PC specalist "thermal paste for sufficient cooling" isnt sufficient

[RobertsE]

Has anyone else had issues with the standard thermal paste that PC specialist provides? While i have a literal fusion reactor in my pc im not sure if others are having a similar problem with other CPU'S

I got myself a i9 12900k pc built by these guys and technically the thermal paste hasnt caused any issues. But when i tried to push the system to its limits by overclocking and stress testing i noticed that the system would just thermal throttle in 7 seconds when running Prime95 and from using basic cpu settings, to reseating the AIO nothing would fix the problem until i replaced the thermal paste, and now it doesnt thermal throttle at all. Atleast on short tests it doesnt, i would run into the physical limitations of getting the heat out of the room before anything else.

I just wonder what kind of thermal paste they are buying in bulk that has that bad of a performance.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Has anyone else had issues with the standard thermal paste that PC specialist provides? While i have a literal fusion reactor in my pc im not sure if others are having a similar problem with other CPU'S

I got myself a i9 12900k pc built by these guys and technically the thermal paste hasnt caused any issues. But when i tried to push the system to its limits by overclocking and stress testing i noticed that the system would just thermal throttle in 7 seconds when running Prime95 and from using basic cpu settings, to reseating the AIO nothing would fix the problem until i replaced the thermal paste, and now it doesnt thermal throttle at all. Atleast on short tests it doesnt, i would run into the physical limitations of getting the heat out of the room before anything else.

I just wonder what kind of thermal paste they are buying in bulk that has that bad of a performance.

Can you post your full specs from the order page?

 

[RobertsE]

Can you post your full specs from the order page?

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H150i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[SpyderTracks]

The corsairs come pre applied with high quality paste, so it's not a standard paste, it's very optimal. It's possible that when the heatsink was mounted, some pressure was incorrectly applied on an edge rather than flat which made a divot in the paste or something leading to bad contact.

For any thermal test you need to take readings after running Prime95 for about 10 minutes for the system to reach full saturation.

What profile do you have the pump set on? It will need to be on performance at all times if you're doing any kind of overclocking on that chip.

Can I ask why you're overclocking in the first place? What do you use the PC for? If gaming, what monitor do you have paired with it, what make and model?

 

[RobertsE]

The corsairs come pre applied with high quality paste, so it's not a standard paste, it's very optimal. It's possible that when the heatsink was mounted, some pressure was incorrectly applied on an edge rather than flat which made a divot in the paste or something leading to bad contact.

For any thermal test you need to take readings after running Prime95 for about 10 minutes for the system to reach full saturation.

What profile do you have the pump set on? It will need to be on performance at all times if you're doing any kind of overclocking on that chip.

Can I ask why you're overclocking in the first place? What do you use the PC for? If gaming, what monitor do you have paired with it, what make and model?

So when i tried to solve the problem i checked the thermal paste, and the first time it was on there tight, and i might just have a bad sense of the amount of thermal paste that is needed but it seemed very thin, Like i could see the IHS thin. And when i put it back on i made sure that it was as tight as before, to the point where the screws wouldn't go further without some force behind it. And still had the same issue, messed about with the software for the Aio and even on their Extreme setting it was still an issue.


And i was just overclocking to see what i could get out of it, its used for gaming and the monitor i have is the Gigabyte M32U its 4k 144hz, so my monitor is never the bottleneck, at least for the foreseeable future

 

[SpyderTracks]

And i was just overclocking to see what i could get out of it, its used for gaming and the monitor i have is the Gigabyte M32U its 4k 144hz, so my monitor is never the bottleneck, at least for the foreseeable future

At 4k, CPU is going to make very little impact to gaming performance as the load at higher res is substantially moved to the GPU.

I would strongly recommend NOT overclocking that CPU, not just because of the rediculous thermal impact, but also because your PSU isn't enough to cope with the extra watts.

To put some perspective on how rediculous that CPU is, with an overlock applied, the CPU ALONE can easily draw up to 400W.

That's just insane.

Then factor in that a reference 3080 draws 320W, but as yours is an aftermarket, it's drawing more than that.

Basically you're gonna bust open the PSU if you run it overclocked.

 

[RobertsE]

Oh damn can it? I thought the max TDP on the 12900k was 241W with very short bursts of extra power. Ive just run Prime95 again and it maxes out at 243W which is the rated max that ive seen others get to and what intel also states

 

[SpyderTracks]

Oh damn can it? I thought the max TDP on the 12900k was 241W with very short bursts of extra power. Ive just run Prime95 again and it maxes out at 243W which is the rated max that ive seen others get to and what intel also states

As soon as you overclock it will go right past it's rated power.

 

[RobertsE]

As soon as you overclock it will go right past it's rated power.

ahh, i must not have touched those settings then, although anything to do with voltage i want no business in. thats the one thing im certain i can mess up instantly

 

[SpyderTracks]

ahh, i must not have touched those settings then, although anything to do with voltage i want no business in. thats the one thing im certain i can mess up instantly

Yeah, that's a wise way to approach it at first.

If you want to know more about overclocking, on YouTube there's a few really good guys who are well recognised as the worlds best overclockers, they do some amazing vids teaching you how to go about it.

BeardedHardware aka Tech Odin or Steponz - One of the worlds best overclockers, you'll regularly see him at the top of the leaderboards on benchmarks

Actually Hardcore Overclocking aka Buildzoid - This guy is a true genius, he can work out any PCB, exactly what it's doing and what voltages are passing through where and how to optimise them. Takes some getting used to as he talks like it's really simple, takes a while to follow what he's saying

Der8uer - Another world renowned overclocker and one of the owners of Thermal Grizzly (thermal solutions for pc's)

But do be warned with that particular CPU