.e. more pressure on one side of the die.

 

[cst1992]

So it's the mounts?
@Wizzard you're right - Core #1 and #2 have similar temps, and #0 and #3 have similar temps.
So does that mean the cooler is not put on right? One time I had a flimsy connection(it was not in all the way in the motherboard holes) the temp went to 99% the moment the cooler went horizontal(i.e. normal operating position). When it was vertical(e.g. like in a test bench) temperatures were reasonable. Obviously there was a gap between the IHS and the cooler.

If you replace it with a thin paste under the IHS, your contact will be bad, because mounting pressure is too low

Do you think I should go for liquid metal anyway? Will it be able to fix this issue?
One thing I think I know is that last time the MX-4 had seeped from below the IHS and spilled on the green processor PCB, supposedly because of expansion and contraction due to temperature variations over time. I wouldn't want that to happen with a conductive paste, because of some leads that are there beside the die:

Next time I change the thermal paste, I'm going to go back to the stock heatsink to see if the temperature difference is still there between the cores.
One thing I should mention is that I haven't used a gasket to secure the IHS to the chip again - it's held by the pressure due to the motherboard socket cover.
I don't use a delidding tool(not available, or expensive if imported) so I don't want to go through that every time.

 

[nguyen]

Here is another of your problem

You have to clean all the silicon glue residue as these can create uneven mounting pressure on top of the die. Use your nail to scratch away all these black silicon on the substrate and the IHS.

If you go with LM, just put some clear nail polish on the SMDs beside the die to prevent shorting, I had Conductonaut on my old 4790K and it has been running for over 4 years stably.