Anybody not impressed with Arctic Silver?

[John Doe]

Heatsink grease. Does Arctic Silver make that much of a difference?
Anybody had boring results? Any specific recommendations on type and
packaging? Specifically, I'd like to cool my AMD Athlon XP 3000+. It
runs at about 50°C most of the time, sometimes above 55°C. I'm not
used to that amount of heat.

Thank you.

 

[nos1eep]

It is further alleged that on or about Fri, 30 Dec 2005 01:56:15 GMT,
in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, the queezy keyboard of John Doe
<jdoe@usenet.love.invalid> spewed the following:

|Heatsink grease. Does Arctic Silver make that much of a difference?
|Anybody had boring results? Any specific recommendations on type and
|packaging? Specifically, I'd like to cool my AMD Athlon XP 3000+. It
|runs at about 50°C most of the time, sometimes above 55°C. I'm not
|used to that amount of heat.
|
|Thank you.

Artic silver makes a difference. Lose the stock cooling and invest $30
in a better heat sink, you will run 15-20 degrees cooler. Think
Thermaltake or Zalman. NewEgg is my personal favorite for hardware.
--

-nos1eep

Scaling up the heights of folly.
non est ponenda pluritas sine necessitate

 

[John Doe]

Artic silver makes a difference. Lose the stock cooling and invest
$30 in a better heat sink, you will run 15-20 degrees cooler.
Think Thermaltake or Zalman. NewEgg is my personal favorite for
hardware.

NewEgg wants five dollars for shipping that stuff. And they add all
shipping charges incrementally?

 

[nos1eep]

It is further alleged that on or about Fri, 30 Dec 2005 03:24:09 GMT,
in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, the queezy keyboard of John Doe
<jdoe@usenet.love.invalid> spewed the following:

|
|>
|> Artic silver makes a difference. Lose the stock cooling and invest
|> $30 in a better heat sink, you will run 15-20 degrees cooler.
|> Think Thermaltake or Zalman. NewEgg is my personal favorite for
|> hardware.
|
|NewEgg wants five dollars for shipping that stuff. And they add all
|shipping charges incrementally?

I dunno, ask NewEgg. They have an 800 number. I can't be arsed to find
it for you, though.

happy new year, john
--

-nos1eep

One night at Cheers, Cliff Clavin explained the "Buffalo Theory”
to his buddy, Norm. "Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd
of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when
the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd
as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group
keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In
much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the
slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know,
kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest
brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer
eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and
more efficient machine! That's why you always feel smarter after
a few beers.

 

[Me]

You might lower about 1 to 4 degrees C with artic silver but not more. Do
not expect miracles. Artice silver is great but again, all it does is help
in the transfer of heat. If your cooling system in the first place is not
efficient, then artic silver might be a wast of money.

 

[SteveH]

Heatsink grease. Does Arctic Silver make that much of a difference?
Anybody had boring results? Any specific recommendations on type and
packaging? Specifically, I'd like to cool my AMD Athlon XP 3000+. It
runs at about 50°C most of the time, sometimes above 55°C. I'm not
used to that amount of heat.

Thank you.

While you can probably get better temps with a better heatsink/fan, the
temps you are getting are there or thereabouts for an XP3000. My 3200 ran at
55c most of the time. You could always change to A64, mine idles at 38c and
gets to 45c under load, with the stock heatsink.

SteveH

 

[Conor]

While you can probably get better temps with a better heatsink/fan, the
temps you are getting are there or thereabouts for an XP3000. My 3200 ran at
55c most of the time. You could always change to A64, mine idles at 38c and
gets to 45c under load, with the stock heatsink.

I got mine running at low 40's peaking just over 50 but I was using a
Coolermaster Aero 5 which is one hell of a huge slab of copper.


--
Conor

I'm so grateful to the USA for their contribution to the war on terror.
After all, if they hadn't funded the IRA for 30 years, we wouldn't know
what terror was.

 

[Shep©]

Heatsink grease. Does Arctic Silver make that much of a difference?

No.Standard thermal compound is usually adequate so long as the
airflow around the case is not restricted and the internal airflow
inside the case is not restricted.

