What's so great about Artic Silver?

[erikiksaz]

How much better is Artic silver compared so something like silicon thermal paste?

 

[MrDudeMan]

a lot

 

[Peridium]

Artic Silver as it's name implies, is made of micronized silver. As you probably know, silver is a very good conductor of heat and electricity. With Artic Silver, they retained the heat transfer properties of silver and made it conduct little or no electricity.

Compared with normal silicon thermal paste, it does a much better job at transfering the heat from the CPU to the heatsink. The normal silicon paste uses tiny bits of zinc-oxide to improve the heat transfer I believe.

 

[IBuyUFO]

I can't believe you don't know what's so great about artic silver!! This stuff is pretty comparable to humans inventing the wheel and discovering fire!!!

 

[paruhd0x]

Just rub that "magic" grease on that "birdy" and you'll be conducting heat in no time

 

[ucla2kfan]

I wonder How it compares to 3dcool's copper goop?

 

[bacillus]

<< I wonder How it compares to 3dcool's copper goop? >>


can't tell you but the arctic silver is virtually electrically non-conductive under normal conditions unlike the copper stuff,so if you spill some on your m/board you don't have to worry!

 

[aberertic]

not a dam thing dont waste your money

 

[The Reaper]

I agree with aberertic. I get better results from the Alpha stuff. Save your money.

 

[mastertech01]

Im putting some thru a test run in my system since last night.. so far I see no difference with it and my cheap Thermalloy Thermalcote as far as heat transfer...but there may be other benefits

 

[Marzod]

Go ahead and get some on your motherboard, hope you got the cash to buy another one. This crap is messy, over rated, and impossible to get off of anything you get it on. MAYBE 1 or 2 c difference in temp if your lucky.

 

[garynjill]

How bout the Radio Shack heatsink compound? It's silicon based. I just got some ($1.99), but haven't used it yet. I'm building my first system, and this is what I found available in town (Fargo, ND). Have you guys had good success with that? is there a big difference with the Arctic Silver, or other types of paste?

Thanks in advance,
Gary

this site Rocks!

 

[jpsj82]

If you buy a retail cpu package with cpu and heatsink do you need to use something like artic silver?
I just got a p3 866 retail package and the heatsink has something on it all ready.

edit: I don't think that i will do any overclocking

 

[Mikewarrior2]

To teh everyone Except The Reaper,

How many of you people are testing on Socket-A platforms with socket-thermistors as measuring devices? If you are, your &quot;temp comparising&quot; between Silicon Grease and Artic silver is 100% invalid. A 2C drop on socket-thermistor readings could easily mean a 6-8C core temp drop.


Mike

 

[erikiksaz]

ok then, has anyone tested the difference between artic silver and the &quot;white stuff&quot; using REAL temperature measuring devices?

anyways, if artic silver gives a few degrees of improvement, i say screw it. there's no point in wasting my cash anyways.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

3-6C on various p3 systems I've tested it on... These systems put out roughly 25W of power.

On my system, (p3-650E@988, 1.8V) about 31W, i get a 4C jump going from Arctic Silver to Melcor Aluminum Grease. Haven't ever tried generic grease on my setup.

Also, Artic Silver application is very important. I found a new way to do it last weekend, and that is using your finger inside a ziploc bag to spread the stuff. This way, you can get very nice, thin, even layers. Depending on how I applied it, it was running 2C warmer at times.

Keep in mind that t-birds run almost twice as hot as p3s.


Mike

 

[Marzod]

2 c temp drop ain't worth $200.00. If you use the silicon based paste stuff properly it works just fine. If your temps are a little high, you may have used to little/to much and or not seated the heatsink properly. If you slide it around at all when mounting, you've basically blown it. It helps if you can get some one to hold it still while you snap the retainer on. One last word here, sorry to ramble. I have seated at least 20 T-Birds and I have had the best results from having a helping hand so that I can place the heatsink straight down on the die rather than at a slight angle.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Artic Silver is not $200, nor does it destroy CPU's.

Are you sure you bougth teh full 6.5Gram Artic silver, and not one of the 1.5gram rip-offs(which is really Aluminum grease) that are claiming to be Artic Silver?

Nor does it fry Motherboards. If you indeed have artic silver, it didn't do that. Myabe you shouldn't buy it from FleaBay.


Mike

 

[Renob]

Artic silver lowered my temps by 4c not a hole lot but every bit helps. I think it worth it to buy and you get enough in the little tube to last a very long time.

 

[Quad]

yes, arctic silver kicks serious ass.

like someone said before, silver is the best known conductor of heat/electricity and copper is #2 (according to my chem textbook )

so the arctic silver should be better than the copper stuff. also, mikewarrior, the ziploc thing sounds interesting and i think i'll try it. i've also heard of ppl using a small piece of paper to smooth and layer it out. thanks man.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Quad,

NP. The paper thing would work as long as the paper doesn't leave &quot;pieces&quot; behind... The ziploc method is amazingly easy, and you really can get a very even layer with it.


Mike

 

[erikiksaz]

hmm, does radio shack sell artic silver?

 

[Peridium]

The way I apply thermal paste is using a razor blade. I put a dab in the middle of the CPU core and use the razor edge to spread it around. This method works well for me.

 

[bacillus]

I put a piece of cling film on my finger to spread the stuff!

 

[CraigRT]

the stuff works.. noticeable temp. drops!!

downfaults: $$$, other than that, none.