Arctic Silver - where to get and does it really make a diff?

[stultus]

I've been having some problems with svc.com (which is usually a favorite to buy from). Are there any other good places to get it from?

Also, does it *really* make a difference? I have some radio shack thermal grease, and I'm wondering if I really need to wait for the silver to arrive (after I buy it somewhere) or if I should just use the radio shack stuff.

 

[Krk3561]

newegg.com carries it

 

[FearoftheNight]

not 100% sure of effectiveness but its real cheap anyway and is the defacto standard used by 99% of people i know...in video card reviews you will see reviewers taking off the cooling, cleaning off the white stuff ...and apply as3...to report temperture drops.

 

[FearoftheNight]

not 100% sure of effectiveness but its real cheap anyway and is the defacto standard used by 99% of people i know...in video card reviews you will see reviewers taking off the cooling, cleaning off the white stuff ...and apply as3...to report temperture drops.

 

[screw3d]

They are probably one of the best and the most widely available.

What problem are you having with SVC? Yeah probably the shipping would be a little slow but hey, it's free!

 

[bgeh]

imo, it does bring a diff in temps

 

[Freejack2]

Just another question to add to the thread. I have AS2, should I bother getting AS3 or is the difference in performance not worth it?

 

[Doh!]

I've seen several reviews sometime ago between AS2 and AS3. The big difference is that AS2 has silicone whereas AS3 doesn't. I think the temp. difference was less than 2 degrees (althogh one review mentioned a 5 degree drop on a Geforce3 video card). Is it worth your money & time?

 

[Texun]

This might draw some flames but what the hell... I really don't have any special fondness for AS. I used ASII and III on my XP and did see some improvement over the stock goop that is often packaged with heat sinks. I also bought what I thought was a tube of AS from CompUSA and tried that. Turns out it is the fake compound with the red cap that AS warns about on their page. There was no change and it works just fine. Running an Abit board with an XP2400\SLK-800 my temps are in the mid 30's under normal use and max out at 40 loaded. Granted the HS helps but I saw no noticeable difference between the real thing and the fake. Loaded at 40C is fine for me.

If you are set on ASII and you have a CompUSA nearby you might check them out. According to their page they have the real ASII now, but it's $15.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yeah, since someone turned me on to the Shin-Etsu MicroSI I have little use for AS products. I'll probably order some Céramique and see if it can cool well while not being the messy, spoogey filth they call ASIII.

 

[ianching]

I personally would recommend Coolingflow rather than any AS paste, as they often make a mess on your heatsink or CPU surface after application.

There's too much hassle if you want to clean the surface with AS (be it the 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation) applied, I spent over 30min last time I cleaned my Duron CPU.