Differences between conductive and non-conductive thermal paste

danzhang16 · 13 Mar 2011 at 22:18

What's the difference? Do they have an impact on cooling?

Surveyor · 13 Mar 2011 at 22:33

One conducts electricity and the other doesn't :rolleyes:

I see no reason to use conductive paste, like Arctic Silver 5, when Artctic Cooling MX3 and MX4 are just as good, non-conductive and have no curing time.

Why take the risk with conductive paste?

danzhang16 · 13 Mar 2011 at 22:48

Okay, i'm using artic silver 5 at the moment, should I change? Also, what are the risks of conductive paste?

23JMZ07 · 13 Mar 2011 at 22:53

If you use conductive paste, be sure not to get it onto any connections/ICs.

AS5 is kinda out-dated now, once the king of the hill but it has been replaced by better alternatives MX2,3,4 and ICDiamond for example. Despite this it is still very popular with the nostalgic guys.

JonJ678 · 13 Mar 2011 at 23:08

AS5 is capacitive to some limited extent, it still isn't conductive. Capacitive and conductive are different things.

I'm using a conductive paste (liquid pro) with no ill effects. It just doesn't matter.

WingZero30 · 13 Mar 2011 at 23:12

Is MX-4 a silver thermal compound?

setter · 13 Mar 2011 at 23:14

Dont use a paste such as as5 on chipsets on your mobo, arctic ceramique or mx3/4 is a better option.

danzhang16 · 14 Mar 2011 at 00:31

Why not? It semks to be working fine, as long as i dont get it on other parts?

V F · 14 Mar 2011 at 01:03

23JMZ07 said:
AS5 is kinda out-dated now, once the king of the hill but it has been replaced by better alternatives MX2,3,4 and ICDiamond for example. Despite this it is still very popular with the nostalgic guys.

One of the reasons I never ditched it was due to the fact the tube has lasted me for so long. I can't remember when I bought it from OCUK. I still have a tube of AS3 from 2003 which is even bigger than AS5.

Maybe I might get some of that Diamond stuff when I strip my case again in the summer for a internal repaint/mods?...