Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

[Filip]

I have this board for over a year now and i want better cooling on the northbridge. Is it wise to change the thermalpaste on it? Will i need new thermalpads for the MOSFETS? Anything else?

Thanks in advance,


Filip

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

I always do. Be careful as it is a bare silicon chip under there.

I would leave the pads on the mosfets and the SB, that will be fine. Just redo the NB paste

[Filip]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

Im not doing the SB as that isnt connected to the other two with a pipe. I'll try to do it tomorow. It shouldn't be more dangerous than redoing a graphics card thats also bare chip.

[Lsdmeasap]

[Filip]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

I've done it twice on my Gigabyte 9800GTX, used MX2, the 2nd time i evened out the base of the cooler a bit and compared to stock i lowered the temp by like 10 deg celsious in best case scenario.

What worries me is that i've read horror stories about the standard thermalpaste turning into superglue (wha?!) and sometimes the NB coming out with the Heatsink?! Don't really think thats possible my self.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

I think that used to happen more in the past then now, but yes I have heard of that too.

The paste Gigabyte uses is not that hard though, you will be fine. If you worry, heat up the board from the back with a hair dryer and that should loosen it up a little bit

[Filip]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

If i managed to open the graphics card this shouldnt be a problem. Same maker, probably same paste aswell :D

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

Ya, it isn't usually on too tight. Give it a wiggle then a nudge up and it will come off.

And yeap, it likely is the same thermal paste too so you know what to expect. That silver pasty type, that is of course way to thick :)

[Psycho101]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

On my board the NB TIM was more of a wax based material. It was easy to remove. I used some TIM clean on the actual chip and had to scrape the TIM off the NB cooler first as it was thickest there.

As always, use plastic to scrape TIM from a HS if needed as metal may gouge the surface and lower the cooling efficiency.

The heatsink was easy to remove though> I ran the PC for ~ 15 minutes with Prime Large FFT going out of the case, then powered off and quicklt removed the NB screws. Replacing it with MX-2 went well. I used the spreading method as with all bare chips. Because there's no metal heat spreader on them the whole bare core needs coverage.

Likely the MOSFET and SB coolers are using some sort of pad rather than TIM. On the UD3P the pads remained well stuck to the heatsink but just lifted off the components as the adhesive is only on one side. The sinks went back on with no problems at all.

[Filip]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

All right, tomorow im taking the PC appart just for this, it better work! I use 70 or 90% Alchocol to clean thermal paste, it cleans it pretty good.

What made me do this is that i constantly see voltages for 4GB of RAM for the NB on like +0.2V and higher. Well i don't have any problems till 3.8GHz even on +0.125V, but on higher speeds the NB heatsink heats up pretty much and i can only hold a finger on it for about 7 sec really, so this wil surely help on higher FSB aswell.

[Psycho101]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

I had trouble using timclean on the thickest TIM on the heatsink itself as it was very waxy, almost solid and crumbly. You may have different paste on your board though.

If the MB gets extremely hot then uprating the thermal paste won't hurt but it probably won't help much. the time to be worried is if the heat sink is stone cold but thetemp readings are high. This is the situation where someone may need to re-do their TIM.

It won't hurt to change it though. Let us know how you get on.

[Filip]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

The problem is, there is no sensor for NB temprature, so i cannot tell how well will it cool after i do it

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

Well I bet you will be able to touch it longer, that will give you some indication. But ya to be exact you would need a sensor into the heatsink or directly beside the chip

Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II works great for a NB Cooler and it is a decent price ($18-20), but you would need to buy something for your Mosfets if you used one of those

[Filip]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

If i need more cooling, i'll just put a 60mm or some similar sized fan on it, that should do more than enough.

BTW, what is the MB Sensor for? In everest, under the sensor/temp section it says motherboard temprature 34deg C idling atm.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Changing thermalpaste on X48 DS4

Ya a 40-60mm fan will help alot, you'd be surprised!

MB Sensor is the PCB Near the NB and is Very close to what the actual NB Temps are. Here is some testing Kick did with P45 and this setting and a sensor in the NB >>>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ep45-ud3-northbridge-information-31370/