Thermal Compound

newgamer91 · 28 Jan 2012 at 15:15

looks like its between the Arctic Cooling MX-4 or the ICD then

Helios1234 · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:09

newgamer91 said:
looks like its between the Arctic Cooling MX-4 or the ICD then

MX-3 is better than MX-4 and CF3 even better than those two whilst being cheaper.

Subliminal Aura · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:14

Helios1234 said:
MX-3 is better than MX-4 and CF3 even better than those two whilst being cheaper.

This is confusing. Simply rank them in your opinion

zoomee · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:28

Interesting.....

My personal experience:

Thermal pads = poo
AS5 = Good, spreads easily - does the job
IC D = meh - overhyped, hard to spread and sticks like glue! - I got poor temps (worse than AS5) last time I tried it. Was gunna chuck the tube in the bin the other day lol. Oh and its quite abrasive so easily marks your CPU. Wouldn't dare use it directly on a GFX core!

Got a tube of MX-4 for my graphics (non conductive) seems to do the job well enough too.

stulid · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:31

I'll rank them,

CF3 - Hear good stuff about this.
AS5 - All time favorite, but conductive.
MX-4 - Great stuff and safe to use anywhere.

IC Diamond products dont even get a look in, even when they are given to me free.

Helios1234 · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:32

Subliminal Aura said:
This is confusing. Simply rank them in your opinion

CF3/Prolimatech PK-1
CF2
MX-3
MX-4
AS5

Subliminal Aura · 28 Jan 2012 at 16:47

Finally the thread is now full of win. Thanks chaps

matty114 · 1 Feb 2012 at 18:35

Didn't see this thread and used AS5 for my new 2500k build yesterday, what problems could i have with it being conductive?

lordfletch · 1 Feb 2012 at 19:30

matty114 said:
Didn't see this thread and used AS5 for my new 2500k build yesterday, what problems could i have with it being conductive?

none as long as you are carefull, i imagine it could short out your motherboard if it got smeared where it shouldn't.

V F · 1 Feb 2012 at 21:14

zoomee said:
Interesting.....

My personal experience:

Thermal pads = poo

I don't know because they're still going good on my x1950xtx from December 2006. Fully dusted. Still same temperatures as the day it was installed.

zoomee said:
AS5 = Good, spreads easily - does the job
IC D = meh - overhyped, hard to spread and sticks like glue! - I got poor temps (worse than AS5) last time I tried it. Was gunna chuck the tube in the bin the other day lol. Oh and its quite abrasive so easily marks your CPU. Wouldn't dare use it directly on a GFX core!

I'm not really noticing a great deal of difference between Arctic Silver 5 and IC Diamond on the Playstation 3. But saying that it's never overheating between either. Uncharted 2/3 sends the fan into full speed with both pastes but spins up/down in cycles just with that game.

I did notice Arctic Silver 5 had rub off all the print from the Cell and RSX. Only way to see it is like a hologram. Move it so the light hits it. ¬_¬
I always use the (Arctic Silver ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier) kit when cleaning. Though it never seemed to rub off the print on the AMD 64 chips.

Impressive the cooling on the Gelid Tranquillo for a s939 x2 90nm CPU with IC Diamond. 20c room temperature, case temperature can range from 27 - 31 while the CPU idles between 30 - 32c. 36/37c with Youtube streaming and prime 45 - 49c.

Though I really like Shin-Etsu on the x6 from my findings. I'd like to know what Corsair are using on their H80/100's. As it was Shin-Etsu they use to use on their past coolers so I had to buy a tube. I'd love to try the new stuff on the H70.

lordfletch said:
none as long as you are carefull, i imagine it could short out your motherboard if it got smeared where it shouldn't.

On a hardware enthusiast forum, and this is a problem? nowadays here this isn't the same place it was back in 2003. So many people were so eager to experiment and not close minded. But the past few years I can't help notice this serious dislike for Arctic Silver 5 now as if it had some disease or unnamed brand paste and it's made out to be 10/20 degrees out of everything else.

Now it's like soon as someone says conductive, it's a bomb. Run Forrest!

Is taking care and being thorough such a problem with most? It's not a water pistol.

lordfletch · 1 Feb 2012 at 22:47

V F said:
I don't know because they're still going good on my x1950xtx from December 2006. Fully dusted. Still same temperatures as the day it was installed.

I'm not really noticing a great deal of difference between Arctic Silver 5 and IC Diamond on the Playstation 3. But saying that it's never overheating between either. Uncharted 2/3 sends the fan into full speed with both pastes but spins up/down in cycles just with that game.

