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What is the best thermal compound?

E

Executioner

Senior member
I work in a Calibration Lab, and we recently had a problem measuring surface temperatures to a good accuracy with little measurement uncertainty. We used the standard compound supplied by some of the calibration houses, and we would struggle to get decent readings.

I then instructed my Sr. Tech to get some Arctic Silver to try, so he ordered 2 tubes. He saw me the minute I first walked into work this morning saying it works great, even at temperatures of 300°C, even when it begins to dry up. It gives us enough time to get a decent reading on our surface standard.

So now my questions is: is Arctic Silver still the best thermal compound to use?
 
actually they all are over rated....

mind you we are not talking rocket science here!

How does one thermal paste own another thermal paste when the temp differences are at best 1-3c higher or lower???
 
Thanks for all the info. For me running a Calibration Lab, any amount of error is very important. I need to minimize measurement uncertainty as much as possible. When we tried the Arctic Silver compound, we immediately saw the results - no more moving the probe around to obtain the highest temperature reading. We applied a small amount to our probe and placed it on our surface standard. Within seconds, we were getting very stable readings without moving the probe around the surface of our standard. The only issue we had was at higher temperatures like 300°C, but even then, we were able to get good readings. Here are some comparisons @300°C:

Clear paste (recommend by mfg's that sell temperature probes): 298.2°C
White paste: 299.7°C (only after moving the probe around the surface standard)
Arctic Silver: 300.1°C (within 30 to 45 seconds and it did not matter how much we moved the probe around)

With a tolerance of ±0.5°C on our surface probe, we were able to eliminate some of our error and obtain a much better reading on our surface standard.
 
Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
actually they all are over rated....

mind you we are not talking rocket science here!

How does one thermal paste own another thermal paste when the temp differences are at best 1-3c higher or lower???
Click to expand...

you can try other generic thermal compound that looks like it's water down and use it on your cpu and then let us know what kind of results you get 🙂 go for it! :thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: Idleuser
Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
actually they all are over rated....

mind you we are not talking rocket science here!

How does one thermal paste own another thermal paste when the temp differences are at best 1-3c higher or lower???
Click to expand...

you can try other generic thermal compound that looks like it's water down and use it on your cpu and then let us know what kind of results you get 🙂 go for it! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Im sorry that you feel that way!!

But in all seriousness Zalman thermal paste is not a watered down version of anything!!
I have also used other thermal pastes that have shipped with various other components as well as thermal pastes that have come with CPUs...
I havenever found what you are saying and I will quote you...

you can try other generic thermal compound that looks like it's water down and use it on your cpu and then let us know what kind of results you g

You are truthfully dead wrong when it comes to what you are implying and describing!!
The days of companies shipping waterey thermal paste with products that they seell are all but days of another era.....
Most companies are in this for the long haul and don`t need to get a reputation for shippping with there heatsinks or other components crappy thermal paste!!

Don`t buy hook line and sinker everything you hear!!

What I find interesting is that if you take 1000 people who have used both AS5 or Ceramique or other top of the line thermal pastes and who also have used whatever thermal paste get shipped with thee heatsink or CPU or whatever.......you will have a real nice split between those who do claim to get better results and those who do not claim to have achieved better results usiung a top of the line theremal paste such as AS5...lol
 
jedi are you sure? I recently bought a chipset cooler and yes the thermal paste is water down but when you say AS Ceramique is expensive then you are just plain wrong. You can buy a 22g for only about 10-12 bucks shipped. So is it worth buying another competitor for 1 or 2 bucks cheaper? I don't know but I would rather just spend the extra 2 bucks for something that is proven to work.
 
Well according to many benchmarks and reviews located in the sticky thread on compounds, id say Arctic Ceramique is definitely in the top 5 best. Easier to apply, usually about 1-2C LOWER than AS5 in many benchmarks. Not that it matters. Easier to remove and costs less. $4 shipped at svc.com Thats my vote.

Shin etsu is also a top compound, but not for new users. Definitely harder to apply and use. Of course AS5 is always a good one as well. I think ceramique wins though.
 
Not trying to be an ass or anything, but can you link to some benchmarks that show Ceramique on top? I've never seen it outperform AS5 in any tests...
 
Originally posted by: Idleuser
jedi are you sure? I recently bought a chipset cooler and yes the thermal paste is water down but when you say AS Ceramique is expensive then you are just plain wrong. You can buy a 22g for only about 10-12 bucks shipped. So is it worth buying another competitor for 1 or 2 bucks cheaper? I don't know but I would rather just spend the extra 2 bucks for something that is proven to work.
Click to expand...

