VOGONS


First post, by deksar

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Hello there.

It's my first time disassembling a Slot 1 CPU - Pentium 3 667 Mhz (from my IBM PC 300GL computer) for thermal paste renewal.

At first, I thought it'd be easy to remove it but it was truly hard and very annoying (paying attention to not break the cpu) to push those four plastic tabs with Hexagon screwdriver, having a wide flat head..

Now, I'd like to ask, should I apply a thermal paste or a quality thermal pad would be enough for this processor?

Should I completely remove that yellow glue-like remnants, in red circle on photo? Seems very dry, I don't know if that was a pad or paste..

In case of applying thermal pad/paste, I should do it only to that area I circled in blue, right? Please see the picture.

Many thanks.

Attachments

  • 20230429_220940.jpg
    Filename
    20230429_220940.jpg
    File size
    392.43 KiB
    Views
    1285 views
    File license
    Public domain
Last edited by deksar on 2023-04-29, 20:32. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 18, by Hoping

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Clean the old thermal paste, that's usually hard because it's old, but with acetone it should become easier to clean.
And as long as the cooler has enough pressure, you can use any kind of thermal interface you want, these CPUs had a low TDP and that heatsink looks fairly big.
And yes, if you use thermal paste, apply it only on the CPU die, and it doesn't need to be a high quality one, the part you marked in blue, The same for a thermal pad, but the pad needs to be fairly thin, I always used thermal paste. It's like a laptop CPU or a modern CPU without a heat spreader with the die exposed.

Reply 2 of 18, by cyclone3d

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

You will want to use a thermal paste that doesn't have issues drying out or separating unless you really want to be taking it apart to service it.

While not a paste with a high thermal conductivity by today's standards, Arctic Silver 5 would be a good choice.

My current choice is Arctic MX5 as it has fairly high thermal conductivity and you should not have to worry about it drying out or separating.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 3 of 18, by PcBytes

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

For removing, from what I've experienced, Zippo lighter fluid should also work.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 4 of 18, by AlexZ

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I still use Arctic MX-4 tube that I bought like 15 years ago. I just repasted my laptop with it and it's working fine. I also used it on my retro rigs. Remainders of the original thermal pad can be removed with finger nails or plastic.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 5 of 18, by Horun

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I like MX-4 too ! It is non-conductive and far better for older parts and has a very long life before drying out IMHO. I avoid all silver based products on nearly all my vintage gear.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 18, by bogdanpaulb

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I've been using PK-3 and Ceramique 2 with great success.

Attachments

  • IMG_3437.JPG
    Filename
    IMG_3437.JPG
    File size
    1.63 MiB
    Views
    1161 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 7 of 18, by cyclone3d

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
bogdanpaulb wrote on 2023-04-30, 01:05:

I've been using PK-3 and Ceramique 2 with great success.

Up until recently I had been using Ceramique 2 for stuff that just needed to be repasted and didn't necessarily need a high performance compound.

That is until I repasted my son's Precision 3630 which has an 8700k and the "good" heatpipe cooler.

I had originally repasted it with Ceramique 2 and every time the CPU was loaded (even from the first day it was repasted) the cooler fan would spin up to max speed for a couple seconds and would occasionally ramp up to high speed every once in a while when he was playing games.

I had to take the cooler off when I cleaned the dust out of the system because I couldn't get some of it out with the air blower I was using.

I decided to put MX-5 on it and now the fan doesn't ramp up at all.

No more Ceramique 2 for me for pretty much anything anymore because of that.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 8 of 18, by bogdanpaulb

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
cyclone3d wrote on 2023-04-30, 01:59:
Up until recently I had been using Ceramique 2 for stuff that just needed to be repasted and didn't necessarily need a high perf […]
Show full quote
bogdanpaulb wrote on 2023-04-30, 01:05:

I've been using PK-3 and Ceramique 2 with great success.

Up until recently I had been using Ceramique 2 for stuff that just needed to be repasted and didn't necessarily need a high performance compound.

That is until I repasted my son's Precision 3630 which has an 8700k and the "good" heatpipe cooler.

I had originally repasted it with Ceramique 2 and every time the CPU was loaded (even from the first day it was repasted) the cooler fan would spin up to max speed for a couple seconds and would occasionally ramp up to high speed every once in a while when he was playing games.

I had to take the cooler off when I cleaned the dust out of the system because I couldn't get some of it out with the air blower I was using.

I decided to put MX-5 on it and now the fan doesn't ramp up at all.

No more Ceramique 2 for me for pretty much anything anymore because of that.

Had no problems with it for 'normal' applications, for the 'heavy duty' stuff, i use PK-3.

Reply 9 of 18, by shevalier

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Hoping wrote on 2023-04-29, 19:58:

Clean the old thermal paste, that's usually hard because it's old, but with acetone it should become easier to clean.

It's not thermal paste, it's "phase change material".
When new, it is solid when cold and liquid when hot.
During transportation, it fixes the heatsink on the chip and prevents displacement.
As time passes, it loses its properties and turns into stone.

Aopen MX3S, PIII-S Tualatin 1133, Radeon 9800Pro@XT BIOS, Diamond monster sound MX300
JetWay K8T8AS, Athlon DH-E6 3000+, Radeon HD2600Pro AGP, Audigy 2 Value

Reply 10 of 18, by paradigital

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I just use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on everything, can’t be bothered to buy “lesser” paste for older kit, might as well just use one massive syringe for everything, retro or modern.

Reply 11 of 18, by deksar

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
paradigital wrote on 2023-04-30, 08:07:

I just use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on everything, can’t be bothered to buy “lesser” paste for older kit, might as well just use one massive syringe for everything, retro or modern.

