Concern Re: Using Arctic Silver 5 on New Athlon XP

[luciddreams]

Hello,

I am building a new system.

To cool my Athlon 2800 XP, I purchased the Thermaltake Silent Boost as well as some Arctic Silver 5. However, viewing Athlon's own videos demonstrating how to install a CPU, ( http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_4348%5E6678,00.html ) it is stated ?use a thermal pad for long term protection installations? and to my surprise ?thermal grease may disperse over time, leaving no interface material between the heat sink and the processor.? Really! Hmm... Many guides on the internet suggest using thermal grease, and I don?t plan to remove my heat sink for a long time. Is there something I am not understanding?

Thanks!

 

[alexXx]

as long as the grease fills the needed areas, it will be fine

 

[MDE]

I'm using paste right now, no problems at all. You may have to reapply it in a couple years or so, not a big deal in my book. Most thermal pastes (especially AS5) transfer heat better than pads, so I'd use the Arctic Silver you paid for.

 

[gordanfreeman]

yep. in general paste/grease transfers the heat much better than a pad. as for the degredation of the grease over time, as long as you have something to monitor the temp of the cpu it shouldnt be a problem. if you apply the grease properly it shouldnt be a problem for quite some time, at least a year or three i bet. if you ever do notice your cpu running hotter than normal for no apparent reason, you could then try to re-apply the grease.

 

[Davegod]

their comment is quite true, but I dont think it exactly applies to enthusiast users. I'd assume theyre going on the basis that reseller or novice user is much less likely to screw up with a thermal pad, meaning less returns, and stock pads almost certainly do last a lot longer than paste which can disperse or dry up into a useless powdery substance - but this probably only going to be a issue where theyre using poor quality paste and/or the cpu install is going to be running for several years. Quality of pastes is extremely varied, whereas pads tend to be all more or less OK.

Cant be installing cpu's for general public, offices etc in a way that will need some form of rebuild in maybe 2/3 years time (possibly risking the processor and their data).

 

[DoctaZ]

Gimmie a break.

Maybe after 3 years of use... 2 years of overclocking...

That stupid little pad they put on stock coolers burns up way before thermal grease does...

 

[luciddreams]

I deceided to use the Arctic Silver 5, and everything seems to be working great! I'll keep an eye on the CPU temp throughout time. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Zepper]

A lot of people on the techie forums don't leave things alone long enough to observe the "squeezing out" effect. If you want a 'set it and forget it' deal, then the thermal pad might be right for you. However the best pads require you to run your CPU hot (with fan off) for a short time so that the phase change occurs (liquifies). I don't care to use my CPUs for lab ovens...

.bh.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Zepper
A lot of people on the techie forums don't leave things alone long enough to observe the "squeezing out" effect...
.bh.

Hehe, truer words were never spoken