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Is that thermal grease I see in this pic? Help me see if I'm blind.

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Ok, about to purchase about $1000 of stuff from newegg including this volcano 9. here

In the third pic I think I see a packet of thermal grease or something to that effect. I just want a second opinion so I don't end up getting a heatsink that needs thermal grease or paste that I didn't buy.

Thanks a lot ahead of time.
 
thanks viper, I don't think I want to mess with anything conductive, so I'll stay away from arctic silver, I don't want to have to buy another cpu heh. I just need something better than this stock hsf for my dorm in a month that doesn't have a/c, so this will be fine probably
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
thanks viper, I don't think I want to mess with anything conductive, so I'll stay away from arctic silver, I don't want to have to buy another cpu heh. I just need something better than this stock hsf for my dorm in a month that doesn't have a/c, so this will be fine probably
Click to expand...
Arctic Silver isn't conductive, and it'll lower your temps a lot more than that stuff.
 
Wow, i could have sworn i heard that it was conductive being silver and all.... Guess I'm blind and dumb heh.

I also heard that it only lowers maybe 3c to 4c and I'm not overclocking so I don't really care about optimal performance.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Wow, i could have sworn i heard that it was conductive being silver and all.... Guess I'm blind and dumb heh.

I also heard that it only lowers maybe 3c to 4c and I'm not overclocking so I don't really care about optimal performance.
Click to expand...
It IS *slightly* capacitive, but you can get Arctic Alumina which is totally electrically inert with about the same performance. Although AS doesn't pose a problem since with proper application it's nowhere near an exposed electrical conduit.
 
I wouldn't worry about the electrical conductivity, it's very slight and you'd have to really mess it up bad to have it cause any damage.
 
My experience with AS is that it made no difference whatever in the temp. I had hoped for 1 degree C but was not able to achieve this with several retries. Although the thermal conductivity of AS maybe a lot better than the white stuff, the layer is so thin when properly applied that the temp gradient is tiny. The clamp pressure is so high now that the goop all squeezes out and down to a thin layer regardless of how much you slop on, so I wonder how anyone is getting as high as a 3 degree change.
 
KF, I've had very good experiences with Artic Silver. The trick is to use as LITTLE as possible. Remember, in an ideal world you'd have two perfectly flat surfaces (the CPU and the heatsink) and you wouldn't need ANY thermal compound. The purpose of the thermal compound is fill minute voids and non-flat areas on the heatsink and/or the CPU. As a manufacturing engineer, I'd estimate the surface finish of the CPU to be under 8 microinches and flat within .0001", and the heatsink to be under 32 microinches and flat withing .0005" measured over the area that contacts the CPU. I've never actually measured it, but the point is, they're both pretty damn flat and smooth, so you don't need much thermal compound at all. You could approximately calculate the volume required using the figures I suggested, but I'll tell you just try use the smallest amount possible that will entirely cover the CPU. Here's what I do:

1) Clean the heatsink and CPU with acetone and a lens cloth. If you touch either with bare fingers, clean again.

2) Apply a little dab to the heatsink in the area that will contact the CPU, the wipe it off with a lens cloth. This help to fill minute pits in the heatsink.

3) Put a SMALL dab on the CPU. And I mean SMALL, about the size of a mouse turd; about .060" diameter and .120" long (pointed on the ends is OK). I use a thin piece of plastic cut from some packaging to spread it out. If you see you have more than you need, use the plastic to "scoop" some of it up. Try to make the thinnest layer possible that will still cover the entire CPU.

4) Assemble the heatsink to the CPU with as little wiggling as possible.

Try that next time, with whatever brand of thermal paste you use.

Good luck.
 
>KF, I've had very good experiences with Artic Silver. The trick is to use as LITTLE as possible.

GarlicBreath,

There is no such thing as too much garlic : )

Thanks for the detailed advice. This is similar to the instructions they give you with the AS. I followed their instructions, and put as litttle as possible, cleaning everything thoroughly first. I did it three times to see if I hadn't screwed up by accident. Since I have the AS, I have tried various amounts on other mobo-CPU combos since my original purchase. When you remove the HS you can see that there is virturally nothing there. A transparent film. There is always squeezed out residue around the edge of the die, so putting too much really has no effect anyway. The pressure you put on that small Athlon slug while you are getting the HS clamp attached is tremendous.

What I wanted to get across is that the film is so minute when both surfaces are very flat and smooth that there is not much temp drop even with ordinary HS compound. It is when the HS and die do not mate very well that AS has an opportunity to show some performance gain. The old Celeron slugs, and the K6 plate were not very flat, so high performance goo had some opportuninty to perform.

If you do some thermal calculations on this thin film (.0005") for a medium conductivtiy material, say glass, I don't think you will get anything like 1 degree. Also, the conductivity of AS, I am sure, does not approach anything like silver, regardless of the fact that silver is used. I think people are under the impression that it must be. Not that it matters. It may be much better than the usual white metal oxide stuff, but I have never seen any numbers given.

I'm not saying AS is not a high quality product. It is just extreme overkill for its function.
 
if you apply very much arctic silver it seems to "raise" the temps
most people put on to much 🙂

you just need a very very thin layer (so thin you can almost read the the writing on the core)

if applied correctly it gives a good drop in temp



a friend of mine put to much on his (i noticed it when he wanted help unlocking his cpu) after cleaning it off and putting on a "thin" layer his temps dropped 7c (later he overclocked his cpu almost 300mhz higher and the temps still were lower then before)
 
>you just need a very very thin layer (so thin you can almost read the the writing on the core)

How do people get the HS on without squishing it to a thin layer? I barely have enough strength to hold the HS in place long enough to maneuver the clip over the nubs with a screwdriver. Yes, I have crunched the edges of a core when I couldn't hold it perfectly straight while pushing a screwdriver so hard I could barely control it enough to get the clip in place. Where do people get these HS's with the weak clips? I want one! After removing the HS, not only can you read the lettering, the Athlon slug looks a nice bright green and the only part that is gray is the remnant in the grooves making the letters. You can read the image of the letters on the heatsink too.

The clips on the HS's that I have cut into the plastic nubs to the point that I wonder how it doesn't slice them off completely. It is hard to believe that dinky piece of plastic can be so tough, and there are shreds of plastic sticking out where the clip is cutting into it. It is scarey taking the clips off because I always think the next time will completely destroy the nubs and I'll have to toss the mobo.

Using a plastic credit card as a spreader, like they recommend, I find it very difficult to put on enough AS that you can't see the lettering. Actually, my main concern when I did the retries was that I didn't cover the core thoroughly, because there appeared to be practically nothing on it when I took the sink off. Some people have suggested putting Saran wrap over your finger and using that to spread instead.
 
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