I never said AS Ceramique is expensive.....
You use the word proven...yet time and time again on these forums and others people post all the time asking why there temps are still high or the same as before the put fresh thermal paste on....

Proven to work actually is not truye in even most of the cases...sorry I don`t buy that....from personnal experience using both AS5 and the thermal paste that cpomes with the item ordered!!
 
Well Its not in every benchmark. Personaly I think its very difficult for reviewers to do really accurate results of pastes. Because theres many factors that would have an impact. How they applied each paste. Making sure it was applied the exact same way each time. Theres also cycles different pastes go through in time. Like AS5 gets better after whatever it is, 200 hours burn in or whatnot? So some reviews show different things. With that said, heres 1 url from doing a quick 5 second search that shows ceramique on top. I know theres others. Anyways, both pastes are great. Sort of a moot point.

LINK 🙂




Originally posted by: phaxmohdem
Not trying to be an ass or anything, but can you link to some benchmarks that show Ceramique on top? I've never seen it outperform AS5 in any tests...
Click to expand...



 
If there´s a half degree difference....it is still better...he asked for the best compound out there...it is AS5 period...by 1 degree...or 2 or three...itt doesnt matter....its the best....for me...those 3 degreest worh the pennies...
 
Maximum PC did a shootout in the Jan 2006 issue and AS Ceramique was the winner. 🙂

AS5: idle 36 / load 54
Ceramique: idle 35 / load 53
OCZ 5: idle 36 / load 53
Frozen CPU Copper: idle 37 / load 58
Radio Shack generic: idle 40 / load 54
 
Yes thank you. Theres 2 proven benchmarks. 🙂

Originally posted by: John
Maximum PC did a shootout in the Jan 2006 issue and AS Ceramique was the winner. 🙂

AS5: idle 36 / load 54
Ceramique: idle 35 / load 53
OCZ 5: idle 36 / load 53
Frozen CPU Copper: idle 37 / load 58
Radio Shack generic: idle 40 / load 54
Click to expand...

 
I didn't know Ceramique performed that well. Of Course, as you said modempower it is sort of a moot point given just how little difference there is. Thanks for the link too 🙂
 
Originally posted by: John
Maximum PC did a shootout in the Jan 2006 issue and AS Ceramique was the winner. 🙂

AS5: idle 36 / load 54
Ceramique: idle 35 / load 53
OCZ 5: idle 36 / load 53
Frozen CPU Copper: idle 37 / load 58
Radio Shack generic: idle 40 / load 54
Click to expand...

Do you have any links to these performance tests?
 
Nope, there may be something on their website but I haven't taken the time to look.. You could also buy the mag and read the short article. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Executioner
Originally posted by: John
Maximum PC did a shootout in the Jan 2006 issue and AS Ceramique was the winner. 🙂

AS5: idle 36 / load 54
Ceramique: idle 35 / load 53
OCZ 5: idle 36 / load 53
Frozen CPU Copper: idle 37 / load 58
Radio Shack generic: idle 40 / load 54
Click to expand...

Do you have any links to these performance tests?
Click to expand...


Because AS5 has such a high silver content this just might be As Good As It Gets 😉 for your lab work.
In our application the TIM is squeezed between the chip and HS. The sink will remain in place for extended periods of time. We can't compare apples to oranges.

Zalman OEM, ThermalRight OEM, CoolerMaster Premium and Ceramique are all VG. AS5 needs a set-up time when used with a CPU.
The time needed for this set-up of AS5 is not to be had for quick comparison testing, so it suffers by a few degrees in testing.

This fairly new, mercury like TIM maybe of interest to you...Text...It could be sucked-up and used again.

Recent TIM test...Text...YMMV 😀


...Galvanized
 
Originally posted by: John
Maximum PC did a shootout in the Jan 2006 issue and AS Ceramique was the winner. 🙂

AS5: idle 36 / load 54
Ceramique: idle 35 / load 53
OCZ 5: idle 36 / load 53
Frozen CPU Copper: idle 37 / load 58
Radio Shack generic: idle 40 / load 54
Click to expand...

OCZ5 is the same as AS5, for those who didn't know 😉

I converted from AS5 to Ceramique myself. Asides from performance (in which the difference is minimal), I find Ceramique easier to work with. AS5 is just too thick.
 
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