Thermal paste..

Cooling Processors quietly

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
Mr Spocko
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:56 pm
Location: UK/Eire

Thermal paste..

Post by Mr Spocko » Mon May 14, 2012 7:29 am

Used to be a die hard AS-5 user I still use it a bit from time to time. Wondering what folks are using for thermal paste any suggestions?

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by CA_Steve » Mon May 14, 2012 8:08 am

I've been using AS Ceramique for a long time. Decent thermal properties, not electrically conductive, applies and cleans up fairly easily. I see it's been replaced by Ceramique 2.

m0002a
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:12 am
Location: USA

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by m0002a » Mon May 14, 2012 8:12 am

I prefer Artic Cooling MX-4 or Artic Silver Céramique 2. They are easier to apply and less prone to the common problem of applying too much paste (these spread easier than AS 5). Also, they are non-conductive, so cannot damage or short out any components.

Lsv
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:50 pm

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by Lsv » Mon May 14, 2012 8:19 am

Mr Spocko wrote:Used to be a die hard AS-5 user I still use it a bit from time to time. Wondering what folks are using for thermal paste any suggestions?
I used to be a die hard AS5 user until a guy at a comp shop said try out MX4, so I did and temps went down 1.5c at idle, about 2-3 at load. Nothing fancy but it helps. The non-conductive property of the MX4 and the fast cure time are the real sellers.

Aleavolar
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:31 am

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by Aleavolar » Thu May 17, 2012 8:14 pm

I'm using the Arctic MX-4 for both CPU and GPU. It keeps the temperature very low and cheap. :-p I've been using Arctic's thermal compounds for years already from MX-2

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by ces » Fri May 18, 2012 9:45 am

For more Thermal Paste info including tests and reviews See
viewtopic.php?p=559427#p559427

nutball
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1304
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2003 7:16 am
Location: en.gb.uk

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by nutball » Fri May 18, 2012 11:11 am

To first order - it doesn't matter. A few degrees won't make or break anything. I've tried all of those mentioned so far in this thread and found no noticeable difference that I trust. Mostly I'll pick a tube at random, or just use whatever comes caked on the bottom of the stock HSF. I have yet to regret this strategy.

Pappnaas
Posts: 726
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 11:23 am
Location: Germany

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by Pappnaas » Sat May 19, 2012 5:21 am

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ ... -2012/1490

Even toothpaste, butter and others were tested.

loimlo
Posts: 762
Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 3:58 am
Location: Formosa

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by loimlo » Sat May 19, 2012 9:43 am


swaaye
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:11 pm
Location: WI, USA

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by swaaye » Sat May 19, 2012 10:02 am

AS5 is not electrically conductive. Somehow their formula keeps the silver content from conducting. I spread some all over an old Athlon and its various surface mount caps and the bridges and it wasn't even unstable. If you measure its electrical resistance you will find that it's infinite (electrical insulator). They state that it is very slightly capacitive, whatever that could affect I don't know.

But I too have been using Ceramique for years. It's very cheap in the large 20g syringe and yet performs close to the best stuff out there.
Last edited by swaaye on Sat May 19, 2012 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

m0002a
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:12 am
Location: USA

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by m0002a » Sat May 19, 2012 10:09 am

swaaye wrote:AS5 is not electrically conductive. Somehow their formula keeps the silver content from conducting. I spread some all over an old Athlon and its various surface mount caps and the bridges and it wasn't even unstable. If you measure its electrical resistance you will find that it's infinite (electrical insulator). They state that it is very slightly capacitive, whatever that could affect I don't know.
Rarely would there be a problem with AS-5 (or equivalent) on a CPU, even if spilled over to other surface mount components as you describe. There have occasionally been some problems reported when using it on bare chipsets or other chips that have no heat spreader.

swaaye
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:11 pm
Location: WI, USA

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by swaaye » Sat May 19, 2012 10:23 am

I was referring to an old Athlon with an exposed die. I slopped it all over an old Third as a little experiment and ran Prime95 for a few hours. :) AS works fine for that.

One situation I know AS5 is disliked for is with extreme phase change cooling because its physical properties change for the worse apparently.

m0002a
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:12 am
Location: USA

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by m0002a » Sat May 19, 2012 11:01 am

The following qutoes are from the Artic Silver website:

"Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity. (While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)"

"Céramique 2 does not contain any metal or other electrically conductive materials. It is a pure electrical insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive."

cruelsister
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 4:20 am

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by cruelsister » Sun May 20, 2012 6:22 am

Superbiiz has MX-4 on sale today for $6.40 (4 gram tube) and free shipping with code POCKY7504. The sale is good on 5/20-21. About a 33% savings over the Egg.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-MX4

Mr Spocko
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:56 pm
Location: UK/Eire

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by Mr Spocko » Wed May 30, 2012 2:13 pm

I've ordered some MX-4 and Gelid GC-2 to try.
I've a bit of AS5 left I won't be pulling stuff out to replace it with the newer paste, but it should be interesting to see how they stack up
I don't expect a big difference between the top 5-10 products on the market

AS5 well only downer really is the cure time it works pretty well as a thermal past least I have not had any problems with it, nice to try some newer stuff though

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by Mats » Wed May 30, 2012 3:09 pm

Here's an old reminder of how to apply the paste, it makes a difference.

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/artic ... dup-2007/4

m0002a
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:12 am
Location: USA

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by m0002a » Wed May 30, 2012 5:02 pm

Mats wrote:Here's an old reminder of how to apply the paste, it makes a difference.

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/artic ... dup-2007/4
My strong suspicion is that those results are becasue either the CPU heat spreader, or the contact area of the cooler, are not flat.

Tephras
Posts: 1140
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:03 am
Location: Europe

Re: Thermal paste..

Post by Tephras » Wed May 30, 2012 7:40 pm


Post Reply