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With my pending new build, do you still put Thermal Compond on the HS/CPU?

S

Shagga

Diamond Member
It's been a while since I last built my last rig, and Arctic Silver Thermal Compound was all the rage. 🙂 Is it still necessary/recommended to do this and if so, what's the new method/material used?
 
AS5 is still good... but

IC Diamond 7 is my choice now, but for 99% of the quality I have a fatass tube of Arctic Cooling MX3 (MX4 is now newer). Those two should beat out AS5 according to most benches.
 
Thanks for information. Better look up some reviews then I suppose. I wasn't sure if it was still used. 😉 I have some AS5, but does it go off?
 
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It does go off. AS5 is not the best of the compounds anymore even the generic white paste tends to outperform it. But saying that you will find that there isn't more than about 5C delta between all the pastes. Its worth looking at the reviews, but also be reasonable about the cost because the Indigo solution while excellent is also a rip off.
 
I was using OCZ Freeze, but it seems to have been discontinued. I upgraded my processor two weeks ago and was about to pop my HSF back on when I noticed the syringe was empty. Went down to the small local computer store and all they had was this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118010

Its easy to apply with a little brush and I was skeptical at first, but the X4 980 was idling at 32C and load was 49C. After it cured for a week that dropped to 29C and 45C. Pretty pleased with it - it did a bit better than the OCZ Freeze. I'm starting to think any name brand thermal compound properly applied is going to be within a degree or two of each other.
 
BrightCandle said:
It does go off. AS5 is not the best of the compounds anymore even the generic white paste tends to outperform it. But saying that you will find that there isn't more than about 5C delta between all the pastes. Its worth looking at the reviews, but also be reasonable about the cost because the Indigo solution while excellent is also a rip off.
Click to expand...

Where did you get this from?
I doubt generic white paste is better than AS5.
 
Leyawiin said:
I was using OCZ Freeze, but it seems to have been discontinued. I upgraded my processor two weeks ago and was about to pop my HSF back on when I noticed the syringe was empty. Went down to the small local computer store and all they had was this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118010

Its easy to apply with a little brush and I was skeptical at first, but the X4 980 was idling at 32C and load was 49C. After it cured for a week that dropped to 29C and 45C. Pretty pleased with it - it did a bit better than the OCZ Freeze. I'm starting to think any name brand thermal compound properly applied is going to be within a degree or two of each other.
Click to expand...

Yes, that Zalman stg1 is pretty good. Certainly worked as well as AS5 for me over the years.

Of course, toothpaste has also worked for me in the past. It just depends on your overclocking targets...
 
And it makes your computer smell minty fresh! Probably best used when you've just experimented with using a slice of cheese as T.I.M.
 
toothpaste works but dries up after some time so it degrades over time. For most people the generic paste that comes with your heatsink is all you need. There isn't much difference between all the different compounds. I used to use AC5 until I realized it didn't make any practical difference on my machine. If you want to go for records then it might be worth it, but if your machine is so unstable that a few degrees will result in instability then you need to reconsider your overclock.
 
Looks like there are plenty of alternatives out there all with pretty much similar performance so I guess I won't dwell on this one. 🙂 AS5, IC Diamond7 or Mx4 it is then.

You guys make the job soooo much easier. 😉
 
Don't pick AS5, most good thermal pastes are better. AS5 has no advantage whatsoever. If you have the budget, go for IC Diamond 7, it is $10-12 per use. Otherwise, get MX4 but I would recommend Prolimatech instead which costs as much as MX4 and outperforms it. It is very close to the Diamond as well, though not in absolute terms. But then again it just costs about $2-3 per use 🙂

And without thermal paste you will fry your CPU very quickly. The least you want is the generic thermal paste you get, but no thermal paste will make your CPU idle around 50s -70s C.
 
idontcare has a table of some of the most expensive thermal compounds money can buy, they actually made a pretty decent difference. There was like a 10C improvement over AS5 IIRC.
 
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