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thermal paste

forrehmmnd

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
1,353
Ok, just a random question out of curiosity. is AS5 better then other silver based compunds and if it is why. im running quite cool with my antec formula 5.
 
Very little difference between any of the top pastes. Not worth messing with if you have a good application on right now.

At best, differences between even the white generic paste and the top of the line silver is MAYBE 3c, given that the stuff is applied correctly.
 
Right, you can use almost anything with a high specific heat capacity between the CPU and the HSF... just as long as you're careful with the application.
 
There was a thermal paste review somewhere on these forums which I cant seem to find again.

Anyways I remember seeing MX-1 having more thermal conductivity than AS5 and the Shin Etsu having the most thermal conductivity out of them all.
 
shinetsu thermal paste is essentially the same thing as MX-1 ... if you guys want to know.

just repackaged. :]
 
Arctic Silver 5 versus Antec thermal compound = a wash. No real differences in performances between the two, as long as you do not have too much, or too little, and if your surfaces are cleaned properly before application.

I prefer Arctic Ceramique, since it's completely non-conductive *and* non-capacitative (all silver compounds are slightly capacitative to some degree). Also, it's very easy to clean off with just ordinary 91% isopropyl alcohol.
 
I like AS-5....A while ago, I was in a pinch and didn't have any...

I was re-doing my rig and forgot...I was too lazy to try and find some , so I used that generic crap that you can get at any Radio Shack....I gotta say, It worked fine..I saw pretty much no difference in temps..
now I'm not recommending it, and I did only use it for like 2 months, but who knows...
 
I have both AS5 and MX-1. The MX-1 is certainly a thicker substance and harder to spread around. Really cant tell a difference in temps between the two.
 
Unless you are sitting smack on the bleeding edge of overclocking, I doubt you would notice a difference once you reach this level of sophistication....I don't think you could even measure the gain or loss with normal instrumentation.
 
Unless you are sitting smack on the bleeding edge of overclocking, I doubt you would notice a difference once you reach this level of sophistication....I don't think you could even measure the gain or loss with normal instrumentation.

yea theres a difference of a single degree plus or minus (sometimes less), nothing to go nuts over unless you realy need that one degree. i stick with AS5 just because its what ive been using forever.
 
Are they both silver compounds, just MX-1 is thicker?

No, MX-1 is not a metal compound. You don't have to worry about electrical conductivity with this one.

I tried it for the 1st time a few days ago and so far it's doing an excellent job. I can't compare it to AS5 cuz I also upgraded my water loop so it isn't fair for AS5. Personally I will keep using MX-1 because, 1. according to some tests it is suppose to be better than AS5, and 2. I really like how it spreads.
 
If you're looking for high end thermal substances and don't mind taking risks, look at Coollaboratory Liquid Metal. It's superior to silver based componds like AS5 for thermal conductivity. In thory, you will have lowers temps IF you're willing to take the risk (i.e. will burn through aluminium, and can be hard to take off).
 
There was a thermal paste review somewhere on these forums which I cant seem to find again.

Anyways I remember seeing MX-1 having more thermal conductivity than AS5 and the Shin Etsu having the most thermal conductivity out of them all.

Here is a copy of a review of 36 thermal paste products.

Thermal Paste Test: 36 brands tested!

(copied from link)

|crappy thermal interface|
Tital Nano Blue 59
Panasonic 58.5
KPT-8 (reference) 56.6

|decent thermal interface|
Data Cooler 57
Titan TTG S-104 , S-103 56.7
Pasta Siliconowa 56.6
Zalman CSL 850 56.5
Noctua 56.5
Stars Silver 56.5
Stars 700/Aero 700 56
GeIL GL-TCP1b 55.6
Thermopox 55.6
КПТ-8(BeO) 55.5
Sil more 55.5
Shin-Etsu(white) 55.5
W.P. 55.5
STARS (white, soft pack) 55.5
AKT-842 55
Fanner 420 55
Koolance 55

|good thermal interface|
Arctic Alumina 55.5
Arctic Silver-3 54.6
AOS 54.5
DC-340 54.5
Asetek 54.5
Arctic Silver-5 53.5
Arctic Ceramique 53.5

|great thermal interface|
Apus TMG 301 52.5
Gigabyte 52.5
Titan Nano Grease TTG-G30010 52.5
GFC-M1 D90T8-010 52.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G-751 52

|outstanding thermal interface|
Arctic Cooling MX-1 51.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi MPU-3.7 50.5
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro 50
 
echn111, those are some interesting results. I'll probably just jump on the Arctic Silver 5 band-wagon, though.
 
One thing about the compounds:

Even if they contain the micronized silver in them, they're all pretty much going to be non-conductive, in terms of electricity. The ones containing silver in them are slightly electrically capacitative, though.

What does this really mean for the users? Nothing, really, as long as the compounds are applied properly, and you don't get it smeared all over the other areas. :D
 
One thing about the compounds:

Even if they contain the micronized silver in them, they're all pretty much going to be non-conductive, in terms of electricity. The ones containing silver in them are slightly electrically capacitative, though.

What does this really mean for the users? Nothing, really, as long as the compounds are applied properly, and you don't get it smeared all over the other areas. :D

Yeah, i think the fact that some thermal compounds are electrically capacitative is really a non-issue. I mean, you're hardly going to be sqirting the stuff on your motherboard's PCB, are you?
 
I mean, you're hardly going to be sqirting the stuff on your motherboard's PCB, are you?

Unless you get REALLY excited.



The problem with alot of those tests, is that... well, each mounting is different. Unless you've got a syringe of the stuff, with the exact same amount of compound applied per test, you'll get very different ratings. Sure, that test too the average of a few mounts, but with a sampling population of < 15 for each paste, these results are all within the margin of error for a t-test... Which hurts the test validity IMO.
 
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