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Artic silver 5

D

DieHard007

Gawd
Joined
Jun 23, 2005
Messages
694
is it still the best performing thermo compound out there or is there new wonderful stuff now. that i don't know about.
 
Some people will say the thermal compound does not really matter. Its the way you apply the paste.

Others will say, Arctic Cooling MX-2, Tuniq TX, and OCZ freeze paste are superior to as5.

But most of all, it matters on the heatsink, the air flow, and ambient temps.
 
I would say yes. One of the things about AS5 is that it has to burn in. Arctic Cooling says that it takes 200 hours or so: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_intel_quad_wcap.pdf. There are compounds like Noctua NH-1 and Arctic Cooling MX-2 that don't have this requirement. Also, AS5 while not eclectically conductive, is electrically capacitive. These newer compounds are electrically neutral, they are not supposed to interfere with the functionally of electronic component in the event that the compound gets into something.

Do they cool better in the long run? Probably not, just easier to install because of no burn in time and a little safer.
 
I just bought MX-2 for the fist time and I will try it in a few days.
I read that the MX-2 is a bit better than AS5 (2 or 3 degrees cooler at load).

Also, AS5 is conductive while MX-2 is not.
 
Eh, if I'd thought ahead of time, I'd have gone MX-2 on the new system, but I didn't, and had my tube of AS5 from last year, so I used that. Prolly switch next time.
 
Be careful if you're using a copper heat sink. Some thermal compounds oxidize the copper. AS5 doesn't seem to have this problem.
 
Well its still not good to get AS5 on sensitive electronics. Conductive/capacitive, it's gonna screw with crap if it gets on it.
 
FinalAura said:
Some people will say the thermal compound does not really matter. Its the way you apply the paste.

Others will say, Arctic Cooling MX-2, Tuniq TX, and OCZ freeze paste are superior to as5.

But most of all, it matters on the heatsink, the air flow, and ambient temps.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The largest part is your last sentence, the heatsink and temps, with good parts, the TIM is almost negligible between types/brands.
 
I've been using AS5 ever since my first pc build, but I just got an AC 7pro cooler and it came with MX2 compound and I think i'm getting lower temps than using AS5.
 
Having any sort of good brand aftermarket TIM vs stock TIM is usually a decent improvement; the differences of a couple of degrees in tests between different brands is fairly negligible, and could quite possibly be due to application differences.
 
I still have too much AS5 (2 unopened larger tubes) to move to something else for a few years :)
 
OP that's a question I asked in this forum before I bought my Xigmatek cooler. Artic Silver are they still the best? The response I got was they are good but it's so many companies making thermal compound and a few stood out like OCZ and a few others.
 
I just ordered a Xigmatek RS1283 and I'm going to use Arctic Cooling MX-2 because it has no burn in time. If you read the specs on AS5, it takes about 200 hours with several cooling down cycles for AS5 to reach its optimal cooling. MX-2 doesn't have this requirement and its electrically non-conductive and non-capacitive.
 
Don't worry about it. It's not the top dog any more, and there's drawbacks to using it, but you're in no way really screwing yourself by using/buying it. It's still a very good compound, just be thankful that you're not using the typical goop in a small blister pack crap that comes w/ most heatsinks. I personally went w/ MX-2 for my most recent compound purchase, but that was only because I got the tube for a bit over $2 for a small one - the shipping had I not have bought other stuff would have been over double that alone..

And I really doubt there are a ton of makers of compound, ie: take OCZ for example.. Unless something's changed, they don't formulate or make their own.. IE: I don't know much about their Freeze stuff, but their first foray into the biz IIRC was simply re-badged AS5 (or AS3 even?)...

Oh and heatlessun made a boo boo.. Arctic Silver Inc. != Arctic Cooling, you linked the right site, but AC=the maker of MX-2. It can be a bit confusing sometimes, I've made the same mistake before, but tend not to now after being blessed w/ the BTFB Accelero coolers (among other recent products).
 
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