How good are the preapplied thermal pastes on CPU heatsinks now?

[jrichrds]

From looking at the stock(retail) AMD and CoolerMaster CPU heatsinks, I noticed the preapplied thermal pastes are different than the ones I've seen in the past. They are now silver in color, and are advertised as being "high performance thermal compound." And they're much easier to take off.

Are these comparable to standalone pastes like Arctic Silver, or are they still vastly inferior? I didn't think to test it as I was so used to scratching off whatever came preapplied and putting on Arctic Silver 5. But now I'm curious whether I don't need to bother doing that anymore.

 

[myocardia]

If you're not going to be overclocking, what's pre-applied on both companies' heatsinks is fine. If you are going to be overclocking, you'll definitely see better temps if you use a better TIC. BTW, AS5 isn't the best TIC, Arctic Cooling's MX-2 is the best, and whatever the name of the newest ShinEtsu is second. AS5 is in fourth place, right behind AC's MX-1 and ShinEtsu 751(?), which were identical.

 

[jrichrds]

Have there been any tests on the preapplied TIC from AMD/Intel or any of the big-name heatsink brands?

 

[imported_Scoop]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?acti...tpage=2953&articID=635

There you go.

 

[wwswimming]

the pre-applied thermal pastes take awhile to heat up and spread out.
last time i looked at a stock intel heat sink, it had 3 rectangular areas
of heat sink compound.

the compounds like Arctic Silver Ceramique spread out if you apply
them correctly, they "squish down" to fill the spaces, like the circular
machining marks described in this picture -
http://members.shaw.ca/william.../graphics/IMG_1005.jpg
from this thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2130894&enterthread=y

not a perfect example, since it's an after-market heat sink.
just trying to show the kinds of small spaces the thermal
pastes are designed to fill.

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: jrichrds
Have there been any tests on the preapplied TIC from AMD/Intel or any of the big-name heatsink brands?

There couldn't be 'pre applied' AMD/Intel TIM on an after market HSF because the TIM is applied to the stock retial HSF.

IIRC AMD uses Shin-Etsu pre applied paste (not a pad). I don't know what brand TIM Intel uses (probably in house), but it's basically the same.

 

[Amaroque]

Here's AMD's thoughts...

Thermal Interface Material Comparison