how to apply arctic silver 5

[skier]

i have never applied thermal compound new, so would rather not waste any by doing it totally wrong, my cpu currently has two different types of compound on it(one dark green, one is white)(i bought it from a friend and he applied it I guess), there is a razor thin layer of thicker compound between the core and Heatsink, and surrounding the core is a thick layer of thick(green) compound, and thin(white) compound around/on the spacers(i guess thats what they are) so how would the Arctic silver 5 go on?

pix:

[KnightRid]

first you have to clean all that old crap off! I use q-tips and rubbing alcohol.

on the cpu die is the only place it is need - the rectangular silver piece on the cpu.

put a small drop on it and then use a razor blade to smooth it out to make it just a thin sheet of compound. Some people use credit cards to do this, but the razor blades have always worked better for me.

It doesnt take much! Dont GLOP it on!

Mike

I have no idea why he put compound at the pads/spacers - thats just wierd!

That is my take on the subject just make sure you get a complete layer on the cpu - no gaps or holes in the coverage.

[dkarko]

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinst ... _expsd.pdf

First clean it completely! Youa re not supposed to reapply on old paste!! The chip seems like it had a bath on paste :p
Clean it with appropriate dissolvants. Like pure alcohol, arctic cleaner and other. Pure alcohol is to use if you dont have anything else better handy.
You are not supposed to apply too much or too few! Look the company's instructions.

[DMB2000uk]

Wow, whoever put the old paste on went a bit crazy!

You'll need to use less than half a grain of rice on the CPU as it has such a small die to cover. Personally I don't bother spreading out the paste any more and just let the heatsink pressure squeeze it out, but each to his own

Dan

[skier]

so remove ALL compound including the green thick stuff from heatsink and cpu, and apply AS5 to ONLY the core

[DMB2000uk]

Your clean CPU will look like that. And yes, you should clean the heatsink so that it is clean copper.

Dan

[ibleet]

I do it the same way as Dan does, apply a small amount and let the heatsink pressure squeeze it out.

[skier]

Wow, whoever put the old paste on went a bit crazy!

Dan

yeah, i havnt touched the compound for the CPU-i just put some (compound) on chipsets and video cards, from other chipsets not being used or video cards not being used(all of which i will replace once i get the AS5, along with some other parts making for a Christmas-day-like arrival )

and im not quite that sure he knew entirely what he was doing when he applied it.

[skier]

well, the AS5 made the northbridge temp from very warm -> body temp., but now my cpus thermal diode thinks that it is at 60-90C as opposed to the 34-52C that it would read before i took off the old compound, why is this? is it because the diode doesnt have contact with the heatsink?

- also, should i use some AS5 on my vid card core, or leave it stock(and should i remove the thin clear layer of rubber-like stuff under the cooler, or is it thermal?)

[DMB2000uk]

If that is a internal CPU temp sensor thing, stop your PC and wipe off and reapply the AS5 and reinstall the heatsink, it sounds like it isnt making good contact and is over heating your processor!!!

Dan

[skier]

well, is one of these the thermal sensor?

because directly after i shut it off, i pulled it, and it wasnt very warm even, just a hair warmer than the northbridge, (just over body temp(98.6F)) yet it said it was at 55C

-and i did change the stock compound off the vid card(brand new X1650 PRO) and the AS5 cooled it ~2C

[bubba]

what type of alcohol did you use to clean the chip? 99% isopropyl should have evaporated before you had a chance to snap the pic, the chip still looks wet

But not sure which on it is, there are doc's on the net that will tell you which pins are for the diode though.

[skier]

i used 91% isopropyl(closest i could find) and thats not the alcohol, that would be(and dont think any less of me) superglue because the spacers came off when cleaning them (the superglue did not make them any stiffer btw.)

i guess ill try to find the blueprint for this type chip, then load it with AS5 and see the temp change

[skier]

i finally figured it out- the sensor IS on the Die(Core) and it WASnt touching the heatsink preoperly (ie, only touching the hs in one corner), so i fooled with the spacers a bit, and bent the metal piece that secures the hs so it would apply more pressure and now it runs at 38-45C (idle-stressed respectively), and i assume that is as good as its gonna get due to the new video card making a lot more heat than the one in it before(it was a very old card with a frankenfan creation on it making it ice cold), and it sticks out more, restricting air flow

[DMB2000uk]

i finally figured it out- the sensor IS on the Die(Core) and it WASnt touching the heatsink preoperly (ie, only touching the hs in one corner), so i fooled with the spacers a bit, and bent the metal piece that secures the hs so it would apply more pressure and now it runs at 38-45C (idle-stressed respectively)

That sounds much better ^_^

Dan

[skier]

yeah i'd say a 45C high is better than the 96C( ) i saw in the BIOS when i put the AS5 on the first time.(dont worry i shut it right off, well i tried to boot it, but it wouldnt get past the GRUB loader, somehow it worked its way down to 60C so it would boot, and that is when i made my first post on this thread complaining of temps) and it all lived happily ever after