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Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today, I am joined by my father as we change the thermal paste in this computer. Let’s get started.
Now, for the record, this computer is the one with the repaired hard drive from previous blog entries. We are using Arctic Silver 5, and are following the application instructions as recommended for an Intel i7 processor. The link to the “vertical line method” we are using is in the description or in the transcript on my site.
I started by opening the case and cleaning it out a little. You’ll find that happening a lot as things need to be extra clean when even fingerprints can get in the way. The vacuum cleaner takes care of the loosest and easiest to get dust. I try the canned air next, but it is at the end of its useful lifespan and I have to keep warming it up to evaporate what liquid is left in there to make it do anything.
I fiddle around with the water cooling block and remove the RAM for extra finger space. We clean inside it using Q-tips dipped in rubbing alcohol and close it back up. The underside of the cooling block and the top of the CPU are covered with the old, possibly goofed thermal paste.
We scrape them off with an old, plastic card. We bring in a flashlight for additional illumination and take turns cleaning and shining the light. A microfiber cloth dipped in alcohol helps us clean in conjunction with more Q-tips.
Eventually, we pull out the acetone for some extra cleaning power. When the CPU and heat sync are both freed from the old, lingering paste, we apply the Arctic Silver. The first, and optional step coats the pieces in a thin sheen filling any microscopic scratches. Later, we add the actual paste by leaving a line on the CPU, and squishing the paste outward with the heat sync itself. We reassemble the computer from there, inserting the screws for the heat sync, getting the RAM back in, and I even slip the hard disk back in and close up after reattaching the power and data cables.
This project was not without errors. After finishing the recording, I used *cut* and paste to move the files from the camcorder onto my USB external hard drive. Just don’t do it like that. Always copy, then delete. I lost some footage from early on between separate video files, hence the vanishing RAM if you look closely. Speaking of which, I ended up busting a tiny part off one of the tabs holding the first stick of RAM while pulling it out. Oh well.
I hooked the computer up to my main workstation and grabbed a keyboard and mouse for it. Since Civ V was a fairly sure way to crash the system before, I looked up a way to have it play automatically.
There were a total of three failed tests where the computer crashed while running the game and a bonus test where it became unresponsive while starting it. I gave the hardwear the benefit of the doubt the first two times because the blank screen saver obscured my results. Of note, the computer jammed up the Internet connection for the other computers on the same switch, but not the whole house. I had a hard time killing the screen saver thanks to Windows 10 hiding it in an unsearchable corner of the Settings app.
The first two tests lasted about an hour each and the last one only got my hopes up, going on half the evening, until I chanced to look up and see the screen go solid red for a third of a minute before failing a soft reboot.
In conclusion: whatever the problem is, thermal paste is safe to rule out as a possibility and I may be interested in getting another computer to set up as a server. Final Question: When I mentioned the vanishing RAM earlier, did you go back and check?