This is a follow-up to my original video and article on the Pano-Mounts phase change thermal material. After I shared my feedback on the installation process, the company sent me a new, revised version of their thermal pads designed to be easier to work with. So, in this article, I'm going to walk you through my experience with this new version, from cleanup of the old material to the final installation.
Watch the full update video on YouTube:
Check out the Pano-Mounts 40x40x0.2mm (2-Pack) kit:
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If you want more context, check out the original video on YouTube and article on this website.
Here is part of their e-mail message about the revised kit:
"I hope this email finds you well. We have upgraded the Phase change thermal pad based on your previous feedback regarding its difficulty in peeling off. The upgraded product has now arrived at our Amazon warehouse, and we have shipped a new unit to you. This version is designed to be easier to peel and more user-friendly. Please note that due to the hot weather, we recommend refrigerating it for two hours upon receipt before use."
A Forgiving Material: Removing the Original Pad
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| How the original material was distributed on the CPU. Seems like it had good coverage even with my poor install attempt it worked out fine. |
Before I could try out the new pad, I had to remove the old one. After taking the heatsink off the CPU, I could see that I had basically achieved full coverage. This was interesting because even with the mistakes I made installing it the first time, the material squeezes out to the point that you get a complete spread between the heatsink and the CPU. In my opinion, this shows the material is quite forgiving. If you mess up during the installation, it's probably not a big deal. There was a lot of excess material on the heatsink too.
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| Full coverage on the heatsink from the original material, even with installation errors. |
Cleaning up the original material was straightforward like any normal thermal paste if not a bit easier because it's a flaky yet pliable semi-solid room temperature. I used standard rubbing alcohol and disposable "shop towels" from Walmart (affiliate link) to clean the residue from both the CPU and the heatsink. There were a few small flakes of the material left around the CPU socket, but I don't think that's really an issue. I don't believe the material is electrically conductive, so it shouldn't cause any problems. Also, the top of modern AMD CPUs has some type of coating, so I don't think it's going to short anything, even if it were somewhat conductive.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a phase change thermal material is a type of thermal interface material (TIM) that changes its physical state when it reaches a specific temperature. Typically, these materials are solid at room temperature, making them easy to handle as a pad. When the CPU heats up during operation, the pad melts into a liquid or gel-like state. This allows it to flow and fill in all the microscopic imperfections on the surfaces of the CPU and the heatsink, ensuring excellent thermal transfer. When the system cools down, it solidifies again. (generated by Gemini Pro AI)
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| Cleaning the old material off the heatsink using alcohol and mostly cut up disposable shop towels to minimize particulates. |
Trying Out the New, Revised Pad
The company definitely revised the design, and the improvements were noticeable. The second protective material in white is now much more dense, which is a great change that helps out with the installation. Even the first bit of plastic is a bit thicker and easier to handle. I didn't have any issue with the stickers damaging the phase change material this time like I did with the original.
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| The kit includes useful tools like a large and small spatula that are legitimately useful for installation. |
Here's the process I followed:
Initial Cut: I started by cutting the pad to size in one direction so it would fit on the CPU and heatsink without much overlap in that direction.
I then peeled off the first piece of material, which is a thinner, clear plastic. This came off with no issues. I used the included spatulas quite a bit during this process to help unstick the material from its backing, which was a definite improvement.
Application to CPU: I placed the pad directly onto the CPU. A key change in my technique here was that I did not cut it in the other direction first.
Second Layer Removal: With the pad on the CPU, I used the spatula to unbond the edge of the second, harder plastic backing from the thermal material. I worked my way down the line, carefully peeling it back. You have to be a little careful not to curve the hard plastic too much, as it can cause the thermal material to overlap, which happened to me slightly toward the end. But it still wasn't a big issue. I was able to use the tools to flatten the thermal material out.
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| Cutting the width of the material while keeping both tabs on the edges still functional. |
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| After taking off the transparent plastic, I decided to unbond the material after pressing it down to the CPU without making a second cut. This left quite a bit of excess, but it's easy to break apart with the included spatulas. |
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| The thermal material fully covering my AM5 CPU. |
Trimming for an AM5 CPU
With AM5 CPUs, they have really large gaps on the sides of the heat spreader. This isn't ideal for a a flat sheet of delicate thermal material. To manage this, I used two spatulas: the large one to catch the material and the small one to cut off the overhanging pieces on the sides. It worked fine enough with a little bit of technique.
Honestly, you probably don't even need to remove that excess material if you don't want to, or apply the heatsink one and then remove it to deal with the excess.
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| Trying to figure out how best to remove excess material. |
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| Using the two spatulas to clean up and remove excess thermal material. With AM5 CPUs it's especially difficult because the heat spreader isn't a perfect rectangle or square shape. |
Final Thoughts
Overall, I do think they improved the installation process. Even so, with this phase change material in general, it's going to take technique to install it as cleanly as possible, especially on oddly shaped CPUs like 7000 to 9000 series AM5 CPUs. But as I saw from my first attempt, it shouldn't be an issue either way. If you mess up or not, I think you'll still get pretty nice coverage between the CPU and heatsink as long as you don't have massive gaps of coverage.
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| The two pack of 40x40mm pads and accessories from Pano-Mounts. |
Pano-Mounts provided this product for review with no editorial input based on my usual collaboration terms as of the time of writing. Though, in this specific case they send the revised material to me without asking first, but I was curious to see what changed so I spent time time to try it out.
Overall, it's a pretty cool material, and I have enjoyed trying it out. Check out the related videos for more information.