Thermal grease... All the same?

[Cosmic]

This is a question about thermal grease... I've seen the arctic silver stuff and its like $17 for a syringe and I only need a little bit. So I'm thinking about running down to radioshack or something and grabbing the standard white thermal compound. Is this a bad idea? Is there a justifiable difference between compounds?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

No, they're definately not all the same.

AS is far superior to RS grease. IF you're using a socket A platform, do not use RS or any other silicon-based grease.

Also, arctic silver is better, even though not all temp readings will show the temp drop with RS.



Mike

 

[GaryTcs]

Cosmic,
Mike's a little harsh on anything but Arctic Silver, but it does outperform everything else out there.

It really depends on what you are going to do with your processor. If its an Intel, and you are keeping it at OEM speed, then the Radio Shack stuff is fine. If you are going hog wild on an Amd socket CPU, then the $15 is pretty well spent. It will do about 15 CPU's, so talk to a couple of friends about splitting the cost.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

No, i'm harsh on RS and silicon greases because they simply are not worht the money for anything but emergency applications.



Mike

 

[holdencommodore]

Looks like it's not avilible in Australia, no one has heard of Arctic Silver - all I can find is Radio Shack.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

on a k6-2/3 or a cpu with a large-surface area, RS grease isn't horrible. It should be more than adequate for you.

THe problem comes in with newer, smaller surface area chips(ie duron/t-bird) which put out 60+ W of heat when overclocked on a very small contact area. This leads to potential(and rather frequent) drying of RS grease.



Mike

 

[holdencommodore]

I am thinking of getting a Duron 700, but I am not planning to o/c. Will the Radio Shack still be adequate? What other brands are there that arn't silicon based? None of the people that I have asked have ever heard of Arctic Silver all they know of is the Radio Shack grease that the Tandy store sells.
Thanks

 

[Mikewarrior2]

It "should" be okay, but it may still dry out. You may be able to find arctic silver at the Australian coolingstore site(can't remember the name right now).



Mike

 

[jinsonxu]

See this link

 

[jinsonxu]

Actually, you can just get the FOP38 with the default thermal pad. That thermal pad is pretty fantastic too! If you don't mess with it after it's melted, that is.

 

[holdencommodore]

Thanks mate!!
I will ask them if there is anywhere else that I can get the Arctic Silver from.
If I get a FOP 32, will I be able to remove the thermal pad?
Thanks for your help!

 

[jinsonxu]

I don't think the FOP32 comes with the thermal pad.

 

[duckian]

i bought a FOP32-1 (still sitting inside my desk drawer), and it DOES come with a thermal pad. Should I remove it (how?) and use thermal paste instead?

p.s. Arctic Silver is the best, right?

...Leo

 

[Mikewarrior2]

the fop32-1 should come with a PCTC pad. It will perform better than your run-of-the-mill grease, but Arctic silver will be better than it. If anything, the pad is very adequate for both stock clock speed and overclocked clock speeds.

Remember to cook the pad to "58C" in order to get the material to phase-change and fill micro-gaps between cpu and heatsink.


Mike

 

[kponds]

the FOP32's do come with a thermal pad. I remove them and use the Arctic Silver. To remove it, I do the following:

1. using a razor blade I scrape of as much of the pad as I can being careful not to cut into the aluminum.
2. I then squirt a little WD-40 onto whatever remains on the FOP. I let it set for about 2 minutes.
3. Using a paper towel I wipe away the remaining material.
4. I then take some rubbing alcohol on a rag and clean up the bottom of the FOP32 making sure the surface is cleaned of both the Thermal pad and the WD-40 residue.