What TIM are you using?

[Devil_Dog]

Just getting back to sub zero benching and want to know what TIM is best ATM. I'm sure everyone has there favs. I'll being benching with DICE for the most part due to a lack of a dewar but will be doing some LN2 runs now and then as well.

Thanks

[Hondacity]

for dice temps, the cheap ceramique will be ok. you just have to soften it.
ln2: ocz freeze(elmor-ized) gelid xtreme, evga frostbite(good for dice too), coolermaster paste (vivi)

[Devil_Dog]

Thanks.. I was checking out the EVGA frostbite. In for a tim order.

[Hondacity]

use a small amount, its very soft so it spreads easily unlike ceramique.

[Devil_Dog]

use a small amount, its very soft so it spreads easily unlike ceramique.

How is it on water? I need to order some for another rig. Was going to get some PK1 for that but if frostbite is decent I'll just get a few tubes of that then.

[Hondacity]

you'll have more than 10 remounts on one tube, just get one or two

sorry i don't use water on my pots

[Devil_Dog]

sorry i don't use water on my pots

You know what I mean.

[M.Beier]

for dice temps, the cheap ceramique will be ok. you just have to soften it.
ln2: ocz freeze(elmor-ized) gelid xtreme, evga frostbite(good for dice too), coolermaster paste (vivi)

Works well under LN2 IMO.
Freezer is not being made anymore^^

[ScottALot]

What do you mean by soften it? Like knead it or add something to it?

[e-Killer]

I use Acetone to make the Artic Ceramique a bit soft & liquid

[Hondacity]

What do you mean by soften it? Like knead it or add something to it?

this is from their website, once we go cold we never really warm the thermal paste up, so we manually do it. warm the pot so the paste softens...

Controlled Triple-Phase Viscosity:
Céramique does not contain any silicone. The suspension fluid is a proprietary mixture of advanced polysynthetic oils that provide superior performance and long-term stability. During the system's initial use, the heat from the CPU lowers the viscosity of the compound to enhance the filling of the microscopic valleys and ensure a minimum bond line between the heatsink and the CPU core. Then the compound thickens slightly over the next 100 to 300 hours of use to its final consistency designed for long-term stability. (This should not be confused with conventional phase change pads that are pre-attached to many heatsinks. Those pads melt each time they get hot then re-solidify when they cool. The viscosity changes that Céramique goes through are much more subtle and ultimately much more effective.)

[Hondacity]

Works well under LN2 IMO.
Freezer is not being made anymore^^

ceramique and full pot? that combination is not recommend (by me)

ceramique to -100c should be ok, still its not good compared with gcx or ceramique. thermal transfer is not very good.

[[XC] gomeler]

What do you mean by soften it? Like knead it or add something to it?

CPUS:
Apply a nice fat blob of Ceramique to your IHS/die. Mount your pot lightly. On the F1EE I get the springs to maybe 3/4 length(light compression). Heat up the pot either with the CPU/GPU or use a torch. I prefer to get up around 60-80C. Carefully(the pot is now hot as ..) twist the pot while applying a little more pressure. The Ceramique at this point has thinned out quite a bit and is pretty goopy. Your goal here is to push out all the excess Ceramique and end up with a very thin layer. I get AWESOME mounts on CPUs this way.

GPU:
Put your pot on the edge of a desk/surface with the open mount facing out. Apply a fat blob of Ceramique to the center of the pot face. Grab your favorite torch and blast the pot until it is between 60-80C. Now, grab a credit card or some other useless flat-edged plastic implement and gently spread that now soft blob around to a nice even layer all over the GPU IHS. It takes a shocking amount of Ceramique to coat a GTX 580 IHS. Now, with the pot still on the desk, plop your card on there. W/o the nuts securing the pot you should have a little wiggle room so wiggle the card on top of the pot. Once again you want to squeeze out the excess TIM and end up with a thin bond. Torque down your thumb nuts and move on to the next card. You'd better be doing 4 cards b/c Ceramique is only useful in quad-benching where temps can be a bit lax for awesome scores.

This might seem wasteful, especially after you see how much Ceramique is squeezed out, but I guarantee you'll never have a bad mount. I get tissue paper thin mounts with excellent separation suction patterns all the time with Ceramique. Now I just wish it worked better at -196C.

[V2-V3]

Just getting back to sub zero benching and want to know what TIM is best ATM. I'm sure everyone has there favs. I'll being benching with DICE for the most part due to a lack of a dewar but will be doing some LN2 runs now and then as well.

