Better than arctic silver compound?

[Minerva]

Anyone see this stuff?

Text

I understand it will absolutely attack and destroy aluminum but most coolers have a slab of copper with the pipes bonded to it.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

It's supposed to be 1.0~1.5C better than AS-5....BUT!
It's expensive
It's conductive
It's hard to apply properly
It attacks aluminum
Excess or spillage will run around the board like mercury

All that equals a big no thank you from me.

Ceramique, Zalman, ThermalRight and CoolerMaster Premium are all real close or equal
to AS-5. They are also easyer to apply and remove.

 

[VinDSL]

[cough] MX-1 :thumbsup: [/cough]

 

[Entropism]

For 1c, you're putting your computer in jeopardy. You're going to put in a TON more work, for ONE degree. Sorry, not worth it in the least. I remember there was a thread, either on here or the HardOCP forums about someone who tried the stuff, it dripped into his socket, and he had to replace his motherboard. No thanks. =/

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: Entropism
For 1c, you're putting your computer in jeopardy. You're going to put in a TON more work, for ONE degree. Sorry, not worth it in the least. I remember there was a thread, either on here or the HardOCP forums about someone who tried the stuff, it dripped into his socket, and he had to replace his motherboard. No thanks. =/

That was posted in our General Hardware Forum about a month ago, iirc.

 

[RallyMaster]

Originally posted by: VinDSL
[cough] MX-1 :thumbsup: [/cough]

 

[CP5670]

This has come up a couple of times around here in the past. The general consensus is that it has too many risks and shortcomings to make it worthwhile. (especially the fact that it becomes highly liquid when heated up and spills off the edges of the heatsink, so you need either an exceptionally smooth contact surface or have to keep the motherboard laid flat at all times)

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Minerva
Anyone see this stuff?

Text

I understand it will absolutely attack and destroy aluminum but most coolers have a slab of copper with the pipes bonded to it.

all AS products are way over rated...

 

[CP5670]

It's not made by AS. It's a company called Cool laboratory or something IIRC.

 

[Rike]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster

Originally posted by: VinDSL
[cough] MX-1 :thumbsup: [/cough]

So how good is MX-1? I've heard some people rave about it. Is it worth dropping $10-12 on MX-1 when I still have AS 5 and AS Ceramique that's perfectly good?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: CP5670
It's not made by AS. It's a company called Cool laboratory or something IIRC.

That liquid metal is a very dangerous product to use!!
Mainly because it is very corrosive and if even a drop gets on your mobo it most likely will short out the mobo plus if you get any on the heatsink fins it will badly discolor the fins.

If you do a google search you will find out that what you are being told about this product is very true.

Also I have read that it quite literally bonds your CPU to your heatsink making removing the heatsink literally impossible without also removing the CPU with the heatsinlk.

 

[CP5670]

I wasn't recommending it. Just saying that it's not an AS product.

 

[Praxis1452]

I'd pretty much reccomend it.

All it's dangers imo are much worth. The lowest temp drop I've seen with this is 2C with most people that have used this. 10C for others. However the 10C is probably either with a convex cpu or a bad mount in general. I know my cpu is' convex as I can see a bit of light through it with a straight edge though I'll check it more later. It's dangerous yes but your supposed to apply it to both sides the cpu and the heatsink which means take it OUT of the motherboard and put it on. Conductive yes and hard to stick down however grab a plastic bag and make it stick. It'll clean off with arctic cleaner so it's not too bad. It's a lot of small things but most of them can be eliminated.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Praxis1452
I'd pretty much reccomend it.

All it's dangers imo are much worth. The lowest temp drop I've seen with this is 2C with most people that have used this. 10C for others. However the 10C is probably either with a convex cpu or a bad mount in general. I know my cpu is' convex as I can see a bit of light through it with a straight edge though I'll check it more later. It's dangerous yes but your supposed to apply it to both sides the cpu and the heatsink which means take it OUT of the motherboard and put it on. Conductive yes and hard to stick down however grab a plastic bag and make it stick. It'll clean off with arctic cleaner so it's not too bad. It's a lot of small things but most of them can be eliminated.

with air cooling you cannot get lower than the ambient room temperature.....

 

[Noubourne]

You're much more likely to get a significant drop in temps by removing the IHS, which is also high risk, but essentially free.

I'd do that long before I purchased this stuff.

 

[Praxis1452]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Praxis1452
I'd pretty much reccomend it.

