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I am posting this as a quick "fyi" for anyone here who may not know about this stuff. Its called Arctic Silver 5 (AS5). What is it? Its a thermal grease that you apply between heat sinks (HS) and your cpu/gpu etc. If youve read my recent thread "Anything DX Dies" (http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=117398&b=2) you are already aware of this stuff. If not, I will give a brief summary:

In the middle of a video card debacle which started saturday, part of the process was to clean out/dust out my gpu and pc innards to help reduce heat retention etc. In that process I removed the cpu heatsink/fan assembly, to clean out the fins on that as well etc. In my ignorance as to how important the thermal seal was between the cpu and heatsink, I simply reattached the heatsink and fan and booted the machine. I nearly fried my cpu (Intel Socket LGA775 P4 3.2ghz). People in my other thread brought to my attention the issue of the thermal grease. I researched like a maniac, including finding lots of information in the Overclocking type forums. All of those people seemed to mention this stuff called Arctic Silver 5. I looked it up and found out all about this apparent "micro-science" having to due with creating a thermal transfer bond between the cpu and hs, and how using certain materials like pads or various greases etc, can have drastic effects on the running temperatures of the cpu. I figured they knew what they were talking about, since they are overclockers, and are all saying they reduced their cpu/gpu temps simply by using AS5 as opposed to others. I also found a comparison tests of various brands of thermal greases and Arctic Silver always seemed to come out on top (best performance/lowest cpu temps at idle and load). Since my pc was dead at this point, I looked for this stuff locally and found it available at places like Radio Shack, CompUSA, and other stores like this. I got a tube of this stuff from the radio shack right by my house for $10 (3.5 grams). I cleaned my heatsink and cpu to remove the original gunk which was now dry-ish and clumped. (detailed below) I applied a thin line if AS5 according to the instructions for my particular class of cpu, reseated the HS/FAN and locked it down. I started my pc and watched the cpu temp in the bios for a few minutes. It sat at around 45c, so I booted to windows...

Idle Temp in Windows before AS5: 56c (consistent since feb 2005)
Idle Temp in Windows after AS5: 41c*
*AS5 has a burn-in period of about 200 hours, where you can expect the temps to reduce even further (from 2c to 5c lower)

All I have to say is that this stuff works as advertised! I highly recommend Arctic Silver 5 for new installations that require a thermal grease, or even to replace the inferior stock junk they (intel/amd) uses on their boxed CPU-HS/FAN (the stuff under the sticker that says "warning: remove this sticker before installing"). I dont know what that junk is that they use but I can tell you from first hand experience AS5 is superior to it. I am not recommending everyone go rip their cpu hs/fans out, but if you know what you are doing and want to see a drastic reduction in processor temperatures, thus protecting them, and extending their lives, you should really try this stuff. Maybe you are building a new machine, or replacing a stock HS for a better one, or are thinking of overclocking - these would all be perfect reasons to try AS5.

More Info: http://ArcticSilver.com
Only use AS5 if your application requires this type of interface. AS5 is not a Paste or Adhesive to firmly attach HS's to cpu's. Read their site and know exactly what you are doing before attempting anything described here. You are responsible for your pc and any damage you may inflict.

