Radio Shack thermal grease

M

masamune

Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2002
Messages
683
I bought some today and put some in the middle of the processor and used the heatsink to smush it around.
I booted up and the BIOS says CPU is idling around 55C. System Temps were 43 C.

P4 2.8 GHz not overclocked. Stock heatsink, stock fan. Is this normal?
Do you think I used too much grease?

I've heard other people say that they used a credit card to smear it on. I read http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm and I just put a bit in the center without smearing it.

Should I reapply and smear it around the processor before putting the heatsink on?
 
you should not use radipshack brand. it is horrible. get some AS5 and you shouldnt have any problems. oh and yes, if you want to try again with that stuff i always smear the paste all over the surface that i want to cover as well as where the hsf will contact the core. this might not be the way that others do it, but it has always worked well for me.
 
Can you tell me if I applied it correctly, though?
I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong.

help --verbose :D
 
I've used radioshack grease once. For an xbox chip. Would never use it for anything else. ASC/AS5 is the way to go.

To get even coverage I would have used a credit card. It should be alright. Once you get that artic silver clean the cpu off with 91% rubbing alcohal and apply AS with a credit card or something similiar.
 
i just use a ziploc baggie and pull it onto my finger so that it is smooth and smear it with that
 
A razor blade also works quite well. Those temps are pretty high, but maybe for a Prescott CPU not so high. I'd get some Arctic Silver and apply that using the instructions from that site. With that move you might get 5*C, give or take some (depending on how well you applied the RS stuff). If it is a Prescott core though I'm not sure how much cooler it will get.
 
Ok, I reapplied the radio shack paste and the temps are still around 55C. :(
How thin should it be? should I be trying to scrape as much of it off as possible?
 
It should be thin enough that you can still sort of read the writing on the heatspreader. If it's too thick, it acts as an insulator.

I used radio smack grease on my cpu before. To be honest, I only saw about 3c difference between that and the AS ceramique I'm using now. The difference might be bigger if I had a better hsf though...I'm still using a crappy vantec aeroflow, but my temps never go above 55c load.
 
ok. I'm just going to try using it normally.
I set the alarm if it goes above 70 C.

How much difference in temps is there after the burn-in period?
 
well, usually at most 5 degrees diff. after burn-in period

radio shack grease is fine for most, but if you REALLY want to OC, get AS5 (but that takes 200hrs to burn-in)

apply it by putting a little in the center and smearing w/ the edge of a credit card (that's what i did)
 
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