Artic Silver

[KINgGh0sT]

Is there such thing as Too much? I mean, I put a BB sized drop on again but it still looks like a massive amount

 

[MontyAC]

Definitely too much is a no no. Try a very small drop the size of a grain of rice.

 

[OneMadPoptart]

Unfortunatly, there is such thing as too much thermal paste. If too much paste is inbetween the processor and the heatsink, the thermal transfer is impeded and less efficient.

Just put enough paste on your processor to barely cover the surface in a small film.

 

[ras786]

man i followed arctic silver's instructions but my temps arent too great!.....I put the size of a rice grain:

but my temps at idle even with a vantec tornado next to my zalman heatsink.....

 

[Syphon Filter]

it also takes a while to break in does it not?

 

[GameFreak]

another thing you can do is to smear the AS around with your finger inside a plastic baggy, just to make sure it's got a thin layer all over it. I use AS3 so I do this on both the core and the HS to make sure I have good coverage.

 

[_Korruption_]

Originally posted by GameFreak
another thing you can do is to smear the AS around with your finger inside a plastic baggy, just to make sure it's got a thin layer all over it. I use AS3 so I do this on both the core and the HS to make sure I have good coverage.

That's not the right way to do it. http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

 

[NotSoSimple]

I just got some AS5 and I read the instructions: It has a break in period that after it heats up for like 200 Cycles or something like that (I know it was 200 something) it reaches full potential. Made me kinda sad.

 

[Silversink]

Originally posted by NotSoSimple
I just got some AS5 and I read the instructions: It has a break in period that after it heats up for like 200 Cycles or something like that (I know it was 200 something) it reaches full potential. Made me kinda sad.

Thats close, but it takes 200 hours+ and several thermal cycles depending on if the heatsink has 'agitation'. This is one reason waterblocks that have little disturbance can take longer than 200 hours. One way to expedite this is to apply the paste, turn on the computer and GENTLY wiggle the heatsink or waterblock after the installation, this helps the paste settle quicker then just applying the paste and waiting. Once arctic Silver 5 settles the temps should drop 2*c to 5*c

 

[ras786]

I did those same steps from arctic silver's website but I still am getting horrible temps. I put a rice grain size as seen up above, and I wiggled the heatsink to spread it out. But my temps are still at 41-43 idle at stock speeds!

 

[govtcheez]

i've been "messing" around alot lately with my Athlon64 and heatsinks, and thermal paste, and noticed a few things. The Athlon64 chip is similar to the Pentium chips, in that it comes with a heatspreader cap on the die, so this probably is true for pentium processors as well. I tried the small amount on the processor like AS recommends; a big amount smeared all over both the processor, and heatsink; a tiny amount smeared to a very thin film on the processor, and then on the heatsink, and rubbing it down to a SHINE with a coffee filter with both the Ceramique, and AS5. I found out that I get very similar temps with both the Ceramique and AS5, with a light edge going to AS5 (maybe 1 degree better on load temps). The third method of a very thin smear on the processor, and rubbing it into the heatsink seems to work the best. I conclude that this is due to the fact that there is more surface area this way than with the AS recommended method of a small dab. If you look closely, that way produces a circle of area where the thermal grease has spread, which represents the point of contact between the processor heatspreader, and the heatsink. The corners aren't making contact. I know the die is directly below the center, but I think it's more efficient to make as much contact as possible. At the opposite spectrum, the large gobs of the stuff impedes the heatsink from absorbing as much of the heat as possible. I know that the paste is a good conductor, but solid metal to metal contact is best. The paste should only serve to really "fill in the cracks".

 

[FiZ]

Spreading AS5 is tough with a baggy, that stuff is thick. I found if you heat it a little bit it spreads much easier.

 

[Mr. Thompson]

govtcheez – While it may seem “more efficient” to cover the entire heatspreader, this is not the case. The vast majority of the heat goes straight up through the heatspreader. AMD realizes this as they call the heatspreader a “processor lid” in their documentation. The processor lid is slightly concave, so by spreading the compound out to the corners, the heatsink is spaced further away from the heat generated by the CPU core. This is why we recommend applying an amount about the size of one and a half grains of rice to the center of the “processor lid” of an Athlon 64, and let the pressure of the heatsink spread the compound.

Colin Thompson
Arctic Silver, Inc.

 

[govtcheez]

Originally posted by Mr. Thompson
govtcheez – While it may seem “more efficient” to cover the entire heatspreader, this is not the case. The vast majority of the heat goes straight up through the heatspreader. AMD realizes this as they call the heatspreader a “processor lid” in their documentation. The processor lid is slightly concave, so by spreading the compound out to the corners, the heatsink is spaced further away from the heat generated by the CPU core. This is why we recommend applying an amount about the size of one and a half grains of rice to the center of the “processor lid” of an Athlon 64, and let the pressure of the heatsink spread the compound.

Colin Thompson
Arctic Silver, Inc.

Wow. I didn't even know we had a AS rep on these forums!
...it's nice to hear back such responses from the pros. I think I will just leave the heatsink and thermal grease the way they are right now though. The last time I tried to take it off, the processor actually "stuck" to the heatsink, and ripped it out of the socket holder! I was sooo scared that I damaged my processor. It had to be "slid" off of the side of the heatsink. I guess that's what I get for trying to use too much of Ceramique!