Thermal Compounds

[skier]

so we all use thermal paste for different things, most just for the CPU, but i'm the kinda guy that takes everything apart, so i put it on my northbridge/southbridge as well as all my GPUs i think we really should have a list of pastes and their intended uses, i was under the impression that Ceramique was intended for long term use, so for chipsets or GPUs with paste like Arctic Silver5 for CPU

enlighten me those of you who have ventured into other pastes, i would love to buy every paste on the market and test them but thats not exactly budget or time friendly ;)

[DJ Tucker]

I have used the OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound on my CPU and GPU and it works beautifully. cooled my CPU down by 3C and my GPU down by 5C.

[vbironchef]

this is what I am using right now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608008. Works for me

[DJ Tucker]

this is what I am using right now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608008. Works for me

i've heard stuff bout that thermal paste so i might give that a try as the only problem with the OCZ Freeze paste is that it's to thick and dry too quick when applying!

[mx6er2587]

I've used artic silver for ~6 years now on everthing I put together. That includes chipsets and gpu's. First thing I do with any new motherboard is take the heatsinks off lap them to a nice mirror and apply some arctic silver. I really feel like this is something most enthusiasts should be doing. Especially after I took the heatsinks of my gigabyte 785g motherboard and found that the powder-coated heatsinks had been coated all the way around, yes the entire contact area was covered with a thick layer of powder paint. That thing wasn't going to transmit any heat.

[skier]

well ceramique seems have made a substantial difference in temps on my 750i and X38 Northbridges, compared to AS5
ceramique on my GTS doesn't seem to have made any progress, its a couple degrees warmer than stock compound, i'll take it apart later to see if the compound spread properly, but its been folding for about 24 hours so i'd hope it spread by now (load temps are now 50C while folding, was 45C)

i think its just way too much work to lap regular heatsinks for what you gain, just add more fans!
i mean, i lapped my E7200 and Heatsink, but that only dropped temps by a few degrees, i dont see that it'd be worth it if the heatsink looks flat and doesn't have paint on it lol

[mx6er2587]

well in the case of my most recent board lapping made a huge difference because I went from a painted contact surface to a nice mirror finish. It really doesn't take more then 30min to do as long as you have all the right supplies. I typically just sit down in front of the tv watch a show and sand away.

[ibleet]

i lapped my E7200 and Heatsink, but that only dropped temps by a few degrees, i dont see that it'd be worth it if the heatsink looks flat and doesn't have paint on it lol

Not to mention that it also voids the warranty on your CPU.

By the way...I know this is kind of anal, but since this is an enthusiast site (imo anyway), thermal compound is NOT thermal PASTE.

[MediaMunkey]

I pulled apart my brothers GPU to clean it up and forgot I had no thermal compound......obviously I had to improvise.
I used some kind of cream which had Zinc Oxide in it and vaseline.
It was pretty damn dodgy, but it seemed to work alright.

I don't recall what the temps were but I'm pretty sure they were about normal for the GPU I used it on.
Of course I doubt it worked anywhere near as well as the real stuff.

[DJ Tucker]

I pulled apart my brothers GPU to clean it up and forgot I had no thermal compound......obviously I had to improvise.
I used some kind of cream which had Zinc Oxide in it and vaseline.
It was pretty damn dodgy, but it seemed to work alright.

Surely that cant of worked i mean zinc oxide cream and vaseline at the GPU temps you normally get you would see it melting at some point and then as the compound melts away the temps will rocket up!

[MediaMunkey]

Surely that cant of worked i mean zinc oxide cream and vaseline at the GPU temps you normally get you would see it melting at some point and then as the compound melts away the temps will rocket up!

Quite possibly, but the computer was going for months afterwards. It was a POS that kept crashing anyway so no one much cared.
I'm tempted to pull it apart again and see what's become of it, but I'll have to wait till I go around to my parents place next.

[skier]

i lapped my E7200 and Heatsink, but that only dropped temps by a few degrees, i dont see that it'd be worth it if the heatsink looks flat and doesn't have paint on it lol

Not to mention that it also voids the warranty on your CPU.

By the way...I know this is kind of anal, but since this is an enthusiast site (imo anyway), thermal compound is NOT thermal PASTE.

yes i totally care about warranties i'm sure running a 266MHz FSB chip at 440MHz would prolly void it too ;) that or being up around 3.892GHz from 2.53, too bad i only have a $20 heatsink i don't have a single power supply under warranty cuz i take them all apart to clean SO I DONT HAVE TO GET THEM FIXED BECAUSE THEY OVERHEATED

and i use paste/compound depending how frequently i use the other word(to refrain from saying things like "i replaced the compound with some old compound i had kicking around because i didnt have any new compound' as it can get repetative real fast), that and it doesn't really matter in my eyes

but back on topic, is ceramique specifically for anything? or is it a 'use what you got' basis and you can use any compound on anything?

[ibleet]

Yes, back on topic indeed.

Ceramique uses aluminum oxide, boron nitride, and zinc oxide, whereas Arctic Silver 5 uses, ummm, silver.
When they are applied properly (this is KEY), one conducts heat just as well as the other.
The only reason why you'd want to use Ceramique is because it lasts longer without drying out. This is the reason why I use it exclusively.

[bigblockmatt]

what dries out the compound most? does leaving the computer on dry it out faster than off and on or leaving it off for an extended period of time?

[DJ Tucker]

the heat when the pc is on will dry it out quicker! but it will still dry out when it's off but not as quick. By the way i will be using some AS5 on my GPU and CPU to test it out and see what a difference it makes over my current compound OCZ Freeze!

Can you use AS5 on the GPU?

[skier]

the heat when the pc is on will dry it out quicker! but it will still dry out when it's off but not as quick. By the way i will be using some AS5 on my GPU and CPU to test it out and see what a difference it makes over my current compound OCZ Freeze!

Can you use AS5 on the GPU?

cool i look forward to results

yes, i've used AS5 on 5 GPUs i think works pretty good, not 100% sure, but it seems to be the best to me