Arctic silver and new Opty 165

[amheck]

I am ordering a new Opty 165 to replace the 3200+ in my rig below. From what I have gathered, I want to first clean the grease off of the headsink with rubbing alcohol. Then I want to apply just a small drop in the center of the CPU and then put the heatsink back on? Is that correct?

I have always (in the past) put on the material and then used a credit card to spread it out in a thin layer over the entire heat spreader. But apparently this Arctic Silver is different.

Just wanted to double check.

Thanks!
Aaron

 

[cnhoff]

No

I have used Arctic Silver since a few years with several systems (Thunderbird, Northwood, C2D) and have always spread the initial drop out over the heatspreader/core using a credit card. That is what the Arctic Silver website says, too.

A single drop in the middle would just sit there and the whole surface area would not be cooled appropriately.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: cnhoffI have used Arctic Silver since a few years with several systems (Thunderbird, Northwood, C2D) and have always spread the initial drop out over the heatspreader/core using a credit card. That is what the Arctic Silver website says, too.

A single drop in the middle would just sit there and the whole surface area would not be cooled appropriately.

The core(s) sit(s) in the middle of the IHS, and when you put a bit in the middle the pressure of the heatsink on the heatspreader forces it to smooth out. If you put it on as per the instructions then check the coverage by removing the HSF and looking at the base you will see it spreads out rather evenly anyway.

OP: Just read what they /actually/ say.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_amd_dual_wcap.pdf

 

[amheck]

oh, didn't even think to check the manufacturer site. I wouldn't have guessed there'd be instructions with this stuff. Too funny. Well I guess that answers that!

Thanks!

 

[SlowSpyder]

On my Opty (and my single core A64) I applied it the same. Put a bit of AS5 about the size of a grain of rice, maybe just a bit bigger and smoothed it over the entire heat spreader with my drivers license. I have yet to see over 46C, I think people make too big a deal out of how to apply it to tell you the truth.

 

[SimMike2]

Right now I'm using the retail kit heatsink with the compound it came with. I'm wondering if I should take this off and use my Artic Silver. Right now my idle is 33C, but it can get up to 56C under extreme stress, with CPU Burn running simultaneously with Super Pi. It is stabel and doesn't crash, even though my CPU is running at 2.5Ghz.

 

[xfile]

The retail stuff isn't bad. I noticed a few degrees drop in temp with AS5 on my 4400. Still running the retail stuff in my new Opteron 185....but it only hits 51 degrees on load according to Core Temp....I will eventually put the AS5 on it too. I have done the rice method but may try the CC this time.

 

[SimMike2]

I've never done the credit card method, but what I usually do is apply a drop in the middle, put my index finger in a baggie, the cheap thin type, and use my finger to move the paste around the top, spreading it evenly. IMHO this is easier than the credit card method and yields about the same results. Afterwards I throw the baggie in the trash - no mess. With either method, both get squished by the heatsink and are spread pretty evenly. Both these methods eliminate the drop in the middle, where there is always a chance, depending on how the heatsink seats, where some of the paste doesn't cover part of the CPU crown.

 

[bearxor]

Back in the exposed core days, rubbing it in a thin layer was the way to go. Now, with IHS, the drop near the center and then force from the heatsink mechanism is quite sufficient. I was skeptical when I got my Opteron, but I tried it and then lifted it up to see coverage and it covered about 90% of the core in a very thin layer.

You can't go wrong either way really but the drop in the center is certainly sufficient for more modern processors.

 

[Pens1566]

Follow AS instructions. They do kind of know what they're talking about when it comes to using their product.