Issue with thermal paste failure
Issue with thermal paste failure
The cooler in question is the Noctua NH-D15 Chromax, paired with an AMD 7900x CPU. After removing the cooler and inspecting the thermal paste (refer to the provided link for photos), I observed that the paste was unevenly distributed across the cooler's contact plate—this seems suboptimal. Should I adjust the offset for this cooler, and if so, how would I do it? Or is this a normal occurrence? As this is my first build, I’m uncertain.
Additionally, while the thermal paste doesn’t appear to fully cover the CPU, I plan to reapply it. How should I apply it more effectively? I also have Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on hand, as recommended, but I’m unsure which type to use or how to handle it better.
Thank you all for your assistance! Your support means a lot, especially since this is my first project. The images are attached.
The cooler base plate appears slightly misaligned, though this might be due to covering a similar shape as an Intel LGA1700 CPU. It's unclear if adjusting the offset is possible, but Noctua offers offset kits for some coolers. The cooler is making contact with all of the Ryzen's IHS, which is acceptable. However, it seems you're applying too much thermal paste—just a small amount around the central area would suffice. I use the paste that comes with my Noctua coolers, but you could replace it with Thermal Grizzly as well; the difference would be minimal.
I have this document to include at the top of the CPU for the NH-D15 cooler. I placed it at the -7mm position, though it was recommended for AM5. It looks like I should just attach it at 0 instead of using the offset. Image link provided.
I've been using the thin film technique for many years. It ensures quality work while reducing waste and squeeze-out. When filling tiny spaces, proper tightening of the heatsink helps. Either thermal compound works well; I often choose Noctua products. Just make sure to clear all previous materials before applying anything new, particularly when switching brands.
Well, this is quite different from the thin film you were referring to, but I was really worried I might miss something. Anyway, I followed the suggestion to leave the 7mm offset in and reinstalled the cooler. I hadn’t mentioned before that I swapped the 7900x for a 9800x3d CPU, though you probably won’t see it below the thermal paste layer. After running Cinebench 2024 on multiple cores, the temperatures stayed high, but I thought they were manageable—others seem to agree. Here are some key figures:
- CPU (Tctl/Tdie) – 96.1°C
- CPU Die (Average) – 95.0°C
- CPU CCD1 (Tdie) – 98.8°C
- Core Temperatures: 94.7°C
- L3 Temperatures: 66.0°C
- CPU IOD Hotspot – 62.2°C
- CPU IOD Average – 56.4°C
- CPU VDDCR_VDD VRM (SVI3 TFN) – 50.1°C
- CPU VDDCR_SOC VRM (SVI3 TFN) – 46.0°C
- CPU VDD_MISC VRM (SVI3 TFN) – 47.0°C
- Core VIDs: 1.265V
- Core Clocks: 5,225.0 MHz
- CPU Package Power: 137.567W
- Cinebench score on multicore: 1274 (a bit low)
After leaving it idle for five minutes, temperatures dropped quickly to:
46.4°C, 46.1°C, 33.8°C, 30.0°C, 31.0°C, 46.5°C, 41.7°C, 37.3°C, 34.5°C, and 37.0°C
All these results seem normal, suggesting a solid installation job. Still unsure, though.
It's not ideal, but it's still an improvement. The earlier images seem a bit outdated, which might just be due to the setup.