Thermal Compound for CPU

[Azndude51]

I ordered the Arctic Silver 5 a little late and it will arrive after all my other components. Is it okay to test a computer by turning it on without adding any thermal compound onto the CPU? I will have a HSF on it, of course.

 

[Mik3y]

no. i highly recommend you not run ur rig wtihout any thermal compound. the purpose of the compound is to transfer heat from the cpu to the hsf. wihtout it, they are barely passing heat. it may run, but its stupid to do so.

 

[Nessism]

Agree withMik3y, never run the cpu sans compound. Radio Shack used to sell thermal compound. Maybe give them a call if you have one in the area?

 

[Azndude51]

well, I think my HSF comes with thermal compound, but I don't want to use some generic brand. If I use the generic brand to test, how can I remove the compound to reapply with the Arctic Silver?

 

[Navid]

The best thing to do is to wait until you get your Arctic Silver 5.

If you cannot wait and have to run it now, you must use compound.

Then, when you want to apply AS, you can use alcohol to clean the CPU and the sink before applying AS.

 

[mordantmonkey]

on that note what is the best solvent to use? ethyl alcohol, isopropyl, or acetone?
i've used 80% ethyl to remove an old hardened thermal tape form a PIII and it worked fine. but i saw someone write that you should use <70% concentration, which seems stupid since the less water it would seem the better, faster the evaporation.

anyone know for sure?

 

[Azndude51]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey
on that note what is the best solvent to use? ethyl alcohol, isopropyl, or acetone?
i've used 80% ethyl to remove an old hardened thermal tape form a PIII and it worked fine. but i saw someone write that you should use <70% concentration, which seems stupid since the less water it would seem the better, faster the evaporation.

anyone know for sure?

actually, I just looked it up and it should be >90%

 

[mordantmonkey]

hmmm... well it's been running for a few months. but thanks...good to know for future reference i'll just buy som everclear lol.

 

[Nessism]

The standard thermal compound that somes with the heatsink and/or the cpu is perfectly good stuff. You will not see a significant difference in temps by switching over to AS. When you take the heatsink off sometime in the future, slather some AS then.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Nessism
The standard thermal compound that somes with the heatsink and/or the cpu is perfectly good stuff. You will not see a significant difference in temps by switching over to AS. When you take the heatsink off sometime in the future, slather some AS then.

You are right for computers used for surfing the web or sending emails, or running Microsoft Word and Excell, etc.

But, for overclocking the CPU, every little bit of improvement in the CPU cooling counts. It allows you to increase the CPU clock frequency, which is the objective of the overclockers. That is when you benefit from using Arctic Silver 5, which has been shown to be superior to any other compound in the market.

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: Navid

Originally posted by: Nessism
The standard thermal compound that somes with the heatsink and/or the cpu is perfectly good stuff. You will not see a significant difference in temps by switching over to AS. When you take the heatsink off sometime in the future, slather some AS then.

You are right for computers used for surfing the web or sending emails, or running Microsoft Word and Excell, etc.

But, for overclocking the CPU, every little bit of improvement in the CPU cooling counts. It allows you to increase the CPU clock frequency, which is the objective of the overclockers. That is when you benefit from using Arctic Silver 5, which has been shown to be superior to any other compound in the market.

Except for the Arctic Silver Ceramique which has the side benefit of being 100% non-conductive. With that, if you get a little dribble (or a bit sloppy) it's not critical that you clean up each molecule of the compound. Plus, a 2.7 gram tube only costs $5 (rounding up)...