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Better Paste Than Arctic Silver 5?

B

Blackstone

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I haven't built a system in a few years. Is there better paste on the market than Arctic Silver 5? I haven't researched this. I was wondering if there is some kind of new consensus about paste. I know Arctic Silver 5 was the gold standard for years. - For CPU, NOT GPU.
 
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There's lots of thermal pastes better than AS 5. AS 5 is relatively old and outdated, but still holds its own.

Noctua, MX-4 are favorites. IC Diamond is one of the best, but difficult to apply.
 
I put some Thermaltake TG-1 on my laptop to replace the Arctic Silver 5 I had on it, and it made a large difference in the laptop's ability to turbo higher under load.
 
As already stated there are several good pastes but I would also recommend IC diamond thermal compound. Here is a review of IC diamond paste and little more info as to the chemical makeup.
 
Biggest problem with AS 5 is that it is capacitive, so you have to be careful not to get any on the board. Newer pastes, like MX-4, are non-conductive and non-capacitive so you don't have to be so careful.
 
Forceman said:
Biggest problem with AS 5 is that it is capacitive, so you have to be careful not to get any on the board. Newer pastes, like MX-4, are non-conductive and non-capacitive so you don't have to be so careful.
Click to expand...

Yes, you wouldnt want to use AS5, because it is made up of silver flakes that are conductive, on a GPU where the application requires a high level of precision but it can still fair quite well for CPU applications. However IC compound is composed of micronized synthetic diamond which works well for just about any application and you dont have to worry about how precisely you apply the paste give its non capacitive and non conductive properties.
 
I really like MX-4. It is non-conductive, easy to use, reduces temps copmarable to AS5, and it doesn't require any time to cure! What more could you ask for?
 
The only data I believe is Skinneelabs, and none other. Peoples personal experiences basically have too many unknown factors when it comes to such a delicate subject as thermal paste performance.

DeathPrincess has a point, so it's quite hard to be certain when people tell how they have better temps with specific paste.
 
mx-4 here and no complaints, spreads easy and no curing time vs as5.
 
If applied properly any of the thermal pastes mentioned in this thread will perform very well for CPU application. Now its just a matter of picking the one you like best and going for it.
 
I always used Ceramique and had good results, both on CPU and GPU.

Is something like mx-4 noticeably better?
 
The difference between most thermal pastes is about 2-5 C.

I use Arctic Ceramique 2 because I could get 22g for $7 on ebay, and I need it for both GPU and CPU.
 
The Noctua paste is better than AS5, and the IC Diamond is even better.

Back in the day, I bought some MG Chemicals Silver conductive paste and used it as heat transfer compound.

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8463.html

Once it heats up, it will actually make a super thin layer of silver that you have to scrape off if you want to clean whatever you used it on.

It works quite a bit better than AS5, but is also a bit more expensive. I would also have to say that you definitely do not want to get it anywhere you don't want it.... it will cause a short :D
 
I just picked up some IC Diamond paste from MC today for $7. Wow, that stuff is interesting to work with. Definitely heat it up in hot water first.
 
I used to use AC MX-1, but now I tend to use the stuff that comes with whatever cooler.

Should I really change this habit?

BTW: This September 2011 Thermal Paste Round up still puts AC 5 pretty much above all others (except 2).

But I dont thin I would use AC 5 because of the supposed conduction\capacitance issues.
 
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I just used AS5 when I applied my GPU water blocks. I has it left over from a while ago when changing my CPU cooler. I haven't noticed any negative aspect yet. As long as it's applied correctly, no problem right?
 
manofthem said:
I just used AS5 when I applied my GPU water blocks. I has it left over from a while ago when changing my CPU cooler. I haven't noticed any negative aspect yet. As long as it's applied correctly, no problem right?
Click to expand...

As long as it remains completely on the IHS, you should be fine. You're in trouble if it gets onto the PCB and causes a short between components.
 
DogsofJune said:
I just picked up some IC Diamond paste from MC today for $7. Wow, that stuff is interesting to work with. Definitely heat it up in hot water first.
Click to expand...

Yea, that was my experience as well. Not impossible to work with by any means, but definitely wasn't as idiot proof as mx4. For the minor performance difference, I usually prefer the mx4 for simplicity sake.
 
I use AC5 because I have been using it for maybe a decade now and it has worked great for me. If you have Parkinson's I wouldn't recommend AC5. If not, there really isn't any worry in using it.

Most of it depends on the application. I have nerfed applying AC5 to a CPU recently. I applied too much and the temps hit the roof. I reapplied and my temps hit the floor.

Plus the amount of AC5 that I have left in my tube will be good for about another 50 applications. I wont be tossing it out any time soon :)
 
Tsumi said:
As long as it remains completely on the IHS, you should be fine. You're in trouble if it gets onto the PCB and causes a short between components.
Click to expand...

So how long would it take to develop into a problem? I mean, if it would cause a short, wouldn't it do it right away? It was either AS5 or whatever stuff Alphacool sent.
 
I believe it is not about which paste you use, but almost entirely about how good the mount and paste spread is. It can make a very large difference when it is applied right to even just an average application.
 
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