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thermal grease dissapearing act?

Fitseries3

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what the heck is going on? i've tryed this SEVERAL times. by NO WAY am i a NOOB.

i have bee using the zalman thermal grease for over a year now and have had great temps.
i have built 5 computers in the past month and i have noticed after about a week, the cpu temps begin to rise higher every day. i pulled of all of the cpu coolers and GONE!!! where the hell did it go? i have lapped all the cpu's and heatsinks, reapplied the grease, and reinstalled the coolers. (notice: i used several different bottles of zalman paste for this to make sure it wasnt just that bottle)

here i am a week later, seeing random reboots, lockups, and once again raising temps. i check the paste.... GONE! WTF is going on?

any suggestions on good thermal grease that wont disappear?
 
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Sounds like there is something wrong with Zalman paste in general. I've never heard this happen before, but I'd try some AS5 or MX-2.
 

jurrasstoil

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I guess imps are stealing your paste following the plans of the South Park' imps:
1. Steal Thermal Grease
2. ???????
3. Profit


Seriously. Burn the Zalman paste and get some AS5, MX-2 or AS Ceramique.
 
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I just logged on to state that I just started using MX-2 and I will never go back to anything else! It's insane how much of a difference it makes, and I've tried just about every thermal paste around. My Opteron's core idles at 30C at 3ghz!! My 8800GTS now idles at 39c!


8800GTS results: (idle)

Stock: 49c
Ceramique: 47c
Generic silverish stuff: 47c
AS5: 44c
MX-2: 39c
 

Fitseries3

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who would've known... imps... stealing my thermal grease.

what would work best for my zalman 9700 with my q6600?
 

Random Murderer

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sounds like it's (wtf?) evaporating...

who would've known... imps... stealing my thermal grease.

what would work best for my zalman 9700 with my q6600?

go with as5 or mx2.
 

Fitseries3

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i need a BIG tube/syringe... anyone know where to get one?(thermal paste, that is)
 
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It sounds like the paste you are using is made by the same people that gave us lead paint and GHB in childrens toys! I would never use it again, unless you have some sort of mental problem where you think you are applying paste and actually are not. I would bet the farm on #1 though. That sucks!
 

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Fitseries3

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It sounds like the paste you are using is made by the same people that gave us lead paint and GHB in childrens toys! I would never use it again, unless you have some sort of mental problem where you think you are applying paste and actually are not. I would bet the farm on #1 though. That sucks!

....some of the best replies i've recieved yet! LOL!!!
 
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jurrasstoil

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Silicon doesn't evaporate usually I think.

Is it gone completely? or are there some leftovers?
Is the Zalman installed with screws or pushpins?
 

Fitseries3

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Silicon doesn't evaporate usually I think.

Is it gone completely? or are there some leftovers?
Is the Zalman installed with screws or pushpins?

zalman can only be mounted with screws. there is 1 small DOT of grease left. the rest of the cpu/cooler is bone dry... on more than one computer.
 

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zalman can only be mounted with screws. there is 1 small DOT of grease left. the rest of the cpu/cooler is bone dry... on more than one computer.

The moisture evaporates, and the leftover powder often blows away as you remove the cooler. Also, some of the particles get absorbed into the heatsink - this is the 'burn in' of AS5 and so on, the particles fill in the minute gaps and stay there.


TBH it sounds like shit grease, MX2 is my new favourite because its so easy to apply, it can often get better temps than ASC or AS5 if you do a poor/quick job.
 
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Mx-2 Ftw!
 
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what the heck is going on? i've tryed this SEVERAL times. by NO WAY am i a NOOB.

i have bee using the zalman thermal grease for over a year now and have had great temps.
i have built 5 computers in the past month and i have noticed after about a week, the cpu temps begin to rise higher every day. i pulled of all of the cpu coolers and GONE!!! where the hell did it go? i have lapped all the cpu's and heatsinks, reapplied the grease, and reinstalled the coolers. (notice: i used several different bottles of zalman paste for this to make sure it wasnt just that bottle)

here i am a week later, seeing random reboots, lockups, and once again raising temps. i check the paste.... GONE! WTF is going on?

any suggestions on good thermal grease that wont disappear?

Hey. I have AS5 on my Q6600 as well. And it is doing the same thing. Very strange if you ask me. I do think that I may not have put on enough myself.

I'm curious as to putting it on my 8800GTX. Any suggestions or know a good guide of how to take your GPU apart?

Anyway, back to your topic. I'm experiencing the same thing. I'm going to reapply some paste on Wen or Thursday during the holidays. I have an Arctic Cooler 7 on my rig, would the screws holding in on make a difference on it?
 

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this has me wondering, I have as5 on a Zamlan 9700 over a q6600. Im running at 3.2GHz with tems in the high 40's. Anyone have any similar settings and what are your tempture at idle?
 

Fitseries3

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get rid of it NOW. AS5 or MX-2 are both great. the AS5 is really hard to get your cooler off after it sets up.
 
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I think the Thermal Paste Fairy has been taking it.:laugh:
 

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I've heard that zermal paste some times does that when exposed to high temps and overuse >.>
 

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yeah my Q6600 is idling at 60C here now... 35c ambient, so i guess i just need to go through the bitch of re-greasing.

(my systems a real bitch to regrease, since i removed the CPU retention bracket)

get rid of it NOW. AS5 or MX-2 are both great. the AS5 is really hard to get your cooler off after it sets up.

thats what arcticlean is for. Even if you THINK the surface is clean, articlean really does show you how bad it was... its great to have things looking like new again (especially when ebaying ;) )
 
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