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How much difference does Arctic Silver make?

F

FPSguy

Golden Member
I just bought an OEM Celeron 1.0 GHz and a Galaxy GC 12 HS/F. The HS/F comes with "SiZn thermal grease". Do I want to use Arctic Silver instead? How much difference will it make? I probably will run the processor at 1.0 GHz for a while, but one day I may try to overclock it to 1120, and if I feel the need at some point I may shoot for 1330 (though I doubt it will make it there and it's not something I am going to count on or invest in). Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
up to 5C in some cases.

I'd say get some anyhow, it lasts for ages. I got a tube of AS2 and have done 5 Athlon cores and a GF3 with it so far, still got a load left.
 
I would use ArcticSilver only because its a brand name...I'd rather trust the brand name for something like the processor...better to spend the extra couple of dollars than to be sorry in the long run.
 
You will more than likely see very little difference. no more than a degree or 2. Try the SiZn stuff and see what your temps are like. I can gaurantee you wont ruin your processor. It works fine. I would save the cash and try it. You might be satisfied and will have saved yourself a few bucks.

Don't worry about it ruining your cpu. Some people would like you to believe it will smoke and breathe fire unless you put Arctic Silver on it. It will be fine.
 
For the couple of bucks extra you have to spend on as3, I say its worth it. For 5 bucks or so, I'd take the reassurance that I have the best thermal paste available on my cpu.
 
AS3 actually dropped down 4C for my P4 1.6A @ 2133 with stock heat sink.
It deserves to invest just $6.
A+++
 
I've tried ASII & ASIII and I still go back to Type 44 thermal grease. Same performance, a ton cheaper. I can buy a 3 ounce tube of Type 44 at the local electronics shop for 9.95. That's enough grease to last a lifetime.
 
AS2 and AS3 are pretty much known as the "best compound in the business".

Note 1: Here's a little secret I've found though: neither can compare to the amazing thermal properties of Peanut Butter. Just squeeze a nice, thin layer of (smooth, not extra chunky) Jif in there and enjoy!

Note 2: Ignore note 1 🙂
 


<< AS2 and AS3 are pretty much known as the "best compound in the business".

Note 1: Here's a little secret I've found though: neither can compare to the amazing thermal properties of Peanut Butter. Just squeeze a nice, thin layer of (smooth, not extra chunky) Jif in there and enjoy!

Note 2: Ignore note 1 🙂 >>




I myself prefer Preperation H,it's so smooth & cools on contact.😉
 


<< I've tried ASII & ASIII and I still go back to Type 44 thermal grease. Same performance, a ton cheaper. I can buy a 3 ounce tube of Type 44 at the local electronics shop for 9.95. That's enough grease to last a lifetime. >>



You can buy two tubes of AS3 for that same price (shipped) and that's enough to apply to something like 15-20 processors.

The problem with a lot of generic thermal compounds is that they dry out over time. I have pulled heatsinks off of CPU's that were only running for 6-9 months and the thermal "grease" is a dried caked residue. It has to retain some of it's normal high viscosity to continue to provide the proper protection (IMO).
 
GC Electronic's Type 44 Heat Sink Compound is a synthetic ester based (versus traditional silicone based) compound which is supposed to be more efficient. They claim it transfers 46% more efficiently than the best silicone products and 63% better than most olefin products. It meets Western Electric specifications KS21343, and exceeds military performance MIL-C-47113-B . This compound is not electrically conductive, will not bleed, and will not dry / harden / evaporate. It has an operating range from -40C to 200C.
 
ok so someone more informed than me please enlighten me, whats the diff between AS3 and AAlumina... which is better for use on 1800+ cpu and retail hs/fan? the guys at SVC just said basically "just get and use one or the other" without any indications towards one or the other.

thanks, wayne
ps- i also wanted to note that the name "Rodney Wang" (the technical contact at SVC) is about as good as it gets. 😉
 
ok this sounds like a really stupid question but i'm going to ask it anyways...

i have a retail boxed amd 1800+ cpu. am i in any way voiding or otherwise risking my 3yr warranty on my cpu by using AS3 instead of the supplied thermal tape attached to the retail hs/fan?

i can't imagine that this affects the warranty. but i don't really want to find out the hard way. i don't intend to overclock etc just run it at default speeds but use the AS3 for better thermal transfer.

also whats the best technique for getting the thermal tape and related goo off of the bottom of the retail hs? any particular chemical or just rubbing alcohol?

