AS5 goof up

[tornadog]

I have my E8400 running at 33-35 degrees C with an Arctic Freezer Pro 7 cooler. I was using the thermal paste that came with the cooler. I read somewhere that AS5 reduces temps by 3-4 degrees over the regular compund. So I removed the old compound and applied AS5. I accidently followed the instructions for applying AS Ceramique since I had used that earlier on my old Opteron, which is put 1 bead in the center of the heatsink and then a thin line across the processor. I booted up and was getting the small temps. I remember reading that too much AS5 can act as an insulation and cause higher temps. Is this whats happening in my case? is a bead in addition to the recommended line considered too much AS5?

 

[DaQuteness]

Arctic Silver 5 is well known for it's break-in period of 200-300h. I suggest you wait a week before doing this again. Take me for example: Instead of applying a thin line across the middle of the cpu, i put a bead straight in the middle of the cpu and that was all (oops ). Strangely, even though i didn't follow instructions, after that 200h period the temps dropped from 36-37C idle to 32-33C idle and the even stranger part is that before that break-in period, i was running at 2.4GHz but by the end of it i was running at 3.4GHz, still my temps dropped. Case temps were always the same... ~26-27C.

Worked for me :laugh:

PS: Arctic Freezer Pro 7 isn't one of the top dogs when it comes to cooling performance so don't worry. It's good but not that good.

 

[thegisguy]

By "getting the small temps", do you mean still around 33-35c? I think the standard is a rice grain size, or one glob in the middle. Yeah AS5 can act as an insulator, but 33c isn't too bad.

 

[tornadog]

thanks for the suggestion. But i didnt understand, wait a week before doing what??

 

[tornadog]

Originally posted by: thegisguy
By "getting the small temps", do you mean still around 33-35c? I think the standard is a rice grain size, or one glob in the middle. Yeah AS5 can act as an insulator, but 33c isn't too bad.

that was supposed to be "same" not "small"

 

[DaQuteness]

It takes a week for the compound to settle, or break-in as they say. Temps should drop by 2-5C (it dropped about 5C in my case but i might just be lucky ).

If they don't drop at all after a week, then you should try and reseat the heatsink.

 

[tornadog]

ok will do

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Why did you replace the stuff? It's MX-2, which is not conductive AND performs the same as AS5. AS5 is good compared to Intel thermal compound, which uses paraffin wax, or so I've heard.

 

[0roo0roo]

temps?
read and cry
http://www.tomshardware.com/fo...core-temperature-guide

dont worry about it, as long as its not throttling its fine.
the heatspreader on todays cpus makes it less important, theres a lot of surface area so even if you do put a little too much, its no big thing. back in the day when you had pinky nail contact area it mattered more. normally the way i do it is to use a razor or a credit card to spread a thin even layer on the chip.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Not wanting to take sales away from Arctic . . .

I must've used Arctic Silver 3 and 5 for more than four years. Last year, with the release of IC Diamond, I switched to diamond-based TIMs. Diamond paste doesn't degrade over time, has next to nothing in a break-in period, and offers a 1 to 3C degree improvement (by my bench tests) -- with some people boasting more (but I don't believe it).

Fact is, you can even "re-use" diamond thermal paste.

 

[PianoMan]

Did the same thing as you with the same results. Took the MX-2 off (not knowing any better) and slapped some AS-5 on with the same results. Only later did I start reading about how good MX-2 was and that I should have left it on.

Moved to a Zalman 9500AT and that lowered temps a tad. The Freezer came back out to tie my quad over until I go water.

 

[ShockwaveVT]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck

Fact is, you can even "re-use" diamond thermal paste.

so diamond TIM is immune to air bubbles?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I couldn't tell you that. But the stuff is so thick, if you spread it evenly on both surfaces and then add a fresh dab to the center, I really doubt that there would be much trouble with air pockets if the HS mounting system exerts a reasonable amount of pressure.