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Zink
Can anyone tell me out of his experience if it is worth using arctic silver
thermal paste on a boxed intel Pentium4 cpu ?
thermal paste on a boxed intel Pentium4 cpu ?
P4.Wheat said:They seem to have a fairly good setup.
In short, leave the thermal pad. You don't need the arctic >silver for a
I would have to wonder why you would want to >overclock anyways?
Can anyone tell me out of his experience if it is worth using arctic silver
thermal paste on a boxed intel Pentium4 cpu ?
With each medium change is a sharp increase in thermal
resistance. The best thermal interface is CPU direct to
heatsink. Therefore better heatsinks machine their CPU
interface surface. Cheaper heatsinks have found it easier
(and more profitable) to, instead, apply a thermal pad. CPU
to thermal pad to heatsink means inferior thermal
conductivity. But too many computers builder's never bother
demanding a 'degree C per watt' specification.
Numbers would demonstrate the point. The most critical
parameter for a CPU heatsink fan assembly is 'degree C per
watt'. Any heatsink assembly that does not provide this
critical parameter is suspect.
Thermal compound improves thermal conductivity by replacing
air in microscopic holes with 'the grease'. Thermal compound
is superior to thermal pads or thermal tape because CPU is
almost completely in contact with the heatsink (assumes too
much thermal compound not applied). Thermal compound causes
so little increase in thermal conductivity that CPU
temperature is only reduced by single digit degrees.
If thermal compound results in greater thermal conductivity,
then heatsink quality is suspect or something may be wrong
with how heatsink is held onto CPU..
Almost all heat is transferred from center of CPU to
heatsink. Therefore thermal compound that is effective is
only in the center one half of the CPU. If too much thermal
compound is applied, then thermal compound squeezes out to the
outer half of a CPU. Even worse, if thermal compound gets out
into CPU pins, then intermittent CPU failures can result.
Examples of CPU to heatsink interfaces are demonstrated in
experiments in:
http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm
This author also makes an important point:
Arctic Silver is hype. Just about any thermal compound is
equivalent to the so expensive and overhyped Arctic Silver 3.
AS3 like any thermal compound is applied only for single digit
temperature decreases. Advantage by any thermal compound is
insignificant to a CPU used in normal operation if heatsink
was properly machined up front - therefore no thermal pad or
tape necessary. Thermal compound may result in a minor
temperature improvement maybe permitting an overclocker to run
a CPU a touch faster. But thermal compound is not the major
improvement factor hyped by myths.
If heatsink was properly machined, then thermal compound
only causes single digit temperature improvement. However
thermal compound can demonstrate quality of that heatsink
surface. Too much temperature reduction when using thermal
compound says the heatsink was defective by manufacturer.
Which begs the question - did that manufacturer even bother to
provide a 'degree C per watt' parameter? Just looked at seven
different heatsinks manufacturers. Only one provided that
spec. Many heatsinks are sold on hype and myth - especially
when they forget to include that 'degree C per watt'
parameter.
I have now tried the thermal pad on a pentium2.6 800fsb, and the peak
temperature was 51-52 degrees. On a pentium 2.6 533fsb with arctic silver,
the temperatures never got over 50°. The 800fsb system had also higher
motherboard temperatures at full load, around 40 degrees. The 533 fsb MB was
always at 36°.
These differences might be given by the 800fsb chipset, or software bugs in
the temperature reporting utility used (asus probe).
I do get the feeling that with arctic silver the cpu cools down faster,
however note that the thermal pad is already installed and saves alot of
time and acetone.