All it's dangers imo are much worth. The lowest temp drop I've seen with this is 2C with most people that have used this. 10C for others. However the 10C is probably either with a convex cpu or a bad mount in general. I know my cpu is' convex as I can see a bit of light through it with a straight edge though I'll check it more later. It's dangerous yes but your supposed to apply it to both sides the cpu and the heatsink which means take it OUT of the motherboard and put it on. Conductive yes and hard to stick down however grab a plastic bag and make it stick. It'll clean off with arctic cleaner so it's not too bad. It's a lot of small things but most of them can be eliminated.

with air cooling you cannot get lower than the ambient room temperature.....

Overclocked conroe's are running maybe 65C at times. Many times because of their convex base. And yes I know and still stick with my opinion. Personally I use ceramique because it's non-conductive and I plant to use a TEC. not sure if there's enought to cover everything with this stuff.

 

[Praxis1452]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
You're much more likely to get a significant drop in temps by removing the IHS, which is also high risk, but essentially free.

I'd do that long before I purchased this stuff.

and yea... go take the risk removing a soldered IHS from a conroe.... not to mention the extra effort and how much riskier it is. Sure it's possible but if your not confident at it and can't heat it up with something like a heat gun it will be very hard. So $300+ dollars down the drain there or $200. give or take depending on the cpu. If it's an athlon just remove the IHS.

 

[Noubourne]

Originally posted by: Praxis1452

Originally posted by: Noubourne
You're much more likely to get a significant drop in temps by removing the IHS, which is also high risk, but essentially free.

I'd do that long before I purchased this stuff.

and yea... go take the risk removing a soldered IHS from a conroe.... not to mention the extra effort and how much riskier it is. Sure it's possible but if your not confident at it and can't heat it up with something like a heat gun it will be very hard. So $300+ dollars down the drain there or $200. give or take depending on the cpu. If it's an athlon just remove the IHS.

Yes good point. I was thinking of Athlons. C2Ds are much harder to get off from what I've read.

I happen to know I have a bad mount on mine, so this is on my mind lately. 10-12C delta between cores when loaded and it's keeping me from hitting 2.9. blah.

 

[Minerva]

Dangerous? I'll take four!

My brother would probably eat it! LOL

Removing those conroe heat spreaders sound hard. Are the cores really soldered to the underside? I've seen some really concave ones. You would think with sufficient AS to fill the gaps temps would not be a problem. Perhaps pressure is needed right over the cores from the top of the heat spreader to make good transfer to the cooling block. Quads are really out of control. :Q

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Most AMD heat spreaders are dead flat.
I had one P4 2.8 that was .0025" concave. I lapped it.
I use full sheets and 1/4" x 1'sq glass plate. Read the pdf well. http://www.easypckits.com/
NOTE: There is NO NEED to go beyond a well worn sheet of 800 grit.
overclocker.com said polishing with Braso or Mothers raised temps by 1.5C.
They said lapping a .0015 concave heat spreader reduced temps 1.5C.

Chips can crack in the process of removing the spreader. overclockers.com stated that
removing the spreader from a P4 was good for about 1.5C.
The spreaders are nickel plated copper.
I realize you know some of this but others may not You're a smart geek gal!

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
Most AMD heat spreaders are dead flat.
I had one P4 2.8 that was .0025" concave. I lapped it.
I use full sheets and 1/4" x 1'sq glass plate...

Hrm...

I could swear you said I was crazy when I suggested that...

 

[smopoim86]

Originally posted by: Noubourne

Originally posted by: Praxis1452

Originally posted by: Noubourne
You're much more likely to get a significant drop in temps by removing the IHS, which is also high risk, but essentially free.

I'd do that long before I purchased this stuff.

and yea... go take the risk removing a soldered IHS from a conroe.... not to mention the extra effort and how much riskier it is. Sure it's possible but if your not confident at it and can't heat it up with something like a heat gun it will be very hard. So $300+ dollars down the drain there or $200. give or take depending on the cpu. If it's an athlon just remove the IHS.

Yes good point. I was thinking of Athlons. C2Ds are much harder to get off from what I've read.

I happen to know I have a bad mount on mine, so this is on my mind lately. 10-12C delta between cores when loaded and it's keeping me from hitting 2.9. blah.

Dangerous, NO, have to know what you're doing, possibly. I pulled the ihs off my e6400. wasnt' too hard.

Sad thing is, i'm currently rebuilding my pc, and dont know how much it helped temps

 

[PChang11]

I've used it before and it's a pain to work with. Very hard to spread and the gains are not very significant if any at all. The worst part is after long use, some of the material gets pernamently bonded to your heatsink of CPU/GPU. I'd still wtih AS5.