thermal compound

ShaolinDreams · 3 Mar 2009 at 15:45

Dantoshou said:
stuck as5 on THICKER then i had, (looking at it it was thinner then i thought probably 0.5mm, now on 50ish idle, lol confusing stuff.

insulator eh

Dantoshou · 3 Mar 2009 at 15:52

ShaolinDreams said:
insulator eh

nah it was like, too thin before, so i put like just a smidge more.

ShaolinDreams · 3 Mar 2009 at 15:54

yeh its gotta make proper contact .. put slightly less around the edges and very slightly more in the middle.

is the bottom of the heatsink completely flat, test it on something flat like a mirror, it should not rock at all.

freddie64 · 3 Mar 2009 at 16:58

Was thinking the same, maybe even the cpu not flat.

Dont know how good that cooler is, but surely idle temps should be about half what is now.

Dantoshou · 3 Mar 2009 at 20:02

bottom of the cooler is completely flat, as is the cpu, its idling at 50-55, ive never had it idle at lower for a long time, when it had the preapplied paste on it started at 40-45 then shot up to 50-55 idle, im just gonna let this artic silver burn in for 200 hours and see whether that helps.

i think to be honest its the cpu model, its a 95nm process technology, runs at 125watts and that means creating a lot of heat.

freddie64 · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:56

Wow! did not know that.

How is the airflow in your case?

death_looms · 4 Mar 2009 at 02:07

Sentinal_ said:
All thermal pastes are electrical insulators.

Are there not metal based ones that conduct (and also corrode aluminium)?

PhillyDee · 4 Mar 2009 at 02:28

death_looms said:
Are there not metal based ones that conduct (and also corrode aluminium)?

Arctic Silver 5 is silver based and electrically conductive, as are the aluminium based ones.

The cheap white goo isnt, and neither are ceramic ones.

chainy · 4 Mar 2009 at 07:12

Sentinal_ said:
The smallest quantity of IPA I could get was 1 litre, that'll last me 'til the end of my days, but it's the best at getting thermal paste off a CPU, makes it nice & shiny Use a credit card to scrape a small amount accross the surface of the CPU, a REALLY thin layer, much thinner than 1mm. All thermal pastes are electrical insulators.
Over apply the thermal paste and the heat has to get through it rather than though the metal of the heat sink, hence higher temps. The thermal paste is there ONLY to fill in the minute gaps between the surfaces of the CPU & the heat sink.

We buy IPA in bottles of 25L at work. I must have a life time supply on tap!

Dantoshou · 26 Jul 2010 at 00:57

gladly the compound did cool and is working really well in my system after like half a year of use

totally happy with the stuff

Philtor · 26 Jul 2010 at 07:59

AS5 needs time to cure and become effective whereas MX-2 does not require any curing time. This is why it took a while before your temps came down.

robinbredin · 26 Jul 2010 at 09:18

I was always told, the compound was to be the size of a pea.

Philtor · 26 Jul 2010 at 09:34

I apply the equivalent of a grain of rice and let the cooler spread it out. Not that much is needed really and too much can act as an insulator.

Hagar · 26 Jul 2010 at 09:34

The grain of rice size has been around since the athlonXP without a heatspreader, i.e. a bare silicon CPU. For a newer CPU with the larger area heatspreader, you may need a bit more. I put enough AS5 on to spread very thinly over the whole heatspreader probably 0.25 to 0.5mm thick and burn it in for a while on full MHz like 8-10hrs. This should provide optimal results. Too much and it does leak out of the sides under pressure. This is not usually a problem but can look messy. Akasa TIM is good, as is a bank card used as a spreader for the goo.