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The day I figured out I was thermal padding wrong for years
Been building PCs for about a decade and always just slapped thermal paste on the CPU and called it a day. Last month a client brought in a Ryzen 9 and asked me to use the thermal pad instead of paste. Thought it was a downgrade until I saw temps drop 8 degrees under load at the shop in Denver. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple change like that humbled your whole approach?
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margareto261mo ago
That "humbled your whole approach" part hit close to home actually. My buddy Tom has been building PCs since the early 2000s and he swore by the pea method for thermal paste. Last year he decided to try a pad on his new build just to see what the fuss was about. He told me he was shocked when his idle temps dropped by 5 degrees and his load temps stayed way more stable under heavy gaming. He spent the whole weekend redoing his old builds with pads and texting me about it. Said he felt like an idiot for not trying it sooner.
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I gotta push back on the "humbled your whole approach" part. In my experience thermal pads are fine for certain chips like that Ryzen 9, but for most builds paste still wins on consistency and price. I've seen pads dry out or not make good contact on uneven IHS surfaces, so humble is the last word I'd use, your mileage may vary though.
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jade5171mo ago
Oh boy, I have to disagree here. I actually switched to a high end thermal pad on my 5950X about six months ago and my temps are consistently 3-4 degrees C lower than they ever were with the top pastes I tried. The key is you have to get the right thickness pad for your specific CPU and heatsink combination. Most people just slap a 1mm pad on everything and wonder why it doesn't work. And as for drying out, I've seen paste pump out and degrade just as fast, especially on that chip with the uneven IHS that you mentioned. Thermal pads might cost a bit more upfront but they save you the hassle of reapplying every year or two.
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