Heatsink Question?

[panic951]

The stock heatsink that came with my AMD athlon 64+ has the little thermal material on the bottom the grey pad. Should I still use thermal grease?

[NoSoup4You]

No. The thermal paste would prevent the grease patch from effectively bonding to the CPU and would actually create a heat block.

[GlobalFear]

Using a decent thermal grease would offer a marginal decrease in temps.
If you were running stock I wouldn't worry though.

If you have the paste on hand then use it. Just make sure that you remove the thermal pad with a bit of rubbing alcohol or something similar.

[NoSoup4You]

Using a decent thermal grease would offer a marginal decrease in temps.
If you were running stock I wouldn't worry though.

If you have the paste on hand then use it. Just make sure that you remove the thermal pad with a bit of rubbing alcohol or something similar.

The problem with this is the paste will still be in the tiny microscopic holes in the heatsink preventing a really good quality connection. Which why many people don't but should use Artic Cleaning Solution's 2 step heatsink cleaner. It actually does make a difference. I used to clean with regular rubbing alcohol, but since I switched to this, I have noticed a better bond with Artic Silver 5 on my Freezer7 CPU cooler.

[panic951]

Thanks guys I got my new system up Athlon 64 3000.Gigabyte 6800gt,2gb ram. And im running BF2 with everything all the way up yipee.

[GlobalFear]

The problem with this is the paste will still be in the tiny microscopic holes in the heatsink preventing a really good quality connection. Which why many people don't but should use Artic Cleaning Solution's 2 step heatsink cleaner. It actually does make a difference. I used to clean with regular rubbing alcohol, but since I switched to this, I have noticed a better bond with Artic Silver 5 on my Freezer7 CPU cooler.

From what I have seen Arctic Clean makes removing thermal pads easier and quicker but doesn't really offer any other advantages.
If you have some good reviews or something like that I would be more than interested.

[NoSoup4You]

Let me dig them up, there were a few magazines and websites that reviewed it and said it worked terrific.

http://www.atruereview.com/arcticlean/arcticsilver.php

[BF2_Joe]

No. The thermal paste would prevent the grease patch from effectively bonding to the CPU and would actually create a heat block.

:laugh: thats funny!


Use High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound Artic Silver 5 3.5 Gram Tube

Product Specification


Contains 99.9% pure silver:
Arctic Silver 5 uses three unique shapes and sizes of pure silver particles to maximize
particle-to-particle contact area and thermal transfer.

High-Density:
Arctic Silver 5 contains over 88% thermally Conductive filler by weight. In addition
to micronized silver, Arctic Silver 5 also contains sub-micron zinc oxide, aluminum
oxide and boron nitride particles. These thermally-enhanced ceramic particles improve
the compound s performance and long-term stability.

Controlled Triple-Phase Viscosity:
Arctic Silver 5 does not contain any silicone. The suspension fluid is a proprietary
mixture of advanced polysynthetic oils that work together to provide three distinctive
the filling of the microscopic valleys and ensure the best physical contact between
the heatsink and the CPU core. Then the compound thickens slightly over the next
50 to 200 hours of use to its final consistency designed for long-term stability.
(This should not be confused with conventional phase change pads that are pre-attached
to many heatsinks. Those pads melt each time they get hot then re-solidify when they
cool. The viscosity changes that Arctic Silver 5 goes through are much more subtle
and ultimately much more effective.)

Not Electrically Conductive:
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic
Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is
not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially
cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)

Absolute Stability:
Arctic Silver 5 will not separate, run, migrate, or bleed.

Specifications:

Thermal Conductance:
>350,000W/m2 °C (0.001 inch layer)

Thermal Resistance:
<0.0045°C-in2/Watt (0.001 inch layer)

Average Particle Size:
<0.49 microns <0.000020 inch

Extended Temperature Limits:
Peak: –50°C to >180°C Long-Term: –50°C to 130°C

Performance:
3 to 12 degrees centigrade lower CPU full load core temperatures than standard thermal
compounds or thermal pads when measured with a calibrated thermal diode imbedded
in the CPU core.

Coverage Area:
Arctic Silver 5 is sold in 3.5 gram and 12 gram tubes. The 3.5 gram tube contains
enough compound to cover at least 15 to 25 small CPU cores, or 6 to 10 large CPU
cores, or 2 to 5 heat plates. At a layer 0.003inch thick, the 3.5 gram tube will
cover approximately 16 square inches.

Important Reminder:
matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum
particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to
reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan
on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual
will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during
the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to
time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in
is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

Caution:
We do not recommend using Arctic Silver 5 on the older slot type Intel Xeon processors
with large multiple square inch CPU to heatsink interfaces. The huge contact area
and large gaps between the processor and the heatsink require a thermal pad or thick
mesh-reinforced paste. Arctic Silver 5 can be used on socket type Xeons without a
problem.