Should I reapply arctic silver?

[Hankysmoo]

Hi, I finally gave in and spent $14 for some Arctic Silver instead of using the Radioshack gunk. I'm running an asus Cusl2 with an alpha pep66 700e at 1000ghz 1.7v. Before with the radioshack stuff, my idle temps according to motherboard monitor were 30-31 degrees C and under full load 40-41 degrees C. Now with Arctic Silver, my idle temps are 29-30 degrees C and under full load at about 38-39 degrees C. Did I just pay $14 for 1 degree C??? Do you guys think I should just leave it alone or reapply this stuff again? Basically, I squirted out a little circle of this goop and spread it evenly with a clean edge of a credit card on the core, the whole thing was a layer of silver, it wasn't transparent. Am I applying too much or should i try a different method? This is the exact same method I used to apply the radioshack stuff. So, I think there are only two methods left. Apply a little squirt of goop in the middle of the core and just put the alpha pep66 flat on, or spreading a really thin transparent layer of the stuff on the core. Which method is better? Or, are my temps good enough that I shouldn't even bother try reapplying the arctic silver? thx

 

[Mikewarrior2]

you can try a thin layer, but the majority of the time, artic silver works better with a little bit thicker layer.

Try placing the heatsink straight onto the cpu, and then not moving it once it is on the cpu.


Mike

 

[todays]

I tried some of the Circuit Works Silver Grease and could not get as good a performance as the Radio Shack stuff. I applied it several times with the same results. The Radio Shack stuff works good for me. I think the Arctic does work better, but like you said $14! It's only worth it if you are on the edge of not making the overclock under full load.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Wait, actually... I forgot to ask what mb you had?


Mike

 

[scrubman]

how much $$ you want for the rest of the tube??? hehehehhe
is it for the large or small chips??? what the heck is the difference???

 

[Outlaw]

Small contact is for the newer .18 die CPUs. Older large CPUs should use Large contact area paste.

The difference is the amount of paste to silver powder.