Thermal paste, which is also known as CPU paste, thermal gel, heat paste, thermal grease. By its name, we can understand that this greasy silver substance is used to transfer heat. It is applied on CPU coolers. It is a very important component of computer application to keep it working in a good condition. It has to be applied properly on the CPU. In today’s article, we are going to learn in detail about this thermal paste and its uses. We will also learn how to apply it to the device.
Why do we need to apply thermal paste?
As we all know, a computer is a body and the CPU is its brain. It plays the most important role in the functioning of the PC. It has to deal with a high volume of operations. It transfers a lot of heat. It has to be cooled down in order to have efficient work for longer life.
Integrated Heat Spreader is a metal lid in the CPU which transfers heat from the processor to the CPU cooler. It is the surface on which, one can apply thermal paste. The surface has tiny gaps on it. This tiny gap traps air and does not allow heat to get released. The thermal paste gets gelled in the gaps and allows heat to get transferred. CPU cooler or IHS seems smooth at the first look but it has an uneven surface which can be solved with the help of thermal paste
How to apply the thermal paste?
- The very first step is to apply a small amount of paste onto the centre of the integrated heat spreader (IHS). You don’t need to apply the paste if it is already present on it.
- Place the base plate of the cooler onto the CPU. Use less pressure while placing the plate. Attach the motherboard to the CPU cooler. Place it in a diagonal pattern. Be careful, not to push it hard.
- Clean the edges of the CPU cooler. Paste should not be spilt on it. Clean the motherboard also.
- While applying the paste on the plate, check the instructions given on the pack as every company’s product gets different from each other.
- You need to apply the paste if the temperature of your CPU goes higher, otherwise, you don’t need to reapply the paste once every few years.
Precautions to be taken:
- Make sure that the paste should be applied evenly on the surface area otherwise it will not give desired results. More
quantity of paste may have chances of spilling on the motherboard.
- Take care about placing the paste and applying pressure to push the CPU cooler as it may create air bubbles in the paste and affect the conductivity of the thermal paste.
- If air bubbles occur on the plate, then pull it back and clean it off completely. Repeat the process of applying the paste.
Is there any expiry date for the paste?
Thermal paste is always used in small quantities. It is very obvious that the whole substance is not used at once. It can be kept and stored for future use. It can be used after a few years but it has to be kept with care. The expiry of paste depends on the surroundings and conditions it is kept. It may differ with every brand.
Check the quality of the used paste before using it a second or third time. If it seems watery or flaky, then don’t use it. If it gets dried up in the CPU, then you need to remove it and apply another paste. The IHC plate has a tiny gap on the surface. These gaps trap heat. In order to release that heat, we can apply thermal paste to the tiny gaps. This paste is applied in small quantities and can be stored for future use. It can be used again if it is stored with care.
Take away
In this article, today we learnt about thermal paste used in CPU to transfer heat. The computer has to deal with a high volume of operations. In order to keep the computer in good condition thermal paste is applied to the CPU. It helps to cool down the CPU and keeps the computer in good working condition. It is also called CPU paste, thermal gel, heat paste, thermal grease.
It is applied to the Integrated Heat spreader, one of the parts in the CPU. It is a metal lid on which thermal paste is applied. It transfers heat from the processor to the CPU cooler. One has to be careful while applying the paste as it may have chances of spilling on the motherboard. It should be cleaned, once the task is over.