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How I cleaned the old gunk off: In the AS5 they recommend hi-purity Isopropyl Alcohol and a lint-free cloth (eyeglass cloth or similar). I used off the shelf rubbing alcohol (70% Isopropyl Alcohol) and a few cut up coffee filters (Dont use anything other than what the web instructions (pdf) recommends). First I used dry pieces of coffee filter to remove the bulk of the old paste/gunk. Then I used a Q-tips dampened with rubbing alc to remove any visible remnants of the old gunk. Once the q-tips came back clean, I applied a final bit of alc to the surfaces, and "scrubbed" them with pieces of coffee filter until they came back clean as well (2 or 3 applications in that step. Repitions may vary depending on what type of stuff was there previously - never use anything abrasive that can scratch the metal on the HS or CPU). I allowed a short period of time for any invisible traces of alcohol to evaporate (15-30 minutes to be safe) before applying the AS5 according to the instructions for my particular processor type.
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When I built this pc 2.75 years ago I had no idea about the importance of thermal interfaces between the cpu and the HS, and since then I had no reason to have ever found out more about it. I did know cooling was important, obviously, and there was "something" between the metal-to-metal contact of the cpu and HS to help the process, but I didnt know how drastically what is used there can affect the temperatures, and that if you remove your HS, you need to clean and reapply this thermal transfer agaent - I almost found out "the hard way" in the past few days. Luckily I avoided catastrophe and didnt fry my cpu by accident. I am well schooled now on this topic. All I can say is this Arctic Silver does what it says and it does it drastically - its not the usual advertising bs. Believe that. Considering I idle now at around 15c less than before is all the proof I need, and considering my cpu's max range is 67.7c (@84 watts) losing 15c or more off the top end is frigging huge.

Hopefully someone finds this post useful. Sorry if this is old hat to a lot of people. I like to consider myself very well informed in computing issues (hw/sw etc) but this was one topic I never knew too much about. Maybe others are new to this topic too.

Current Location: chilling

I'll keep this in mind when I build my new system.

In summary;

The contact surface between the heatsink and the top of the CPU (the die) is not perfectly smooth.
As a result, the heat isn't that effectively transfered between them.
The Thermal 'grease'/'gel' fills in the tiny gaps and conducts heat very well from the die to the heatsink.

I honestly would have gone for the Zalman STG-1, but both are high-end thermal compounds so there shouldn't be too much difference.

Here's an informal comparison, some comments were posted in the local language but the charts should speak for themselves.
http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=67101&page=1

Thanks for the info. All I am saying is I saw drastic results with AS5, and so do many over clockers. if there are other brands that are comparable or even better then thats good, more power to them. I just happened to be able to get as5, saw its results for myself, and decided to pass along my experience here. Theres also some "ocz" or something brand that is really good too, according to oc'ers. hopefully this doesnt become a "my brand is better than your brand" thread. That wasnt the purpose

I read in CPU (Computer Power User) how they took very fine grit sand paper and smoothed a gfx gpu to a mirror finish, lowered the temp on that by a number of degrees. You might want to consider it if you're doing some kind of uber overclocking, I would imagine it'd be quite easy to damage the components though if done incorrectly.

CattleRustler finally sold out...

Yeah they really are good,Because my comp is going on 3 years and I havent replaced my grease since I built it :o

It's called Lapping.

I've done it to my heat-sink. It dropped the temp about 2(ish) degrees.

I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near components with sandpaper, just do the heat-sink.

What you've got to wonder is:
Why don't manufacturers simply make the top of the CPU case the bottom of the heatsink? You know, all one piece? There wouldn't be any irregularities to fill with various concoctions and evil spirits.

Then people couldn't use custom cooling, etc.

For example, many people use Water cooling blocks rather than heatsink/fan combo's.

Then, there's the people who forego any kind of block, and submerge the entire board in oil to disperse the heat, etc.

I sold out?

Um, what is that question in reference to?

It was in reply to Oneka's

Heh, I completely missed that whole post!



If I were you, I would replace it. For the expense ($10 max), and time (1 hr max), the benefit far outweighs the consequences of not doing it (as CR found out )

I didn't think this was anything new. In fact, I didn't know anyone dared to run a cpu without thermal compound. Or are you talking about replacing/renewing the gunk on the die/heatsink?

Just replacement.

The heatsink would be next to useless without the gel in the first place!

If the heatsink and CPU were all one piece, the heat removal efficiency increase would probably justify it being unmodifyable.

If I screw up even the slightest bit on the thermal compound, my CPU won't even last through POST without overheating and shutting down itself. I'm very thankful that it has the heat sensor though, or I'd have one expensive glob of copper in my computer .

Nex, I don't think it would.

When you can do things like lap it, then apply the gel, you'd be getting very close to if it was one solid piece.

Just my humble opinion, of course