thermal probes on the cpu
 

I am currently trying to test the effectiveness of various thermal compounds (TIMs) on cpu processors. I am currently trying to find the thinnest thermal probe/thermocouple I can find for this project.
My current idea is that I could place one prob ontop of the CPU and then apply the thermal compound. I would then place another probe and then attach the heatsink.

From there I could measure the heatchange and calculate the thermal conductivity of the product.

I have seen many techniques that would first take the processor and mill out a canal in the casing of the processor to place the thermocouple inside, but I am hoping that there is another way

Any advice or input is appreciated!
Thanks

Nope. Any thermal probe is going to ruin the mount. I'm not sure about milling out a channel on the proc, why not onto the block instead?

Either way it's damn near impossible.

I don't know if I would attempt to place a prob there as it will defeat the purpose and cause a air gap , and to be honest I see no real difference in temps between any fancy TIM or plain old thermal paste that I have used and apparently mayonnaise is a good alternative LOL

Your best option is a laser thermometer if you want precise measurements, putting a probe on the CPU directly will result in a bad mount. Trust me, I did that once with a GPU and a fan controller and i cooked the GPU and the motherboard.

Agreed 100% with above, don't do that - what you will do will defeat the whole purpose of TIM and proper contact with CPU for proper h.d.

isee...
so what would you guys recommend for trying to find the thermal conductivity of the TIM?

If I had some way of measuring the temperature on the surface and on the surface just below the heat sink it would be a really simple calculation.

Why are you trying to find that info out ? I did link you in my above post to a pretty thorough comparison of different TIMs from high end stuff to Mayonnaise and there was only a 3 deg difference from the top performer to Mayonnaise , now we know lipstick is not a very good TIM but it was still with in a few deg of all the name brand stuff .... :rofl:

But if you determined to find it out Superflyx3 gave you a pretty decent suggestion about using a laser thermometer..

lol sorry i didn't click on the mayonaise bit since i thought it was a joke.

I guess i could use an IR thermometer but I am ultimately unsure of what points to measuring with that approach since I would be unable to read the temp of the center of the die, or the temp of where the heat sink comes in contact with the TIM.

You're overthinking this, I think.

That's what I am thinking, like the that review points out all but the Chocolate are within a few deg and IMO is not worth fretting over :thumb: