Radio shack heat sink compound...

[wxjunkie]

I'm all out of artic silver, I've found this small tube of "Silicone-Based Heat Sink Compound" from Radio Shack. Is this at all possible to use with a Thunderbird and a Thermal Take heat sink? I'm in a bind, and if this can be used immediately I'd use it.

 

[THUGSROOK]

actually ~ it aint bad stuff at all.
you can use it but its not as good as AS.

 

[klein297]

Use it.

 

[frankqfrank]

I use it on my 550E @ 733.

 

[MrThompson]

Wait till WarCon finds this thread.

 

[WarCon]

The older Radio Shack compound was alot thicker and had more Zinc Oxide.

But I wouldn't use the newer Radio Shack compound on a T-bird. When I was thermal compound testing the new Radio Shack compound test (1gig T-bird @ 1.4) had to be aborted after 6 hours due to stability issues. That compound also required me to lower the speed (1360) I was testing all the compound with in order for it to be stable to begin with. When I looked at it, about half the core was dry and had only miniscule Zinc Oxide residue left. The fluid had ran down my waterblock (I was watercooling, so extreme temperature were not a factor.) BTW Arctic Silver prototype (performs like AS3) ran fine at 1466.

If this is older Radio Shack compound you may be fine. You can tell if the compound is slightly translucent its the newer stuff, the older stuff was opaque, just like the Zinc Oxide you put on your nose to keep it from getting burned.

Anyway good luck, whatever you decide to do.

 

[wxjunkie]

This is a pretty old tube, couple years I'd imagine, and not translucent at all. I used it for ramsinks awhile back, overclocked a GeForce 2 to hell and back, never dried, and worked really well, so hopefully it will be okay with the T-bird.

I've been running about 20 minutes now, and temp's at 96F, a full 10 degrees cooler than before.

Also, I think I managed to be a little overzealous with the paste, some got on the L1 bridges, is that a big deal?

 

[MrThompson]

The stuff from a couple years ago performs like standard Plowstar or Silmore zinc oxide grease. Certainly better than the current goop from the Shack.

 

[WarCon]

No it should be almost completely non-conductive, so you should be fine. Just watch the temps for the first few days/weeks. If they start to rise, check your installation to see if the compound is separating. If not then don't worry about it.

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

It should work unless you are trying to overclock the generic heat sink compounds are good enough. I've never used anything but what came with my hsf or cheap silicon stuff.

 

[Jeff7181]

Are those little pads that come on some heatsinks really as bad as people say?