Legit Reviews

Hi,

I'm building my first computer and everything seems to be pretty straight forward, except for the use of silver thermal compound. LOL. Therefore, I have a question on the Intel 6300 heat sink and application of thermal silver compound (if any).

I've read my thermal compound instructions, but I'm still confused, because all of the pictures of heat sinks that I've seen seem to be made from solid copper. The Intel 6300 heat sink contains 3 silver or graphite colored bars in the center.

Should these bars get covered with silver compound or do these bars take the place of the need for silver compound?

Thanks!

Elliot

They take the place of thermal compound. Well they are actually thermal compound.

The pressure from mounting the CPU will cause them to spread evenly over the CPU and heatsink, so there is no user intervention required.

If you have some high grade silver based thermal compound, such as arctic silver 5, then you can clean the strips off and apply your own, but I would only do this if you have good paste as the intel stuff is fairly good to begin with.

Dan

DMB2000uk wrote:They take the place of thermal compound. Well they are actually thermal compound.

The pressure from mounting the CPU will cause them to spread evenly over the CPU and heatsink, so there is no user intervention required.

If you have some high grade silver based thermal compound, such as arctic silver 5, then you can clean the strips off and apply your own, but I would only do this if you have good paste as the intel stuff is fairly good to begin with.

Dan

Thanks so much Dan!!! This is great news to hear. I purchased Antec's Formula 5 Silver Compound, but now I can save it for later use, when I decide to upgrade my processor (or if something goes wrong in the future - lol).

I just wanted to be sure before I mount my heat sink/fan on the motherboard, because I didn't want to have to redo the job or take the chance of damaging the heat sink.

If my formula 5 silver compound remains unopened, within it's plastic injector, do you think that it's shelf-life will be okay after 2 years?

Thanks again for the quick response.

Depends on what the actual shelf life of it is. But I would have thought that it being still sealed would have helped it.

Dan

Arctic Sliver will separate over time like any other liquids. If you can, store it will the top of the syringe facing down and if you can keep it in a cool place, even better.
Your fridge or freezer is the best place.
If you use it after storing for some months, you should squeeze out the first bit onto a piece of tissue first, you'll notice it's a lot more "runny & wet" than normal as the liquid has separated. It doesn't cause any harm, unless the stuff is stored for a number of years.

kenc51 wrote:Arctic Sliver will separate over time like any other liquids. If you can, store it will the top of the syringe facing down and if you can keep it in a cool place, even better.
Your fridge or freezer is the best place.
If you use it after storing for some months, you should squeeze out the first bit onto a piece of tissue first, you'll notice it's a lot more "runny & wet" than normal as the liquid has separated. It doesn't cause any harm, unless the stuff is stored for a number of years.

Wow, Kenc51, thanks! I can store my Antec in the fridge standing up because it's still in it's plastic store display. I'll have to remember that little trick about getting the extra liquid out too, but I can remember that because I have to do the same thing with caulk over time since that tends to dry out at the tip.

If all else fails, and I need an emergency replacement for a lost tooth filling, I can always use the leftover thermal compound for an immediate dental procedure. I heard that silver is good for that too.

Thanks again guys. ..... I think I'll hang around here for some 'greater knowledge', maybe some of it will rub off on me.

Elliot

P.S. - My processor, heatsink, fan, and motherboard are now one.

Like everyone else said if it looks like this you are good to go... the pressure from the mounting hardware will have it all smoothed out for ya.

Apoptosis wrote:

Like everyone else said if it looks like this you are good to go... the pressure from the mounting hardware will have it all smoothed out for ya.

Yup, sure enough, that's the bad puppy. There isn't one mention of the fact that the silver thermal compound is already on the heat sink on the processor box or in the quad-fold 8 page installation instruction manual. I originally thought (when looking through the clear package) that those 3 silver bars might be thermal stones of some kind to absorb the heat (like in a kiln), and that the silver compound should be applied to that area without touching the stones. LOLROTF!

Speaking of which, why couldn't thermal stones be used in an application such as this? They would be permanent and absorb heat. They'd never have to be re-applied. Perhaps that's patent idea for someone.

I just can't get over why this information isn't anywhere on the package or on the Intel site. It makes no sense. I looked at that blasted package for 4 days before coming here. I even wrote to Intel and received a response. The response doesn't mention that the thermal compound has been pre-applied either.

I'm certainly thankful that this site exists!

Thank you too, Apoptosis!

Elliot

Thermal stones wouldn't be used because the contact between the CPU and the Heatsink would leave many microscopic gaps. Thermal compound, well at least the good ones, fill in these voids and gaps, and create a suction that ensures almost perfect contact between the cpu and heatsink. Also the compound circulates heat better to the heatsink than stones would. Interesting idea nevertheless, never thought of that

I'm sure that you're right Dicecca112, there probably would be the possibility of gaps. I just thought that with today's super-specs and tolerances that both pieces (heat sink, stones and processor) could be manufactured with the same flatness and curve especially when produced by the same manufacturer (i.e. Intel). A silver/granite composite stone might be good for this application, assuming those tolerances could be worked out.

Just thinking out loud because of the confusion that I (*a newbie) experienced, plus the need for cleaning these critical parts and applying this product application so precisely. It was rather frightening for a nube.

*Note: I've been on the Internet since 1986 with a Tandy 1000-EX at 300kb(CompuServe - lol). I've upgraded my own parts before, but I'm a newbie at building a computer from the ground up.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Elliot

down to the microscopic level it would still be present. Cooling techniques are hitting there limit, the design has to shift to lowering power consumption and heat