thermal paste. does it make much difference?

shimy182

shimy182

shimy182

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was just wizzing through webpages for a new thermal paste. first i was just looking for the cheapest with reasnable amounts.

i start to find that theres thermal conductivity value. i ended up ordering one which costs roughly 6 pounds for 3.5 grams.
the Thermal conductivity 4.0W/mK.

the others were something like 0.8W

but the question is, will there be much difference in temperature drop between these two products.

i have a decent CPU heat sink.
 
Not really. If both were applied correctly, you could expect to see at most a 3-4 degree difference. Still worth getting some decent stuff though IMO, as its only £5-6 and will last you ages. My tube of AS5 has lasted me a couple of years now.
 
shimy182 said:
how big is tube of 3.5 grams. it doesnt sound like much :confused:
Click to expand...

About 2" long. Should last for quite some time considering that you should be using as little as possible.
 
messiah khan said:
Not really. If both were applied correctly, you could expect to see at most a 3-4 degree difference.
Click to expand...


I disagree. If both were applied correctly to a reasonably flat heatsink/block and cpu, the difference would be below the measurable tolerance of your motherboard. The actual amount of paste left between the block and cpu should be so tiny that any differences between the thermal properties would be practically irrelevant.

The only reason to get expensive paste is if you plan on leaving it unchanged for a long time, in which case the expensive paste will be better as it is less likely to dry out and cease to work correctly.

In the definitive online review the best "paste" was water closely followed by toothpaste. The thermal pastes were all pretty much the same. Now I will grant you that the review is somewhat old but I firmly believe that the greatest advances in thermal paste recently have been in marketing and packaging rather than actual technical improvements.

So here's the typical situation that leads people to think their new paste is the greatest thing ever:

1) Overheating machine caused by dust build-up, a badly installed heatsink and some factory applied paste.

2) Machine is opened and dust removed. Heatsink is removed and fully cleaned including the base.

3) New super-duper paste is carefully applied after reading up on the web about how best to do it. The heatsink might even be lapped at this point (although this probably makes things worse).

4) The new heatsink is carefully re-mounted.

5) The computer is now "5 degrees cooler" all because of the expensive Antarctic Palladium 23.

Hmm. What about the dust removal? or the proper application of paste? or critically the careful mounting of the heatsink?

A bad heatsink mount will cost tens of degrees. The new paste may have made a fraction of a degree difference but the majority of the improvement came from simple attention to detail.
 
I can see what your saying, and I agree that the difference in temp would be very small. However ive recently seen a review (Can't remember the link im afraid) that tested several thermal pastes. AS5 showed roughly a 2degree diffference over several other brands. The one that came out top in that review was liquid metal. The point I was trying to say is not that AS5(Or any other brand) will make a huge difference or will perform miracles, but for the sake of a couple of quid you might as well get a tube of decent stuff and it will last you ages.
 
Ive just re-seated my WCing CPU block and straight away the temps are 2 degrees C lower, the only difference of this application to the 3 other times ive done it is that i used less AS5 than normal.
As mike says i think its far more than the type of paste you use when it comes to lowering temps.
 
messiah khan said:
I can see what your saying, and I agree that the difference in temp would be very small. However ive recently seen a review (Can't remember the link im afraid) that tested several thermal pastes. AS5 showed roughly a 2degree diffference over several other brands. The one that came out top in that review was liquid metal. The point I was trying to say is not that AS5(Or any other brand) will make a huge difference or will perform miracles, but for the sake of a couple of quid you might as well get a tube of decent stuff and it will last you ages.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's worth the couple of quid extra; on that, I will agree. But as to the review you mention, I've seen countless reviews over the years of thermal pastes and none of them agree with each other. In every case the winner has been the new paste that they've been given to review. Small review sites can't afford to bite the hands that feed them and the hands in question are the manufacturers of the products they're reviewing. Every independent test I've seen - where the site in question has been someone like the inimitable Dan of www.dansdata.com - has concluded that they're all pretty much the same. It's more important to take care in mounting the sink, than in spreading the paste.
 
I saw the same toothpaste test Mike mentioned and it opened my eyes. The only reason we spend so much on thermal paste is the fact it doesn't just evaporate like water or disintegrate like toothpaste.

This doesn't stop me buying my Arctic Silver 5 though :D, because it is the best stuff around regardless of how much better it is.

SiriusB
 
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