Best CPU and Northbridge Thermal Compound?

Flexo · Post by **Flexo** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:53 am

Hi Everybody.

I'll be buying the parts for a new PC setup soon and I was just wondering if there was recommended thermal compound amongst members of this forum for both CPU Heatsinks and Northbridge Heatsinks.

I plan to use a AMD 3700+ San Diego with a Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja CPU cooler (with a Nexus 120mm), and a Zalman ZM-NB47J NB heatsink on a Asus A8N-E Nforce4 Ultra Mobo Chipset. After reading some threads here, there seems to be a general agreement to use the 'Artic Silver Ceramique' for its better thermal conduction properties.

Would you recommend this over other thermal compounds?

Thanks for any feedback

Planned PC build

CASE: Acoustic case C6607b with 2 Nexus 120mm fans (front +back)
CPU: Athlon 64 3700+ san diego CPU
CPU Heatsink: Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja + Nexus 120mm fan
MOBO: Asus A8N-E Nforce4 Ultra (939) + Zalman ZM-NB47J NB heatsink
VGA: Sapphire X800xl PCI-E ultimate
PSU: Seasonic S-12 430w
RAM: OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR PC3200 EL Platinum REV 2
HARD DRIVE: Samsung SP120 250GB (SP2504C) SATA
OPTICAL DRIVE: Pioneer DVR-A09XL DVD/RW
FAN CONTROLLER: mCubed T Balancer XL Analogue fan controller + 2 extra analog sensors

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:30 am

I actually get better temperatures with Arctic Silver 5, but the Ceramique is easier to spread and is not likely to short anything on your board

.

nyu3 · Post by **nyu3** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:53 pm

I've used both AS5 and Ceramique. Ceramique is cheaper- 22 grams for $8. This will be good for ~120 installations. Also, as posted before, it is easier to spread and clean. I recommend Ceramique if you constantly switch CPU/heatsinks.

AS5 is 3.5 grams for $6; good for ~20 installations. Recommended if you upgrade CPU or heatsink only once in a while.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:06 pm

I use AS5 for CPU, but it's too expensive to waste on northbridge's IMO. For NB I have a 22g tube of Ceramique.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:23 pm

as5 for all. yeah. its irritating to spread.

but, you have some issues if you keep on removing your proc. i dont mean computer issues, im talking life-get-out-take-a-walk-see-some-trees types.

unless of course if i was computer tech. then i really wouldnt give a rat's butt and use crazy glue or whatever is cheap and easy to fix my 400 compies which are probably slow pig dell's AAAAAAAAAAA CORPORATE WORLD MUST DIE MUST PAy.

ok well yeah i should get a tube of ceramique and try it out on a northbridge, thats a good idea as well, who cares about a northbridge anyways.

i wonder what Zalman tube white stuff is? that's been a question for a while. it never seems to dry either, stays greasy and white on semi cool components.

dedogs · Post by **dedogs** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:50 am

hellman's mayonnaise

Flexo · Post by **Flexo** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:34 am

Thanks for the responses guys. I've decided to go with the Artic Silver Ceramique for both the CPU and NB.

Cheers

Mystr_Byrnz · Post by **Mystr_Byrnz** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 4:21 pm

What's the best way/technique of spreading the thermal compound?

In the past I've just put a little dot of compound in the middle of my CPu, but that was on athlonXP, so it didn't take much more than that and spreading wasn't needed either.

Now that I've got this massive heat spreader on my Athlon64, I'm not sure what the best method is. I just squirted some ciramique around the center, then spread it using the back of one of the zalman stickers they give with their coolers

it seemed pretty smooth or whatever. I got compound on most of the spreader and plopped the cooler on. Did i do ok?

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 4:37 pm

Forgive my laziness, but if you look up the user Edward Ng, he has a site that explains in excruciating detail how to apply thermal compound The *RIGHT* way. For me, I just use my credit card and spread it out like that.

bshor · Post by **bshor** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:39 am

I have some old Arctic Silver 5 -- maybe 3.5 yrs. Is it still good?

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 5:06 pm

Mystr_Byrnz, here's the link of the page mentioned by acaurora. It's from a SPCR reviewer.

If you're applying AS5 or Céramique, there are step-by-step instructions on the Arctic Silver website:

bshor · Post by **bshor** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:15 am

Sorry, I meant to say Arctic Alumina. Can that substance hold up over time? And is the performance of Ceramique that much better?

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:30 am

If you refer to your above post about if the stuff is still usable, its should be. AFAIK its just epoxy, you know the very poisonous and strong two component glue, with metal oxides mixed in it. I´ve used epoxy that has been several years old with no trouble. But again someone who has actual experience with this particular stuff might know different.