Anybody had boring results? Any specific recommendations on type and
packaging? Specifically, I'd like to cool my AMD Athlon XP 3000+. It
runs at about 50°C most of the time, sometimes above 55°C. I'm not
used to that amount of heat.

Thank you.

There are no advantages to running your CPU any lower than that.Unless
you are having any specific heat related problems don't worry.
If you are over clocking that's a different issue however the benefits
of over clocking aren't that much,only in benchmarks.

Don't waste your time or money IMHO.

HTH

 

[johns]

I fought that battle. What I discovered was that
Artic Silver is fine. I even applied it a little bit
heavy to make sure no air pockets developed.
The cpu heat will spread it evenly. The real problem
was the air flow in the case .. a generic steel case.
I switched to an Antec SLK1650B with the side
port that lets the cpu fan blow/suck air directly
to the outside, and my cpu temp immediatly
dropped to mid-30s ( from mid-50s ). I tried same
on 5 other boxes .. and got the same good
results. I swear by that Antec case, and now
all my CAD labs are using it no matter what cpu
mobo bundle I use. Side venting makes a big
difference. Also, note that AMD warns everybody
to replace the heat goop as soon as they get
the bundle. Apparently it doesn't have a good
shelf life in the plastic shipping box before the
cpu and fan are installed.

johns

 

[Shep©]

Also, note that AMD warns everybody
to replace the heat goop as soon as they get
the bundle

Please post reference to this e.g at least two valid URLs?
Otherwise you are merely posting,"Hearsay".

 

[nos1eep]

It is further alleged that on or about 30 Dec 2005 16:52:22 -0800, in
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, the queezy keyboard of "johns"
<johns123@moscow.com> spewed the following:

|I fought that battle. What I discovered was that
|Artic Silver is fine. I even applied it a little bit
|heavy to make sure no air pockets developed.
|The cpu heat will spread it evenly. The real problem
|was the air flow in the case .. a generic steel case.
|I switched to an Antec SLK1650B with the side
|port that lets the cpu fan blow/suck air directly
|to the outside, and my cpu temp immediatly
|dropped to mid-30s ( from mid-50s ). I tried same
|on 5 other boxes .. and got the same good
|results. I swear by that Antec case, and now
|all my CAD labs are using it no matter what cpu
|mobo bundle I use. Side venting makes a big
|difference.

|Also, note that AMD warns everybody
|to replace the heat goop as soon as they get
|the bundle. Apparently it doesn't have a good
|shelf life in the plastic shipping box before the
|cpu and fan are installed.

I agree entirely with this poast. The surest way to reduce heat is
having a side port, especially one that is intelligently designed. I
prefer a mid tower rather than a mini for cooling purposes and
interior esthetics, but, whatever.
The thing about tape or the thick goo you get sometimes is that the
initial burn-in temperatures can get extreme and tape or goo sometimes
gets a little thin or nonexistent in places. Dangerous, it can cause a
system to totally fail or even worse to be "not quite right, WTF?"
Random flakiness. Pissed off clients.
A quality heat sink is always advised, stock cooling works but if a
person just shells out a few more bucks you can add years to the life
of your processor AND make it perform consistently.
--

-nos1eep

One night at Cheers, Cliff Clavin explained the "Buffalo Theory”
to his buddy, Norm. "Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd
of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when
the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd
as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group
keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In
much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the
slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know,
kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest
brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer
eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and
more efficient machine! That's why you always feel smarter after
a few beers.

 

[johns]

Go buy one .. MORON!

johns

 

[Shep©]

Go buy one .. MORON!

johns

And they say a classical education is wasted

 

[Pelysma]

Heatsink grease. Does Arctic Silver make that much of a difference?
Anybody had boring results? Any specific recommendations on type and
packaging? Specifically, I'd like to cool my AMD Athlon XP 3000+. It
runs at about 50°C most of the time, sometimes above 55°C. I'm not
used to that amount of heat.

Thank you.

I am impressed with Arctic Silver, after very limited experience, and here's
why:

I had to remove and reset the CPUs in this Dell and in my son's homebuilt
machine over the past week while troubleshooting his. The Dell had a
factory-installed metal pad in place that had to be destroyed to pull the
processor off the heatsink, and I had assembled my son's computer using the
little tube of compound supplied with the P4/2.8. I used Arctic Silver in
both computers after cleaning them with acetone and then 90% alcohol.