Thanks

For best results I found Indigo Extreme to be the best for "full pot" -196C area

[bartx]

I found that Noctua works pretty good too, but it was only chiller water (-10C or something). MUCH better than Ceramique in this temp range. On LN2 I used Ceramique, or cheap sillicon TIM for 4$/100g (at -50C still isn't frozen).

I'm just curious if anybody ever use Coollaboratory in subzero temps?

[hokiealumnus]

CPUS:
Apply a nice fat blob of Ceramique to your IHS/die. Mount your pot lightly. On the F1EE I get the springs to maybe 3/4 length(light compression). Heat up the pot either with the CPU/GPU or use a torch. I prefer to get up around 60-80C. Carefully(the pot is now hot as ..) twist the pot while applying a little more pressure. The Ceramique at this point has thinned out quite a bit and is pretty goopy. Your goal here is to push out all the excess Ceramique and end up with a very thin layer. I get AWESOME mounts on CPUs this way.

GPU:
Put your pot on the edge of a desk/surface with the open mount facing out. Apply a fat blob of Ceramique to the center of the pot face. Grab your favorite torch and blast the pot until it is between 60-80C. Now, grab a credit card or some other useless flat-edged plastic implement and gently spread that now soft blob around to a nice even layer all over the GPU IHS. It takes a shocking amount of Ceramique to coat a GTX 580 IHS. Now, with the pot still on the desk, plop your card on there. W/o the nuts securing the pot you should have a little wiggle room so wiggle the card on top of the pot. Once again you want to squeeze out the excess TIM and end up with a thin bond. Torque down your thumb nuts and move on to the next card. You'd better be doing 4 cards b/c Ceramique is only useful in quad-benching where temps can be a bit lax for awesome scores.

This might seem wasteful, especially after you see how much Ceramique is squeezed out, but I guarantee you'll never have a bad mount. I get tissue paper thin mounts with excellent separation suction patterns all the time with Ceramique. Now I just wish it worked better at -196C.

Best description of pot mounting with Ceramique I've seen. I've always heated the pot to thin out the TIM, but have never gone so far as 60-80°C, so it's definitely something to try next time I go cold. Thanks gomeler!

[cold.nut]

CPUS:
Apply a nice fat blob of Ceramique to your IHS/die. Mount your pot lightly. On the F1EE I get the springs to maybe 3/4 length(light compression). Heat up the pot either with the CPU/GPU or use a torch. I prefer to get up around 60-80C. Carefully(the pot is now hot as ..) twist the pot while applying a little more pressure. The Ceramique at this point has thinned out quite a bit and is pretty goopy. Your goal here is to push out all the excess Ceramique and end up with a very thin layer. I get AWESOME mounts on CPUs this way.

GPU:
Put your pot on the edge of a desk/surface with the open mount facing out. Apply a fat blob of Ceramique to the center of the pot face. Grab your favorite torch and blast the pot until it is between 60-80C. Now, grab a credit card or some other useless flat-edged plastic implement and gently spread that now soft blob around to a nice even layer all over the GPU IHS. It takes a shocking amount of Ceramique to coat a GTX 580 IHS. Now, with the pot still on the desk, plop your card on there. W/o the nuts securing the pot you should have a little wiggle room so wiggle the card on top of the pot. Once again you want to squeeze out the excess TIM and end up with a thin bond. Torque down your thumb nuts and move on to the next card. You'd better be doing 4 cards b/c Ceramique is only useful in quad-benching where temps can be a bit lax for awesome scores.

This might seem wasteful, especially after you see how much Ceramique is squeezed out, but I guarantee you'll never have a bad mount. I get tissue paper thin mounts with excellent separation suction patterns all the time with Ceramique. Now I just wish it worked better at -196C.

sweet thanks gomeler ! i assume that is with the power off though..?

[K404]

I do similar to Gom, but using the CPU as the heatload, not a torch or heatgun..... it'll confirm that the mount is good between the pot and CPU... can double-check it by monitoring the BIOS temp and thermometer readout.... with a low heatload (light clocks and light volts) if +1degree BIOS = +1 degree on the probe, you're all good.

Excluding events (yea.... coz I do so many PFFFFFT LOL ) i'll let the pot cool again, saves a bit of LN2 on pulldown. If you pay too much for LN2, any way to save it on useless things is gonna help



Paste: Ceramique on most GPUs and not-OMG-on-the-edge CPU work..... Gelid GC Extreme when it REALLY matters.


I get slightly better handling on coldbugged mid heatload GPUs with Ceramique. Example... 3DMark06...... when i was close to the edge, using Gelid meant I hit coldbug during the CPU tests. With Ceramique, it buffered long enough to get onto GT3.