Thermal paste

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:45 pm

ok, don't laugh at me.

I was reading through the Thermalright Chill Factor Thermal Paste Review that was posted up in the daily news from the web forum and I saw a line in the article that said that the thermal paste in the review had a life span of a year. Is this really true for all thermal paste or just this one.

Now I have never thought of thermal paste in my system maintenance, sure cleaning dust bunnies out of heatsinks, fans, etc. but never thought that I should redo the thermal paste.

Now is this a must to do for average Joe systems, or is this just something that the guy who squeezes every bit out of his system.

Post by **dicecca112** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:47 pm

well it is true that all thermal paste degrade after a while. Personally nothing ever stays on my chips long enough to be on there a year

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:47 pm

If you aren't taking out your cpu often or taking off the heatsink I don't think you need to redo it. If you take off the cpu its a good idea to add some. I think its for most who are ocing to get that much better heat transfer and protection for the components.

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:56 pm

cool, I was just wondering, thanks.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:47 pm

bubba wrote:cool, I was just wondering, thanks.

Arctic Silver II and III turned to a liquid in like 2-3 months and my CPU would over heat all the time... I hated that stuff... I always suggest cleaning your heatsink and re-applying thermal compound every ~6 months or more often if you smoke.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:53 pm

I always use arctic silver "CÃ©ramique" on things like my gfx card, chipset etc. and only use arctic silver 5 on my CPU...

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:59 pm

I have been using Arctic Silver Luminere on the test bench over the past two years because it doesn't need any cure time and is non-conductive.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:03 pm

Apoptosis wrote:I have been using Arctic Silver Luminere on the test bench over the past two years because it doesn't need any cure time and is non-conductive.

But that's all it's good for.......benching. It doesn't last very long at all.

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:14 pm

so about 6 months to a year.... ok, a little math.... I have been running the stock intel heat sink paste for 2 years

. Think I might want to switch that out huh.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:35 pm

kenc51 wrote:
Apoptosis wrote:I have been using Arctic Silver Luminere on the test bench over the past two years because it doesn't need any cure time and is non-conductive.
But that's all it's good for.......benching. It doesn't last very long at all.

really? I run it for 3-6 months on my system and never had a problem with it... strange

Post by **dicecca112** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:27 pm

whats the deal with Lumiere, that is OEM? Does it differ from 5 or Ceramique?

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:44 pm

It's different... It's their military spec thermal compound... what you see is what you get. They use it for military applications and last I heard it wasn't available on their public side any longer. It's not really a performance product like AS5.

stev · Post by **stev** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:02 am

I know that the OEM Shin Etsu Micro SI G751 and G765 thermal paste has a shelf life of a year for storage. The X23 stuff is around 6 months.

However, there is a requirement that the thermal paste is place into a cool and dry enviroment like a fridge with the tip side down. Keeping it near the bakeing soda in the fridge helps.

Post by **dicecca112** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:04 am

you know I'd put mine in the fridge but I'm afraid it get eaten, hell my roommate almost drank my distilled water with antifreeze in it thinking it was Gatorade.

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:11 pm

Apoptosis wrote:
kenc51 wrote:
Apoptosis wrote:I have been using Arctic Silver Luminere on the test bench over the past two years because it doesn't need any cure time and is non-conductive.
But that's all it's good for.......benching. It doesn't last very long at all.
really? I run it for 3-6 months on my system and never had a problem with it... strange

I've read it on some site.........it has no cure time as you said, but isn't designed for long term use........."long term use" could mean over 12mths.....I dunno

I don't remember what site it was, I'm thinking SytemCooling. That's why I use CÃ©ramique on stuff like the chipset, I tend to never remove the chipset heatsink again.
The CPU gets AS5 since the cooler is removed every ~3-4mths. I tend to bleed the watercooling and clean the waterblock 2-3 times a year.
You'd be amazed how much gunk can get into your watercooling loop. Even if you use distilled H2O.
I change my tubing every year too.

Post by **dicecca112** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:02 pm

yeah I'm cleaning out my loop this weekend, not looking forward to see what comes out of it

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:15 pm

could look like this guys loop...

http://forums.pcapex.com/extreme_coolin ... after.html

Post by **dicecca112** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:22 pm

i'm only at 6 months, but pure distilled, I'll take pics though don't worry

pcrobot · Post by **pcrobot** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:15 pm

I've had my current PC less than a year and I've redone the thermal paste three times.

The last time I must have done a better job, because my CPU's temps are staying pretty cool a lot longer.

Arctic Silver FTW!

Gamble · Post by **Gamble** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:54 pm

so are 5 and ceramÃque the same or is one of them better? i saw on the specs that the particles are smaller in ceramÃque... anyone?