Actually regarding Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, I usually hear too many bad things, like it damages the components and heatsinks, especially on non-copper plates..

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/da … ryonaut.280141/

Reply 12 of 18, by Hoping

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
deksar wrote on 2023-04-30, 16:21:
paradigital wrote on 2023-04-30, 08:07:

I just use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on everything, can’t be bothered to buy “lesser” paste for older kit, might as well just use one massive syringe for everything, retro or modern.

Actually regarding Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, I usually hear too many bad things, like it damages the components and heatsinks, especially on non-copper plates..

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/da … ryonaut.280141/

I've seen that kind of scratches with another but cheap thermal paste, the NOX TG10, it is a very bad problem, you can always polish the heatsink to a mirror finish again but the CPU heatspreader no, because you'll erase the marking and it's worst with GPUs exposed dies or with laptop CPUs. And who pays for the damage, because there isn't a perfectly smooth surface anymore with that scratches. I've thought it was because the NOX thermal paste is a cheap, low quality one, but I'm surprised that an expensive one can also cause this problem.

Reply 13 of 18, by paradigital

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Hoping wrote on 2023-04-30, 16:42:
deksar wrote on 2023-04-30, 16:21:
paradigital wrote on 2023-04-30, 08:07:

I just use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on everything, can’t be bothered to buy “lesser” paste for older kit, might as well just use one massive syringe for everything, retro or modern.

Actually regarding Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, I usually hear too many bad things, like it damages the components and heatsinks, especially on non-copper plates..

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/da … ryonaut.280141/

I've seen that kind of scratches with another but cheap thermal paste, the NOX TG10, it is a very bad problem, you can always polish the heatsink to a mirror finish again but the CPU heatspreader no, because you'll erase the marking and it's worst with GPUs exposed dies or with laptop CPUs. And who pays for the damage, because there isn't a perfectly smooth surface anymore with that scratches. I've thought it was because the NOX thermal paste is a cheap, low quality one, but I'm surprised that an expensive one can also cause this problem.

I’ll admit this is the first I’ve seen of this “problem”, but I’ve been using my tube for coming up to 5 years now without issue. If it’s a change in recipe thing then I’ll be using something else when the tube is empty, but that’ll be a while as it was a big tube!

Reply 14 of 18, by shevalier

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I don't want to criticize, it's boring.
It 2 square centimetres of area and a TDP of 30 watts.
Are you seriously discussing the choice of thermal paste?

For reference.
Replacing the fossilized thermal grease on Zalman STG-2 under the heatspreader`s in Tualatin P3-S 1.13GHz reduces the temperature by 3-5 degrees only.

Aopen MX3S, PIII-S Tualatin 1133, Radeon 9800Pro@XT BIOS, Diamond monster sound MX300
JetWay K8T8AS, Athlon DH-E6 3000+, Radeon HD2600Pro AGP, Audigy 2 Value

Reply 15 of 18, by smtkr

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
shevalier wrote on 2023-04-30, 17:34:
I don't want to criticize, it's boring. It 2 square centimetres of area and a TDP of 30 watts. Are you seriously discussing the […]
Show full quote

I don't want to criticize, it's boring.
It 2 square centimetres of area and a TDP of 30 watts.
Are you seriously discussing the choice of thermal paste?

For reference.
Replacing the fossilized thermal grease on Zalman STG-2 under the heatspreader`s in Tualatin P3-S 1.13GHz reduces the temperature by 3-5 degrees only.

It's actuallya 17.5W part 😁

Reply 16 of 18, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Yah, any paste should be fine. Back in the day however, it was considered necessary to shim the cache chips if the thermal pads were removed, due to there being minor difference in height between CPU core and cache packages.

edit: oh wait, this isn't a Katmai is it, got cache inside the CPU.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 17 of 18, by deksar

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
shevalier wrote on 2023-04-30, 17:34:
I don't want to criticize, it's boring. It 2 square centimetres of area and a TDP of 30 watts. Are you seriously discussing the […]
Show full quote

I don't want to criticize, it's boring.
It 2 square centimetres of area and a TDP of 30 watts.
Are you seriously discussing the choice of thermal paste?

For reference.
Replacing the fossilized thermal grease on Zalman STG-2 under the heatspreader`s in Tualatin P3-S 1.13GHz reduces the temperature by 3-5 degrees only.

I see your point, you're right, but well, we're overall exchanging the ideas and learning (at least, me) here..
The main topic not really was thermal paste brands actually, but a "thermal pad vs thermal paste comparison" for such slot CPUs.

I'm in a small town here and I don't really have thermal paste around me/any stores,
but I do have a Pullsar Ice Dragon Thermal Pad - 1.5mm - conductivity: 17.0 W / mK (https://www.pullsar.de/index.php/product/19/)

Just wanted to learn if such kind of thermal pads would be enough for those CPUs? And specifically; Would 1.5 mm be too thick?

Thanks.

Reply 18 of 18, by shevalier

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
deksar wrote on 2023-04-30, 18:14:

Would 1.5 mm be too thick?

Pads of this thickness are used to fill voids.
For example, between the video card memory and the heatsink.
"Anything but air"
Under the south bridges usually put 0.2-0.5mm.
Under the northern - either paste, or material with a phase change.
For 20 watts, all the same, paste would be better, or a very thin and expensive pad.

Aopen MX3S, PIII-S Tualatin 1133, Radeon 9800Pro@XT BIOS, Diamond monster sound MX300
JetWay K8T8AS, Athlon DH-E6 3000+, Radeon HD2600Pro AGP, Audigy 2 Value