I did notice Arctic Silver 5 had rub off all the print from the Cell and RSX. Only way to see it is like a hologram. Move it so the light hits it. ¬_¬
I always use the (Arctic Silver ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier) kit when cleaning. Though it never seemed to rub off the print on the AMD 64 chips.

Impressive the cooling on the Gelid Tranquillo for a s939 x2 90nm CPU with IC Diamond. 20c room temperature, case temperature can range from 27 - 31 while the CPU idles between 30 - 32c. 36/37c with Youtube streaming and prime 45 - 49c.

Though I really like Shin-Etsu on the x6 from my findings. I'd like to know what Corsair are using on their H80/100's. As it was Shin-Etsu they use to use on their past coolers so I had to buy a tube. I'd love to try the new stuff on the H70.

On a hardware enthusiast forum, and this is a problem? nowadays here this isn't the same place it was back in 2003. So many people were so eager to experiment and not close minded. But the past few years I can't help notice this serious dislike for Arctic Silver 5 now as if it had some disease or unnamed brand paste and it's made out to be 10/20 degrees out of everything else.

Now it's like soon as someone says conductive, it's a bomb. Run Forrest!

Is taking care and being thorough such a problem with most? It's not a water pistol.

i never said anything was a problem mate , only answered the guys question regarding AS5 , which may i add im using just now

, anyway enthusiast forums no matter what the subject are here to help all no matter what lvl of experience the forum member has.

(not realy sure whether this is a windup or not its only artic silver after all)) edit, just an after thought, maybe the forum went down hill when i joined in 2004 ?

Mookzen · 2 Feb 2012 at 01:07

To be honest it's rather difficult to fairly quantify minute differences between all the mentioned very well performing choices, I'd imagine little quirks during application and unique specifics of how well the compounds bond and settle each time are enough to invalidate small temp disparities as valid points of comparison.

bainbridge · 2 Feb 2012 at 21:09

Mookzen said:
To be honest it's rather difficult to fairly quantify minute differences between all the mentioned very well performing choices, I'd imagine little quirks during application and unique specifics of how well the compounds bond and settle each time are enough to invalidate small temp disparities as valid points of comparison.

I agree, any well-applied TIM will outperform a supposedly better TIM if its poorly applied.

Tinting both surfaces, a pea-sized blob in the middle & even pressure when mounting without lifting the cooler back off gives me the best results, which in my case during a pretty extensive test was half a degree difference between ICD & AS5

BaNksY IV · 4 Feb 2012 at 04:01

Ahh i bought AS5 as it was the cheapest as it was bundled with the i5 2500k i bought.
Im kinda nervouse about using it now due to the conductive properties, is it just a case of being extra careful when applying and not using to much?

bainbridge · 4 Feb 2012 at 11:44

BaNksY IV said:
Ahh i bought AS5 as it was the cheapest as it was bundled with the i5 2500k i bought.
Im kinda nervouse about using it now due to the conductive properties, is it just a case of being extra careful when applying and not using to much?

I really wouldnt worry. The metal package containing the processor is designed to sit tightly against a big metal cooler, they aren't supposed to be insulated from each other, in fact quite the opposite.

If you go way overboard & some TIM managed to get in amongst the pins I imagine any compound capacitive or not is going to bugger up the system.

You've bought one of the best (IMO) thermal compounds available & your cpu is a fantastic overclocker, take some time to read the AS5 application guide & fit your cooler following their instructions:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_method_vertical_line_v1.1.pdf

BaNksY IV · 4 Feb 2012 at 14:30

Ahh brilliants thanks for the reply, its settled my nerves and that guide is great. Thanks again

newgamer91 · 7 Feb 2012 at 08:36

Is there much difference between mx-3 and mx-4? As some people say they prefer the mx-3 then the mx-4, I though the newist would be better.

leoncuprar · 9 Feb 2012 at 11:05

newgamer91 said:
Is there much difference between mx-3 and mx-4? As some people say they prefer the mx-3 then the mx-4, I though the newist would be better.

Interested to hear views on this.. I've got a tube of both and I'm about to install my new CPU & tranquilo tonight.. or I could just use the stuff that came with the tranquilo...

gug54321 · 9 Feb 2012 at 16:25

im going for toothpaste next time!

12hr cure time too! woohoo

kilohawk · 9 Feb 2012 at 16:32

Cleeecooo said:
Arctic silver is the second in line but is conductive.

Arctic Silver 5 isn't electrically conductive, their website says so :confused: