Difference between thermal grease and thermal compound?

[WdnUlik2no]

When I originally built my PC, I used AS5 thermal compound for my CPU. Later I bought a ZALMAN ZM-NB47J chipset cooler. It came with some thermal grease, but I decided to use the same AS5 thermal compound that I used for my processor.

At first my NB temps were in the mid 30's, now for some reason it has shot back up in the low 40's. Should I have used the thermal grease that came with the cooler instead of the thermal compound?

What is the difference, if any, between a thermal grease and thermal compound?

Current temps:
CPU: 30C
NB: 42C

 

[BillyBobJoel71]

no difference, just the difference is what the compound is made of.

 

[imported_Kensai]

AS 5 > Whatever else. (To my knowledge)

 

[BillyBobJoel71]

Originally posted by: Kensai
AS 5 > Whatever else. (To my knowledge)

🙂

 

[lobadobadingdong]

good temps there, only way to cool your nb any more with passive cooling is to cut your own (using either a dremel or jewelers saw) from a larger (or different material) heatsink to fit (and use thermal glue)

I've been contemplating that with an older heatsink I bought with my 933Mhz P3

 

[Zepper]

Heatsink grease = heatsink compound, just easier to say grease - more professional to call them TIMs (thermal interface materials, grease type or pad type). TIMs like AS5 can settle out after a while of sitting on a shelf or in a drawer - need to resuspend the compound by GENTLY mixing with a CLEAN plastic tool (wipe it down good with alcohol and let dry). Gentle as you don't want air bubbles - CLEAN as you don't want any foreign particles in your AS5. That may be your problem - that your AS5 had settled out prior to your use. Another possibility is that the AS5 was squeezed out due to pumping from thermal cycling - a drawback of most greases. But that is unlikely as NBs generally don't generate very high temps.
. Other compounds are pretty much equal to AS5 (e.g. Shin Etsu, Nanotherm, et al.)- even Shin Etsu pads come close enough (within a degree or two) and are MUCH easier to apply than most greases. Ajigo.com (which makes most of AMD's retail HSFs) sells the Shin Etsu pads (gray) and they are also sold under the Akasa name and I've seen Honeywell pads (pink) on eBay. But greases are better for NBs as NBs usually don't get high enough temp to achieve the phase change needed by the pads. Pads are better for CPUs. But the Honeywell pads do have a fairly low PC temp, so they may work OK on NBs.

.bh.

 

[NetZeroZeus]

Would it be possible to buy a passive NB cooler liek the Zalman NB47J and mod it so you con put a 40mm fan on it?
Are there any copper NB coolers out there?