Thermal Grease


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Hi all,

 

I'm in need of a decent thermal grease/paste to use on PC's and games consoles and I've not had great experiences with the "branded" ones as of late (Artic Cooling, Artic Silver, Zalman). Any reccomendations from personal experience on better performing (and hopefully *a lot* cheaper) alternatives?

 

I've previously heard discussions about industrial / professional grade stuff that's a lot cheaper / better than PC industry peddled toothpastes, but I'm not too sure what terms I should be searching for?

 

Help is much appreciated.

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IIRC there's much better stuff than artic silver nowadays, ceramicsomethingstuff :p  , that said, if it's not anything high performance (overclocking, fanless heatsinks) i'd vouch for artic silver

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616-19.html

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-heat-sink-heat-spreader,3600.html

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Personally I've always found Arctic Silver fine.

One thing to check is how your applying the compound, different CPU's should have it applied in different ways depending on how they were constructed.

Check out the link and find your CPU.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

Also make sure you don't apply too much, And that you've properly cleaned the CPU and heatsink before applying new paste.

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artic silver has been my go to....perhaps you need a better heat sink/fan solution.  As far as game consoles go, there could be microcracks in the solder joints....I know this was an issue with the xbox 360's and their rrods...artic silver will not fix the rrod (or really any thermal compound).

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IIRC there's much better stuff than artic silver nowadays, ceramicsomethingstuff :p  , that said, if it's not anything high performance (overclocking, fanless heatsinks) i'd vouch for artic silver

 

Arctic Silver is fine typicalyl, the ceramic stuff is hard to apply and if done incorrectly can result in worse temps.

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I use Tunia TX-2. Never had an issue with them. I used Arctic in the past. Little to same performance, IMO.

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I always use Arctic Silver myself. Just remember to first clean the contact point with 99% pure isopropyl and a clean lint-free cloth. Any contamination of the contact will result in an inefficient heat transfer.

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Whatever was supplied, my physical thermometer built into my case has never exceeded 65C

Personally I like to think they're all up to the task, so long as they've been applied correctly. :)

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IIRC there's much better stuff than artic silver nowadays, ceramicsomethingstuff :p  , that said, if it's not anything high performance (overclocking, fanless heatsinks) i'd vouch for artic silver

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616-19.html

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-heat-sink-heat-spreader,3600.html

 

With Artic Silver 2-5, I've found that it works well for small dies but never seems to make that good of contact on larger heatspreaders e.g. AMD64, PS3, Core i7 (due to the viscosity under "bolt-on" designs) and becomes very expensive to maintain. WIth the PS3, I've pretty much ruled out silver based compounds as it seems to never make good contact with large areas unless you gently warm up the heatspreaders beforehand - which might be the issue I face, it's too damn cold in my house most of the time.

 

I haven't used their C?ramique since the Athlon XP-M days - C?ramique 2 seems to be the least expensive per gram out of their ranges (also availible in a larger 25g tube). I shall buy some and give that a go, thanks.

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If you're in a pinch and you have no money, you can use mayonnaise as a temporary thermal paste.

 

I'd get sued by Acer for infinging on their intelectual property if I did that.

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Hello,

Arctic Silver has been my "go to" thermal paste for years, and I've never had any any problems applying it when following their instructions.

You might want to look at Antec's Formula 7 thermal paste. I've used that when Arctic Silver wasn't available and it seems to work well, too.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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If you're in a pinch and you have no money, you can use mayonnaise as a temporary thermal paste.

The articles I posted have a "for fun" section where they test toothpaste and other substances, most last a couple of days in case of emergencies!

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The articles I posted have a "for fun" section where they test toothpaste and other substances, most last a couple of days in case of emergencies!

 

Yes I know, the mayonnaise is not a joke. I've used it before.

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I realize this thread is already marked as solved, and everyone is saying Arctic Silver is a go to - but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents as I have always thought this topic is just downright silly.

In the articles posted by Draconian Guppy prove what I have always said.... IT DOESNT REALLY MATTER !  We are talking a difference of a couple of degrees.  These things are not that sensitive where a couple of degrees makes a difference between perfectly stable and crap.  If you are getting thermal shutdowns, there is another issue not the brand of thermal paste.

When people post things like. "Oh man Shin Etsu sucks !  Coollab's stuff pwns " - it makes me want to wish for the ability to punch over the internet.

There is always an exception.  If one is overclocking and trying to keep a system running long enough to post a benchmark (the only thing OC-ing is good for) then a difference of 4-5 degrees can make a difference.

Am I out of line on this ?  Or do you agree this is nothing more than geek masterbation ?  Something computer nerds argue over the most minute details and never realize it doesnt matter in the grand scheme, and millions of products run 24/7 on generic paste?

With that being said, I will admit when building a system for myself or someone else, I wont use the generic stuff, I'll get either Shin-Etsu, or AS @ Fry's.

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I realize this thread is already marked as solved, and everyone is saying Arctic Silver is a go to - but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents as I have always thought this topic is just downright silly.

In the articles posted by Draconian Guppy prove what I have always said.... IT DOESNT REALLY MATTER !  We are talking a difference of a couple of degrees.  These things are not that sensitive where a couple of degrees makes a difference between perfectly stable and crap.  If you are getting thermal shutdowns, there is another issue not the brand of thermal paste.

When people post things like. "Oh man Shin Etsu sucks !  Coollab's stuff pwns " - it makes me want to wish for the ability to punch over the internet.

There is always an exception.  If one is overclocking and trying to keep a system running long enough to post a benchmark (the only thing OC-ing is good for) then a difference of 4-5 degrees can make a difference.

Am I out of line on this ?  Or do you agree this is nothing more than geek masterbation ?  Something computer nerds argue over the most minute details and never realize it doesnt matter in the grand scheme, and millions of products run 24/7 on generic paste?

With that being said, I will admit when building a system for myself or someone else, I wont use the generic stuff, I'll get either Shin-Etsu, or AS @ Fry's.

 

I was hoping someone was going to come along and list a good supplier of the industrial stuff at wholesale prices with it being just as good/the same as the consumer grade stuff - alas, no such luck.

 

I go through a lot of the stuff through console repairs and the premium stuff is not cost effective for me, nor will anything really benefit from the sheer orgasmic healing properties of precious pure silver in its purist form.

 

Overclocking is unfortunately a money making enterprise these days where brand trumps function.

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