The routine running temp of the Dell P4/2.4/533 is unchanged from factory at
about 34C. The routine running temp of my son's P4/2.8/800 dropped three
degrees from 41C to 38C. (Actually, he often ran much hotter than that
under load and when the heatsink got choked with dust. I'm talking about
the temperature idling when the case is fairly clean, which is about the
only time I use or see the monitors.)

This suggests to me that Arctic Silver is at least as good or better than
what was chosen by the manufacturers, when installed by myself at home using
instructions on Arctic Silver's website.

 

[old jon]

I am impressed with Arctic Silver, after very limited experience, and
here's why:

I had to remove and reset the CPUs in this Dell and in my son's homebuilt
machine over the past week while troubleshooting his. The Dell had a
factory-installed metal pad in place that had to be destroyed to pull the
processor off the heatsink, and I had assembled my son's computer using
the little tube of compound supplied with the P4/2.8. I used Arctic
Silver in both computers after cleaning them with acetone and then 90%
alcohol.

The routine running temp of the Dell P4/2.4/533 is unchanged from factory
at about 34C. The routine running temp of my son's P4/2.8/800 dropped
three degrees from 41C to 38C. (Actually, he often ran much hotter than
that under load and when the heatsink got choked with dust. I'm talking
about the temperature idling when the case is fairly clean, which is about
the only time I use or see the monitors.)

This suggests to me that Arctic Silver is at least as good or better than
what was chosen by the manufacturers, when installed by myself at home
using instructions on Arctic Silver's website.

Is it time to give the insides a good clean out ?.
All cooling working well ?.
Clean fans\heatsinks help a lot.
bw..OJ

 

[sbb78247]

I am impressed with Arctic Silver, after very limited experience, and
here's why:

I had to remove and reset the CPUs in this Dell and in my son's
homebuilt machine over the past week while troubleshooting his. The
Dell had a factory-installed metal pad in place that had to be
destroyed to pull the processor off the heatsink, and I had assembled
my son's computer using the little tube of compound supplied with the
P4/2.8. I used Arctic Silver in both computers after cleaning them
with acetone and then 90% alcohol.
The routine running temp of the Dell P4/2.4/533 is unchanged from
factory at about 34C. The routine running temp of my son's
P4/2.8/800 dropped three degrees from 41C to 38C. (Actually, he
often ran much hotter than that under load and when the heatsink got
choked with dust. I'm talking about the temperature idling when the
case is fairly clean, which is about the only time I use or see the
monitors.)
This suggests to me that Arctic Silver is at least as good or better
than what was chosen by the manufacturers, when installed by myself
at home using instructions on Arctic Silver's website.

arctic silver is good juju. just remember to let it have "break in" time
before you judge the product. also remember, a little goes a long way!

 

[Pelysma]

Is it time to give the insides a good clean out ?.
All cooling working well ?.
Clean fans\heatsinks help a lot.
bw..OJ

About once every three months, my son starts getting warnings that the CPU
is overheating. His room is a dusty place, and the top surface of the CPU
heat sink gets covered with a felt-like blanket of fiber dust that shuts off
the airflow there.

We go in there with a camel's hair brush and brush and blow out dust
furiously. The only time I run or see his system monitor is right after we
do that. So the 41C plus or minus a degree that I usually see is "baseline"
and I have to guess he often runs it in the high 50's. I frankly don't know
what the warning temperature is, other than having accepted the defaults and
checking to see that they were within mfg's limits; I'm thinking 70C is
warning and 84C is shutdown.

Last night when we set it up again we put it on top of a desk instead of
down by the carpet, in hopes that it will collect less of the dust he never
deals with in his room. After it ran for several hours, the monitor showed
core temperature of 38C, and neither fan was running at full speed.

By contrast the Dell here in the family room has a different kind of heat
sink and much less airflow, and dust only gets to be a problem about once a
year; it has never overheated. I get more dust in the floppy drive than on
the heat sink! My 2.4GHz P4 obviously generates much less heat than the 2.8
Prescott model he has.

Anyway, on this small sample, about all I can legitimately say about Arctic
Silver is that it seems to be working at least as well as what was in there
before, and probably a bit better.