First time I've seen a stencil for thermal paste. Pretty slick. Also hoping the CPU bracket prevents any bending issues. Probably wasn't going to be an issue but for $7 worth it.
This is my main PC and last time I rebuilt it was 6 years ago. Not going for a huge rig as I don't game all that often. The RX 7600 is twice as fast as my previous GPU and I only paid $260 for it. If I can get another 6 years out of it that will be plenty.
I thought so too honestly but figured Thermaltake knew what they were doing and went with it. The stencil makes it very easy to apply exactly as much as specified. I didn't notice any splooging when I attached the heatsink and temps were in the 30's at idle so called it good for now.
Thermal Paste is a delicate topic. But i think it is a bit too much. Thermal paste should only be used to create better contact between to uneven surfaces.
Also, won't this create bubbles when it squishes? The hexagons will squish into circles and fill the gaps between them, but there will be nowhere for some of it to go, particularly the corners of the hexagons. One glob in the center will squish out evenly and there's no air to trap, which is why that's preferred. If OP spread this, it's fine. If they directly attach their heatsink though, it could be not ideal.
Basically, don't get fancy with your thermal paste. Just put a bit in the center and the pressure will spread it evenly.
Even if it spills, if it's non-conductive it's just a mess to deal with the next time you pull the heatsink off. Just use gloves to handle it because it's a bitch to get thermal paste off your skin.
I find rubbing alcohol best for removing thermal paste from electronic components and toothpaste best for removing it from skin.
CPU with thermal paste applied in hexagon shapes. Looks a bit weird because I removed the normal CPU bracket and installed one that just screws down. On some sockets the cpus were bending because of the way the bracket applied pressure. The one I installed is completely even.
The specs are very good, there's nothing to change on it. But I garauntee that 7600 will barely be crawling in 3 years, unless you play 8 year old games. Test to see if GPU is bottlenecking rhe 12700.
The next generation will have GDDR7, textures get bigger every year, and I do buy games every year, but there's a reason 16GB VRAM is not ridiculous.
Between higher resolution like when 4K is the norm in the years ahead, working towards 8K and games demanding higher performance from GPU, in 6 years your 7600 might be a $10 add-on card.
I'm not sure the move to 8k will be necessary. I'm not even sure about 4k tbh. No problem with it if you have the hardware, but the returns are diminishing and I don't think anyone who sticks with 1440p will feel like they are held back. At some point, our eyes can't even tell the difference between 4 real pixels and one pixel that is coloured by blending 4 pixels together (which tbf takes the same processing power to render, so this might apply more to the monitors than the GPUs).
The 4090 is the first solid 4K everything video card, but the 4K standard is coming, including video cards that start at 16GB and go up from there. 4K movies. More game engines will develop textures in 4K. You not being interested is not the same as the market shifting that way. 4K OLED is not the expensive premium they used to be for such a gorgous picture.
If somone wants high framerate, 1440 will always be there. I believe all future graphics cards technologies will be developed with the intention of targeting the hardware demands of 4K 120fps. Cards for 1440p 165hz are already available.
Future consoles will do 4K, people who only watch TV or stream to TV, all 4K, only PC muiltiplayer will care about high framerates but not for console, so 1440 will slways be available for lower hardware systems, similiar to 1080p is currently.
I plan to buy maybe the 2nd highest GPU in 2 years and then the year after buy a 4K screen, possibly OLED, as those prices continue dropping year after year. I never play multiplayer so I will be doing well with 4K 120fps.