Applying Arctic Silver 5

[halfpower]

Yesterday I put my Asus A8V motherboard in my case. I then put my Athlon 3500 in the CPU plug thingy. I put a little dab of Arctic Silver 5 in the center. I proceeded to put my XP-120 onto the processor. I'm not sure if I lowered it at a perfect 90 degree angle, but it was lowered in that general direction. I turned the heat sink clockwise and counter clockwise a couple of times. The heat sink was a little off centered, so I slid it over, by perhaps, 1cm or so and locked it into the retention bracket.

I did this is in a slightly haphazard fashion. On the Arctic Silver web site they have directions, and when followed exactly, the Arctic silver spreads out into a pretty, and perfectly round circle. I do not think I have smeared the grease into a pretty circle. Is this something I should worry about? Should I redo it with the motherboard outside of the case?

I hope to boot up in the next 24 hours, but I'd like to avoid any potential problems. This is my first time building. Any help is appreciated.

-halfpower

 

[Doctorweir]

The turning thing sounds interesting...however can't imagine doing this with the 1kg Zalman cooler...
I still use the technique that was in place since the former AS3 times...apply both parts with AS5 rub it in, clean off again, apply a thin film on heatspreader, press on heatsink, done

 

[halfpower]

I guess the turning evens it out a bit.

I wonder how hard a second application would be.

 

[Mickey Eye]

What I really want to see is some pictures showing the exact application on a athlon 64 with stock cooler. Yep I'm doing mine tonight... Its the first time and I'm more than a little nervous of screwing it up.

 

[Doctorweir]

There are pics in the AS5 instructions... AS5_Application

Whoops...did it wrong

 

[Mickey Eye]

Cheers :thumbsup:

 

[lavaheadache]

you cant turn the heatsink when installing on an A64 system. Just be sure to spread As5 out evenly on both surfaces

 

[Doctorweir]

That IMHO would be too much AS5 (if applied on both CPU AND heatsink)...
The AS5 guys also state in their manual to turn the heatsink ONLY 1 degree to the left and to the right...with a fastened Zalman you can do this...my first thought also was turning more, but they just mean a bit to spread the grease...

 

[edjacobson]

halfpower, you are not supposed to turn the heatsink until after the brackets are attached, and then only 1 or 2 degrees in each direction. If you are in doubt, there is no harm in cleaning it off and reapplying the AS5. Just use some isopropyl alchohol and qtips, and make sure you get all of the residue and lint off both parts before reapplying the AS5. I make my last swipe using camera lens cleaning tissue with just a drop of alchohol that evaporates almost immediately, and then blow it off with a lens cleaning blower.

I built my first computer a month or so ago, and was a bit nervous at first. After getting up and running, I noticed my temps were 2-3 degrees higher than most people were reporting, and 5-6 degrees higher when OCing. I decided to reseat the HS to see if I had put too little AS5 on. When I took the HS off, I was surprised at how that little dab had spread out, and I realized if anything I applied a bit too much. I reapplied, a little less this time, and my temps went down 2-3 degrees from where they were.

Just follow the directions. Apply the dab, put the heatsink on and attach the HS without lifting the HS up (so as to avoid putting airbubbles in the AS5), and then twist 1-2 degrees a couple of times, and you should be good to go.

 

[LatinJones]

If you are running an athlon 64 CPU and using arctic silver 5 my suggestion is to follow the directions as best you can. The first time I applied it I did it the old style as mentioned above where you apply a THIN layer on the entire surface of the cpu....

Well, then next time I tried to remove the heatsink from the processor it ripped the CPU right out of the socket. Unfortunately I bent several pins in the process and actually broke one off.

CPU still works fortunately. I've since adopted the new method of installation. I'm not sure if it spread out evenly over the surface of the CPU or not, I'm too scared to check, but my temps are identical to what they were before.

And about the twisting thing....I Could only twist it a couple of degrees and put a little pressure on it to spread it out. I don't think you'll have a problem.

 

[halfpower]

Originally posted by: edjacobson
halfpower, you are not supposed to turn the heatsink until after the brackets are attached, and then only 1 or 2 degrees in each direction. If you are in doubt, there is no harm in cleaning it off and reapplying the AS5. Just use some isopropyl alchohol and qtips, and make sure you get all of the residue and lint off both parts before reapplying the AS5. I make my last swipe using camera lens cleaning tissue with just a drop of alchohol that evaporates almost immediately, and then blow it off with a lens cleaning blower.

I'm not sure if an XP-120 will wiggle after the brackets have been attached. They exert a fair amount of force and don't give much.

I wound up taking the heat sink off to check out how the grease spread out. It actually spread out pretty good, better than I had expected.

I then took a coffee filter (which is not lint free, despite what arctic silver says on their web site) and cleaned off as much grease as I could. I then reapplied the grease with out applying any cleaner first. I've got the computer in the BIOS at the moment and I'm at 40.5C. Earlier I was 38C. I estimate that the room temperature is 20C.

Will a handful of tiny dust particles make much difference?

 

[halfpower]

This is what my BIOS is reading out (I've got a Winchester, with Cool 'n Quiet disabled)

CPU Temperature..........[40*C/104*F]
MB Temperature............[23*C/73*F]

CPU Fan Speed..............[998RPM]
Chassis Fan Speed.........[1041RPM]
Power Fan Speed...........[1061RPM]


I think these temps look okay, but I think the difference between the CPU and the MB temperature is a little large. By the way, these fans will not go any faster.

 

[halfpower]

I enabled cool n' quiet. My CPU and chassis fans are still going at full blast, but my CPU is idling between 27*C and 30*C. I wonder if I've finished the thermal grease break-in period yet?