Replacing AMD's thermal paste makes no difference, IMO

[mikeymikec]

Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 630, stock cooler and paste

I wanted to reduce the CPU fan speed (and so therefore noise level), and as I have some spare Arctic Silver 5, I thought I would give it a try. I cleaned up both surfaces as per AC's instructions as well as following AC's instructions for applying the paste, and admittedly it is still in the 'burn-in' period, it hasn't made any difference so far.

People will probably say "well, what did you expect", I had read once or twice that the paste (or possibly the quantity) that AMD use isn't that great, and if a cheap tactic like this resulted in say 200rpm less, it would be money well spent IMO.

One thing that surprised me is that the stock cooler doesn't have a copper core.

I guess the next step at some point is to replace the HSF with a better one, but I tried this as a little experiment.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Stock OEM heatsink paste that's pre-applied, both Intel and AMD, is actually fairly decent.

 

[0roo0roo]

heatspreader these days makes it pretty irrelevant.

 

[Cerb]

[The] Stock OEM heatsink paste that's pre-applied, [from] both Intel and AMD, is actually fairly decent.

This. It's generally silver-based, with a nice beaded texture that prevents bubbles. You'll need to replace the heatsink itself to lower fan speeds.

The difference between random silicone-type grease, that is inferior to what the chip vendors use these days, and a good TIM like AS, can be several degrees, with a large heatsink. Even back when retail CPUs came with crappy heatsinks and TIM, the differences between TIMs would not become apparent until you put a nice HSF on there. I think it was Dan (as in Dan's Data) that even successfully used toothpaste 🙂.

 

[JEDIYoda]

This. It's generally silver-based, with a nice beaded texture that prevents bubbles. You'll need to replace the heatsink itself to lower fan speeds.

The difference between random silicone-type grease, that is inferior to what the chip vendors use these days, and a good TIM like AS, can be several degrees, with a large heatsink. Even back when retail CPUs came with crappy heatsinks and TIM, the differences between TIMs would not become apparent until you put a nice HSF on there. I think it was Dan (as in Dan's Data) that even successfully used toothpaste 🙂.

What the vendors use these is as good as anything on the market today...except for a few high end applications of thermal paste. Most of the AS stuff is way over rated.

 

[RussianSensation]

Replacing TIM on a stock CPU cooler is hardly going to result in an improved performance because the heat dissipation capabilities of stock OEM coolers for AMD and esp. for Intel are poor to begin with. TIM replacement isn't going to overcome general limitation of poor cooling performance provided by budget coolers.