Is that heat sink compound from Radio Shack junk?

[RambleOn]

Yesterday my motherboard died, so I replaced it, but kept everything else, including the heatsink and cpu. I was in a pinch because I didn't have any decent thermal compound, so I went down to the 'shack and picked up a tube of this stuff for $1.99. Now I've noticed that my Thunderbird 850mhz is running hotter than it was on the old board, not high enough to worry, but doing mundane tasks such as web browsing, the CPU temp goes up to about 35-37c It used to be down around 29-32c under no load. I'm using a Pal 6065 cooler (I think that's the model, it's been over a year since I bought it). So I'm wondering if the increase in temps is due to the cheapo Radio Shack paste.... thanks

 

[BigJohnKC]

Seems to be the culprit, but more testing may be needed. Shoulda gotten yourself a tube of arctic silver...

 

[RambleOn]

I really need to get some Arctic Silver off Newegg. I let my computer sit in the temperature monitor in CMOS for about an hour unattended, when I came back the CPU temp was at 64c, but the system temperature was about 30c

 

[ElFenix]

radio shack thermal grease is only slightly better than air at conducting heat.

 

[FoBoT]

i bought some and used it in a pinch, but it was on a slower celeron system

i would NOT put it onto a fast AMD cpu, no way

 

[Jerboy]

It is better than nothing.

I bet alot of stuff Radio Shack is selling as premium quality retail stuff are really supermarked up, individually packed industrial quality stuff. Radio Shack probably buy them for a few dollars a pound from the same suppliers that supplies thermal grease to electronic manufactures for putting things together in their factory.

 

[Lithium381]

<< radio shack thermal grease is only slightly better than air at conducting heat. >>


it's not that bad, it's just a bit worse than the generic stuff they send you with your mobo/cpu(sometimes)
i've never used it but it looks exactly the same

 

[Jerboy]

Ok, here I'm going to say Radio Shack compound is one of the cheapest stuff out there(in drum quantity) and I would avoid them.

I started a thread in CPU and OC forums regaridng this matter. Please have a look

 

[Oscar1613]

im using some generic stuff i picked up at compusa on my tbird 850 (slightly oc'ed) and im running at 41C/105F under full load (been on since noon)

 

[Rahminator]

<< Yesterday my motherboard died, so I replaced it, but kept everything else, including the heatsink and cpu. I was in a pinch because I didn't have any decent thermal compound, so I went down to the 'shack and picked up a tube of this stuff for $1.99. Now I've noticed that my Thunderbird 850mhz is running hotter than it was on the old board, not high enough to worry, but doing mundane tasks such as web browsing, the CPU temp goes up to about 35-37c It used to be down around 29-32c under no load. I'm using a Pal 6065 cooler (I think that's the model, it's been over a year since I bought it). So I'm wondering if the increase in temps is due to the cheapo Radio Shack paste.... thanks >>



You call that bad, cmon. Those AMD puppies can work perfectly fine up to 2x that temp. Right now my XP 1600 is hovering at 55*C no load but my comp hasn't crashed at all for 6 months and is very very quiet, thanks to my Zalman cooler. Relax, as long as it's stable, it's all good.

 

[RambleOn]

I ordered a Vantec Socket A Cooler from 2cooltek to replace my old heatsink. It only cost 12 bucks, but hopefully it'll do the job, plus I ordered a tube of Arctic Silver. My processor is a run of the mill Thunderbird 850mhz not overclocked, so I think that heatsink will do. My cpu temps are much higher than they used to be, ever since I used that radio shack paste. In standby mode for 3 hours the CPU temp was 52c, yet the system temp is 27. I'm going to start shutting down my 'puter when I'm not using it for now, till I get the new heatsink and paste.

 

[Boobers]

You cannot compare temps from different MB's. They all report the same temp slightly different. Radio Shack compound is just fine, unless you have money to burn. The layer of compound needed is so thin, any compound will perform similiarly. Heat is mostly transfered directly from the CPU to the heat sink by direct contact on a microscopic level. The compound is only there to fill the microscopic voids between the direct contact points. That is why if you lap the HSF to much (to a mirror finish), the HSF will perform poorly and the compound will actually act like an insulator because there will by no direct microscopic contact area. The correct finish on the HSF contact area is more important than the compound used, IMHO...

 

[morkinva]

Did you shake the vial of radio shaft crap up real good? there's a mixing weight in the tube (in mine, anyway) and the stuff's probably been laying there for several years and it has separated

 

[classy]

Yes its not very good at all and I would advise you not to use it. The old RS stuff use to be pretty good. But the new stuff is not very good and dries out very quick. Don't use it.

 

[RambleOn]

Well, my old board was a Gigabyte K133 chipset, and the new board is a Gigabyte K133a chipset, so they are pretty much identical, so I'm pretty sure the temps are fairly close. It went up to 67c when I was playing a game yesterday.

No, I didn't shake up that tube of the radio shack paste, that could be the culprit too. My new cooler and Arctic Silver should be here soon, so I'll redo everything and get those temps down.

 

[BillGates]

I would never buy anything from Radio Shack that was sold with some purpose in mind.



(For the slower people here, that means that it wouldn't be smart to buy anything there)



Well, maybe wire is okay - but you'll definitely get ripped off.