--w
 


<< ok this sounds like a really stupid question but i'm going to ask it anyways...

i have a retail boxed amd 1800+ cpu. am i in any way voiding or otherwise risking my 3yr warranty on my cpu by using AS3 instead of the supplied thermal tape attached to the retail hs/fan?

i can't imagine that this affects the warranty. but i don't really want to find out the hard way. i don't intend to overclock etc just run it at default speeds but use the AS3 for better thermal transfer.

also whats the best technique for getting the thermal tape and related goo off of the bottom of the retail hs? any particular chemical or just rubbing alcohol?

--w >>


I've heard people say that AMD will void the warranty if you don'y use the thermal pad. To get the pad off just use some nail polish remover and the edge of an old credit card to scrub it out.
 
Thanks everyone. I went with the AS3 from SVCompucycle after the first post. I received the stuff on Saturday. The "SiZn thermal grease" looked like a bad joke. It came in a clear plastic wrapper that was leaking. It didn't inspire much confidence. I was glad I ordered the AS3 even if the "SiZn" might have done the job.
 
Some very knowledgable friends tell me that artic silver is 95% marketing. They gave me some kind of black gunk to use....I don't know what its called. Maybe its what everyone is talking about. They say is works better. And alot cheaper.
 
JingP,

And how are your "very knowledgeable friends" determining this? I certianly hope it isn't via socket-thermistor measurements on AMD chips.... hardtech4U Internal diode "mod". Just in case your very knowledgeable friends are using the most inaccurate form of CPU temp measurement. note hte key "numbers". When he turned off the water-pump, diode jumped to 70-80C, socket-thermsitor still showed 42C. SOcket-thermistors are not suitable for grease testing or heatsink testing. Further evidence from teh VoidYourWarranty internal diode testing showed 5-7C internal diode temperature changes with ZERO socket-thermistor temp change.

Internal diode P3 and P4 grease testing shows very noticeable temperature differences.

Such as this site: p4 Internal diode testing. Despite very obvious flaws such as not properly cleaning the IHS completely, in addition to testing grease on a p4 (where the IHS and large contact surface minimize the benefits of a thermal compound of any type), there are very noticeable gains in performance that are not 95% marketing.

And before I get slammed for "pimping AS" or "working for AS"(which simply isn't true), this post also applies to other greases and heatsink conclusions that could be gathered from inaccurate sources. this is an FYI post first and foremost.


Mike

P.S. Hopefully WarCon will come and post in this thread regarding AS thermal grease effectiveness. Even though his previous thread was deleted, he found that, with his watercooling setup, he could overclocker higher with AS2 (and early samples of AS3) than he could with other greases. That's a pretty good example of how AS isn't marketing.
 
Yes Mikewarrior is right, when I ran my thermal compound testing it was not only for temps (which at the time a prototype of AS tested best with ASII close on its heals), but also for highest overclock. I achieved a higher stable overclock with the prototype than I had ever been able to get before. If the assumption was that thermal compounds don't matter much then all the overclocks should of been the same. The variance was around 100mhz (1370-1466), with one failure (had to abort testing on the newest Radio Shack compound because of increasing instability, when the waterblock was removed half the core was dry).

Although these tests were done with a socket thermistor and a side core thermistor I very much have to agree with Mikewarrior. On-die thermistor are much more accurate. BTW all of those tests were with an AMD T-bird running at about 100 watts of power 1gig @ 1.4gig with 2.05 vcore.

* On a side note.... I have tried several different AS products (haven't tried any others yet) on my P4 rig and have seen no difference in them with my watercooler. I think the combination of the watercooler block (which has no vibration to cause settling), the size of the heatspreader and the cooler running processor have negated the ability to see the difference in temps. The overclock is the same and the temps. It almost makes it boring to watercool...........😀
 


<< Some very knowledgable friends tell me that artic silver is 95% marketing. They gave me some kind of black gunk to use....I don't know what its called. Maybe its what everyone is talking about. They say is works better. And alot cheaper. >>



JingP,

If all you know about it is that it's black gunk then you sure as hell shouldn't be using it on your CPU unless you don't care about it.

It might very well be fine, but you should at least know what the hell it is before using it.
 
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