WCing i5 block recommendations / MX 3 application?

Ace · 27 Dec 2009 at 19:57

I am currently looking at the EK Supreme LT Plexi CPU Water Block because it's a good price, is the Heatkiller worth paying an extra £30 for?. I cannot find any reviews for either.

Also I am going to go for Arctic Cooling MX-3 compound as apparently it is the best but also hard to work with?. In the past I've only ever used AS-2-3 and 5 using a credit card to apply it. What is the best way to apply it to an i5 cpu?. I have seen that some people just put a blob on and let the pressure of the heatsink spread it. Using a water block I don't think there will be enough pressure to do this, also how do you know that you've applied enough and the core is completely covered?.

hux · 27 Dec 2009 at 21:17

http://www.arcticsilver.com/ins_route_step2intelas5.html

Ace · 29 Dec 2009 at 15:43

Thanks for the link, but what about the blocks?. Also do I need to get a i5 retention kit?.

daz.wallace · 29 Dec 2009 at 17:08

I have the Heatkiller block and am very pleased with it, I have it in a loop with an i7 860 and a 5870 (also on a HK block with an XSPC RX240 rad) my cpu idles at 27C and my gpu idles at 22C and I have only seen my GPU rise to 31C during gaming (I only game in short bursts though, 30 mins to 1 hour)