PC Build

prost

I bought an Arctic Cooling heatsink-fan in 2007 which came with their paste pre-applied. Their pastes are amongst the best but when I came to remove the processor 8 years later it had totally solidified and broke up easily on removal.

If an Arctic Cooling paste is said to have a lifespan of 8 years I'd advise users to change it far more frequently than that, like every 4-5 years. You can't say that every application of MX4 & AS5 will last 8+ years although some probably will. The shortest time it could likely fail would be around 5.5 years. For gamers this would be lower, say, 4.5 years.

When they say it won't solidify then I think they mean that it definitely won't within the first 5 years, for non-gamers.

Is anyone building a gaming PC, with a snazzy PC case?

Do any gamers think that a modern gaming PC with a designer case can be built for under £100?

esuhl

enkoda wrote: »

What on earth are you using to cool your i7? I certainly wouldn't be happy with an idle temp of 41°C! :eek:
My living room is around 25°C too, yet my i5 idles between 27-31.

Ohhh... I'm using a Corsair H50 (sealed liquid-cooled thingy). And I have 4x150mm fans, 2x200mm fans, and one 300mm one. It's always run that warm... and I thought that was cool... :-/

I bought it on the day the i7 chips were released, so it's pretty old. Do the older ones run hotter...?

enkoda wrote: »

You should only replace thermal paste when you notice higher idle temps or according to the manufacturer's instructions. A paste like Arctic Silver 5 doesn't dry out so won't solidify.

Cool - that's the paste I've always used in the past. It seems to be the Heinz Ketchup of thermal paste!

esuhl

prost wrote: »

It's all part of PC maintenance & it's very easy to perform. Once you've learnt how to do it you can then show your expertise to others.

Sure. I've done it on a PC with an overheating chip, but not routinely if the temperatures are stable.

And I've never really had an audience to show off my IT skills. Everyone just gives their computers to me and wants me to fix them!

Cycrow

esuhl wrote: »

Ohhh... I'm using a Corsair H50 (sealed liquid-cooled thingy). And I have 4x150mm fans, 2x200mm fans, and one 300mm one. It's always run that warm... and I thought that was cool... :-/

I bought it on the day the i7 chips were released, so it's pretty old. Do the older ones run hotter...?

It depends which cpu you have, as its different for each generation.

but i7's will run hotter than i5's as they use more power for HT.
Idle temps dont matter to much anyways and can also be effected by the ambient room temperature.

the Load temps are the ones you need to check

Kinty

grumpycrab wrote: »

lol - and after all that effort...

No lol about it if someone else reads all of the info that was given by helpful participants then that's great I for one found it very interesting reading, if you have no helpful input then why bother posting at all?

:cool: