Best thermal paste?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wes Newell
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Wes Newell

On Sep. 1, 2005 I replaced my normal HSF thermal compound with some 30
year old wheel bearing grease that I had in the garage. Afterwards the
temps were the same as the original thermal compound. Today they are still
as good are maybe .5C better. AMD64 3000+

CPU Temp: +31°C
M/B Temp: +28°C

The grease container lid has been craked wide open for years, along with
some cracks in the plastic 1 lb. tub it came in. Temp. ranges where it's
been stored (garage) all these years range from below -10C to around 60C
annually. It's still soft. Think it will ever dry out? Think your $5 a
gram compound is better than this $1 a lb?:-)

I don't think I'll report on this again unless there's some kind of
problem, which I don't expect.
 
In alt.comp.hardware.amd.x86-64 Wes Newell said:
On Sep. 1, 2005 I replaced my normal HSF thermal compound with some 30
year old wheel bearing grease that I had in the garage
Click to expand...

Is this a serious post along the lines of "you're wasting your money"
or is this a novelty post like "I water cooled my Athlon with alcohol
and it works great" ?

If the former, you might consider that Artic Silver is typically a
$40.00 lifetime commitment. Wacking 50W off a power supply will
save more money.

If the latter, pretty cool!!
 
Brian said:
Is this a serious post along the lines of "you're wasting your money"
or is this a novelty post like "I water cooled my Athlon with alcohol
and it works great" ?

If the former, you might consider that Artic Silver is typically a
$40.00 lifetime commitment. Wacking 50W off a power supply will
save more money.

If the latter, pretty cool!!
Click to expand...

I once read somewhere that toothpaste or Marmite also work well, though
Marmite's not too cheap.
 
I once read somewhere that toothpaste or Marmite also work well, though
Marmite's not too cheap.
Click to expand...

You must be joking!

Bovril maybe, but Marmite is no better than Vegemite unless you're
lubicating a case fan.
 
Wes said:
On Sep. 1, 2005 I replaced my normal HSF thermal compound with some 30
year old wheel bearing grease that I had in the garage. Afterwards the
temps were the same as the original thermal compound. Today they are still
as good are maybe .5C better. AMD64 3000+

CPU Temp: +31°C
M/B Temp: +28°C

The grease container lid has been craked wide open for years, along with
some cracks in the plastic 1 lb. tub it came in. Temp. ranges where it's
been stored (garage) all these years range from below -10C to around 60C
annually. It's still soft. Think it will ever dry out? Think your $5 a
gram compound is better than this $1 a lb?:-)

I don't think I'll report on this again unless there's some kind of
problem, which I don't expect.
Click to expand...
I think I started this. Im glad to report that my Artic Silver 5 dropped
my speed by 5C. With a better heatsink, I could probably get it lower
than with the stock AMD cooler. As to the grease monkey, if it worked it
worked. Good Okie engineering!
 
Wes Newell said:
On Sep. 1, 2005 I replaced my normal HSF thermal compound with some 30
year old wheel bearing grease that I had in the garage. Afterwards the
temps were the same as the original thermal compound. Today they are still
as good are maybe .5C better. AMD64 3000+

CPU Temp: +31°C
M/B Temp: +28°C

The grease container lid has been craked wide open for years, along with
some cracks in the plastic 1 lb. tub it came in. Temp. ranges where it's
been stored (garage) all these years range from below -10C to around 60C
annually. It's still soft. Think it will ever dry out? Think your $5 a
gram compound is better than this $1 a lb?:-)

I don't think I'll report on this again unless there's some kind of
problem, which I don't expect.
Click to expand...

I saw a review of thermal pastes on a website once (it might have meen you
that pointed me to another article on the site). It was a bit tongue in
cheek, because he reviewed toothpaste and vegemite.
http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm

Apparently they all came in at about the same performance, although the
toothpaste and vegemite may dry out.

Bob
 
Is this a serious post along the lines of "you're wasting your money" or
is this a novelty post like "I water cooled my Athlon with alcohol and it
works great" ?

If the former, you might consider that Artic Silver is typically a $40.00
lifetime commitment. Wacking 50W off a power supply will save more money.

If the latter, pretty cool!!
Click to expand...

It's just facts and you can use the info however you want.
 
Bob Smith said:
Apparently they all came in at about the same performance, although the
toothpaste and vegemite may dry out.
Click to expand...

The Arctic ones take awhile to reach peak performance, and I doubt if the
reviewer took any time at all.

If this becomes a big thread, you'll see two sides. Those who found that
Arctic gained them a few degrees, and those who know beyond a doubt that it
is a scam.

A cheap little tube of Arctic Ceramique is good stuff. Be sure to read the
Ceramique-specific instructions on the Arctic Silver web site. You don't
have to spread it, and it comes off easily.
--
Ed Light

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TonyC said:
I once read somewhere that toothpaste or Marmite also work well, though
Marmite's not too cheap.
Click to expand...

I can see toothpaste being a good choice, as it's full of aluminum oxide
(that's what they use to scrape the dirt off your teeth). However, I'm
not sure if I want a processor smelling like fresh mint.

Yousuf KHan
 
Wes said:
On Sep. 1, 2005 I replaced my normal HSF thermal compound with some 30
year old wheel bearing grease that I had in the garage. Afterwards the
temps were the same as the original thermal compound. Today they are still
as good are maybe .5C better. AMD64 3000+

CPU Temp: +31°C
M/B Temp: +28°C

The grease container lid has been craked wide open for years, along with
some cracks in the plastic 1 lb. tub it came in. Temp. ranges where it's
been stored (garage) all these years range from below -10C to around 60C
annually. It's still soft. Think it will ever dry out? Think your $5 a
gram compound is better than this $1 a lb?:-)

I don't think I'll report on this again unless there's some kind of
problem, which I don't expect.
Click to expand...
I think I started this. Im glad to report that my Artic Silver 5 dropped
my speed by 5C. With a better heatsink, I could probably get it lower
than with the stock AMD cooler. As to the grease monkey, if it worked it
worked. Good Okie engineering!
 
I think I started this. Im glad to report that my Artic Silver 5 dropped
my speed by 5C. With a better heatsink, I could probably get it lower than
with the stock AMD cooler. As to the grease monkey, if it worked it
worked. Good Okie engineering!
Click to expand...

This is just a repost of your last post. I didn't reply then because I
didn't want to start an argument. But since you seem to be wanting
something, here goes. I don't know what you think you started and don't
care. If the AS5 dropped temps 5C, then you didn't have the cooler or
thermal paste installed properly to begin with. Possibly you had some
thermal tape, in which case almost any thermal coumpound would have
worked better, or perhaps you cleaned the cooler itself since you had it
off. I normally would have too, but intentionally didn't for the test I
conducted. If you want to comapre the AS5 to the wheel baering grease I
used, just put some on the end of a screwdriver and then hold it under a
butane lighter for 60 seconds. If it dries out, catches on fire, or
has some other reaction other than thinning a little while heated, then
it's not as good as the wheel bearing grease I'm using. But you need to
leave it in an open container in the garage for 30 years first. I guess
you could simulate that by putting it in the microwave and bringing it to
a boil and then cooling it in the freezer 30 times. Then run the same
test. Good luck.:-)
 
High temperature disk brake grease, Wes?

Poor you. An unbeliever in Arctic. ;-) (I am a believer.)

I hope you haven't started a flaming flame thing.
--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at
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High temperature disk brake grease, Wes?
Click to expand...
No, wheel bearing grease.
Poor you. An unbeliever in Arctic. ;-) (I am a believer.)
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with AS, as long as you don't mind paying a $1000.00 a pound
for it compared to the $1 I paid. I also don't like the idea of a
conductive substance on the cpu that requires special chemicals to remove.
 
Wes Newell said:
Nothing wrong with AS, as long as you don't mind paying a $1000.00 a pound
for it compared to the $1 I paid. I also don't like the idea of a
conductive substance on the cpu that requires special chemicals to remove.
Click to expand...

Try Arctic Ceramique. $4 in a mini-tube. You just put a dot on in the center
of the cpu, or a stripe if a rectangular Barton, then after putting on the
hsf you twist it a couple of degrees each way and it's done.

It's not electrically conductive. Then too, neither is Silver - that's
capacitive.

Ceramique wipes right off. It gives away a degree or two to Silver.

With Silver just don't get it thick on the cpu edge so it doesn't slop out.
--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
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Bring the Troops Home:
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Not bad Wes!

And I bet you only required a very small thin coating on the cpu surfaces, I
know bearing grease not only lubricates well but does a great job of
transfering heat away from the wheel bearings too.

I have a couple of 8 ozs jars ( $66 each) of thermal compound WAKEFIELD
Part # 120-8 enough to probably coat few thousand cpu's. Apparently the
shelf life is only 3 years, looks like I have to get some bearing grease
from my garage when I run out.

Thanks for the tip!

PS. Maybe that's what they have put in the jars of thermal compound? LOL
 
J Poy said:
Not bad Wes!

And I bet you only required a very small thin coating on the cpu surfaces,
I know bearing grease not only lubricates well but does a great job of
transfering heat away from the wheel bearings too.

I have a couple of 8 ozs jars ( $66 each) of thermal compound WAKEFIELD
Part # 120-8 enough to probably coat few thousand cpu's. Apparently the
shelf life is only 3 years, looks like I have to get some bearing grease
from my garage when I run out.

Thanks for the tip!

PS. Maybe that's what they have put in the jars of thermal compound? LOL
Click to expand...
I thought oil was a good insulator? (First aid for burns: do not use butter
or oil)

A better method for imparting heat to the heatsink would be machining flat /
lapping. Never wanted to try this though, afraid I would just dome the
surface of the cpu (how do you make a totally flat surface by hand?).

An engineer told me a rule of thumb is that there is a 1C insulation for
every thermal interface. To me that means CPU->paste->heatsink is always
going to be behind a perfect CPU->heatsink system by 1C.

Bob
 
An engineer told me a rule of thumb is that there is a 1C insulation for
every thermal interface. To me that means CPU->paste->heatsink is always
going to be behind a perfect CPU->heatsink system by 1C.
Click to expand...
that may be true, it may be even more. as for a perfect interface: how
do u expect to get the hs and the cpu atomically flat?
btw, if you have, you have the problem of getting them loose again (like
2 glas plates they tend to stick together really well as all atoms form
bonds)

markus
 
Markus Loeffler said:
that may be true, it may be even more. as for a perfect interface: how do
u expect to get the hs and the cpu atomically flat?
Click to expand...

Polishing to a "diamond finish" with some kind of mechanical aid for
flatness would be the nearest thing.
btw, if you have, you have the problem of getting them loose again (like 2
glas plates they tend to stick together really well as all atoms form
bonds)
Click to expand...

I thought that was atmospheric pressure? And why would you want to separate
them?

Bob
 
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