...Compared to the "stock" thermal paste that came with my Zalman 7000 Cu cooler...
Just curious if replaceing the paste on the CPU and mobo fans will make any difference in heat transfer, resulting in better cooling.
Using an Athlon socket 940 FX-53, Nforce 4 Pro-based mobo.
Thanks...
Does Arctic Silver make any difference?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Yes Arctic Silver does usually provide a better heat transfer between chips and blocks but the more important question is: is it worth the hassle?
AS might lower your temps by ~2C, but it is easy to use too much, resulting in worse transfer. Coupled with the fact that you'd have to dismantle your computer and run the (minimal) risk of damaging something, the small benefit is easily outweighed.
AS might lower your temps by ~2C, but it is easy to use too much, resulting in worse transfer. Coupled with the fact that you'd have to dismantle your computer and run the (minimal) risk of damaging something, the small benefit is easily outweighed.
Yeah, I can attest to that - first time I used it on my VGA cooler my card overheated a couple of times (granted I was soft-modding/overclocking my 9800se to a pro). Turns out I was a little too liberal with the usage, so next time I used a razor to scrape an ever so thin layer on the chip and an even thiner microscopic layer on the contact part of the heatsink. No problems so farscara wrote:but it is easy to use too much, resulting in worse transfer
I guess this is an instance where less = more.-
~El~Jefe~
- Friend of SPCR
- Posts: 2887
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
- Location: New York City zzzz
- Contact:
yeah less is more in this case:
when there is a lot of pressure on the chip. when there's none or very little, the grease doesnt squish into all the non greased spaces as much, making for holes in the contact for heat transfer.
i have determined that no one on earth knows how to properly use this stuff. there have been 1000's of pages written on this topic but none ever both A, make sense, B, have findings that agree.
ONe thing they do show is that too much gunk where it comes out will fry the chip, and a lil dab that is not spread out also fries the chip. an even coat that doesnt gunk out the sides is pretty much all you can hope for. The factory people do 10x worse than you and the chips are fine, so I wouldnt worry.
(pop off a vga heatsink or a northbridge, looks like a lil pigeon turd that isnt spread out well, yet it works to cool. I tell all my friends to rip off all heatsinks when they get a new system and reapply with AS5, temps do drop in all ways all the time.)
when there is a lot of pressure on the chip. when there's none or very little, the grease doesnt squish into all the non greased spaces as much, making for holes in the contact for heat transfer.
i have determined that no one on earth knows how to properly use this stuff. there have been 1000's of pages written on this topic but none ever both A, make sense, B, have findings that agree.
ONe thing they do show is that too much gunk where it comes out will fry the chip, and a lil dab that is not spread out also fries the chip. an even coat that doesnt gunk out the sides is pretty much all you can hope for. The factory people do 10x worse than you and the chips are fine, so I wouldnt worry.
(pop off a vga heatsink or a northbridge, looks like a lil pigeon turd that isnt spread out well, yet it works to cool. I tell all my friends to rip off all heatsinks when they get a new system and reapply with AS5, temps do drop in all ways all the time.)