Thermal Paste

Usually these threads are superfluous. I realize that. But I need some advice as I'm forced to shop for some new thermal paste. Only this time I have special needs.

See it's for a PS3. I replaced the stock paste with MX-4 before. Temps were great for a while but that didn't last. After a few months they've gone up significantly and I am now forced to reapply yet again. I already know that I will have to apply a copious amount of paste as the PS3's cooler is such a poor fit. My testing proved that with a regular quantity, there will be almost no contact made. It's that warped. MX-4 is a good product. Been using it for years. But it's not suited for the PS3 it seems.

Long story short: I'm not looking for the thermal past with the best thermal properties but a workhorse of a paste. One that does it's job well enough under less than optimal conditions with a poorly fitting cooler. And most importantly one that LASTS. Really, I need guaranteed longevity. You know, hardware manufacturer tier basically. Maybe Shin Etsu? Repeated disassembly of the PS3 is not a good idea because of those flimsy ribbon connectors for the Blu-ray drive - and they're a pain during reassembly too.

Thanks

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The problem isn't within the paste you chose. You shouldn't have to worry about reapplying as long as that device lives so there's either a different cooling related problem or you somehow royally fucked up the application of paste (which I doubt).

Just use some mayo, better than half the pastes on the market and very cheap.

What kind of problem could that be though I wonder? It's not been that long since I took the whole system apart, cleaned it and renewed the paste. So it can't be dust. That would be too soon. I even upped the mounting pressure with a piece of cardboard under the mounting clamp mechanism. Maybe that got flattened further over time. I don't know.

I've heard of MX-4 losing its edge before though. Under ideal conditions it does a fine job. But it's not suited for all environments e.g. under a delidded IHS it allegedly performs rather poorly after a short period of times.

I don't like the smell though. Let's add that to the list of requirements: Can't smell like Mayo.

>What kind of problem could that be though I wonder? It's not been that long since I took the whole system apart,
I like it how the question and answer literally follow each other up.

Well, temps weren't exactly great with the stock paste either to be fair. Intially it was a huge improvement. It just did stay that way at all. Maybe something came loose. I doubt it but it's possible of course.

Anyway, about that OEM tier thermal paste? You got some recommendations here? I am not going to use MX-4 for this job again.

thermal grizzly is the best paste

Try a IC graphite thermal pad. Extremely long life and should do as well as a mid tier paste.

>Try a IC graphite thermal pad. Extremely long life and should do as well as a mid tier paste.
Not sure the mounting mechanism provides enogh pressure for that. It's a real POS. On top of the warped shape, the surface is so rough and abbrasive that it quickly manages to destroy tough paper towels. Man, my CPU cooler has a mirror finish contact area... wtf Sony

>And most importantly one that LASTS.
The Noctua one seems to. I have a 10-year old tube that is still good and thick. Probably lost some efficiency by now though.

Polish it. Get a very fine sandpaper and make it better

OP here, it just came to me that maybe the problem is under the IHS. Delidding that thing is very dangerous though. I would rather not. I'll redo the paste first.

>IC graphite thermal pad
Ah, you know. I might just try it. What the hell right?

>Man, my CPU cooler has a mirror finish contact area... wtf Sony
That's the ideal surface. You don't want it rugged, you want contact to be as good as possible to maximize heat transfer. Thermal paste is to compensate for imperfections on either surface.

Got a 15 year old tube of AS5.
Still works like a charm.
Recently dissasembled a 10 year old system.
Used AS5 in it.
No drying or cracking to see, when I took the cooler off.

anime website
youtube.com/watch?v=kMWCPdnlg98

Might want to try lapping the heatsink.

>That's the ideal surface. You don't want it rugged, you want contact to be as good as possible to maximize heat transfer. Thermal paste is to compensate for imperfections on either surface.
That's what I'm saying. The cooler I chose for my desktop has a perfect finish. The console's destroys paper towels like it's made from sanding paper. Cost cutting at it's finest. Wish I'd kept the picture I took of it back then. It's quite ridiculous really.

I don't think I'm willing to go that far over a PS3. I would be lying if I said it hasn't crossed my mind. Who knows. I might try it. If all else fails I'll fix your shit for you, Sony.

Thanks. I thought of both - definitely contenders.

Other than longevity, what's the difference between a $2 paste and a $20 one?

>putting paste on the heatsink

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It's unrealistic to expect your average consumer device to have a lapped heatsink. Those are only on premium coolers (meaning the ones you buy yourself).
Speaking of coolers if you really care about thermals try making a mount for a PC tower cooler for your PS3.
You can delid the CPU, it's been done before, just have to be careful.
As for thermal paste maybe try thermalright tf8 if you can find it.

Why not just reshape the heatsink to make contact with the die properly? Or buy a replacement heatsink.

Youre trying to air up a tire with a hole in it senpai.

The die on ps3 processors (and most laptops as an aside) are already delidded.

Do not rip the substrate from the chip OP

Composition.

Been running my t420 without thermal paste for 2 years now, idle 60c, normal ~100c. Literally nothing wrong with it. Don't fall for the thermal paste jew.

The best thermal paste on the market is kryonaut. I cleaned the dust and paste on my PC, CPU went from 65 C under load (path of exile) to 45 C.
>Literally nothing wrong with it.
You're literally doing it wrong.

>It's unrealistic to expect your average consumer device to have a lapped heatsink. Those are only on premium coolers (meaning the ones you buy yourself).
Yeah I know it's unrealistic. I can get a used PS3 for the price of my cooler now on Ebay. I just wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it is was when opening the thing for the first time.

>Speaking of coolers if you really care about thermals try making a mount for a PC tower cooler for your PS3.
I've seen those. But without proper contact between IHS and cooler who knows how little that might actually do. Plus were taking case modding at this point. That's a real escalation of scope for this litte project.

>You can delid the CPU, it's been done before, just have to be careful.
You have to be VERY FUCKING careful. I actually tried. I'm not exactly clumsy. But it proved to difficult in the end. I failed.

>As for thermal paste maybe try thermalright tf8 if you can find it.
Noted. Thanks

>Why not just reshape the heatsink to make contact with the die properly?
Easier said than done. From what I remember the cooling surface can't be seperated from a metal encasing that covers all of the motherboard. Two halves clamp around it and are held together by screws. Which makes it hard to judge the ange things come together on the inside. I could really tell with looking at it that it was warped. Just by reopening it after my first application of regular amount of MX-4 did I realize that there wasn't really any contact to speak of. Maybe 20% came into contact with the paste. To top it off the cooling area has like a little metal lip of folded encasing wall around it. Like a little wall. You can't really work with it like that. Maybe it can be taken apart even further than I did it though.

To be honest I'm pleasantly surprised by the willingness to help. I expected more "Use Mayo" or "Back to /v/" comments. Thanks guys.

>The die on ps3 processors (and most laptops as an aside) are already delidded.
Now that's just not true.
youtube.com/watch?v=rDK9aR_xXrs

sounds like pump out effect. get a paste with high viscosity like IC diamond.

Also, that's a terrible tutorial. Wedging that thing off. Ugh. Many PS3 have died that way from what I've heard. I'm really not ready to give delidding the chips another go.

Yeah, I want that thick stuff! No more of that watery goo. That syringe needs to shoot real ropes of paste. I'm still talking about thermal paste btw.