Question about thermal paste

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Hello Toms,
I recently built a Rig That I plan to use for Gaming. I have had some second thoughts about the Thermal paste I used to seat the Cooler on the CPU. The Cooler is an Antec H2O 920 and the CPU is an i5 3570k. I feel like I may have cheated myself on the Paste. I went to RadioShack. I know I know!!!! Yes RADIOSHACK and picked up some silicone based Thermal paste. It came in a small white tube with an orange label on it. After a little research I noticed most high end thermal paste is metallic. The thermal paste I used was white. Do you think this may be an issue I need to correct, and if so can you guys recommend something for me? Thanks in advance guys!!!
 
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P1nnacle


Hey sorry, I've been out of town so I haven't been checking Toms. Those temps you posted are very good, only slightly higher than I get with watercooling and fancy thermal paste. I wouldn't bother replacing your paste.
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P1nnacle

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If you're not doing any major overclocking, you'll be fine with a lower quality paste. That said, you can see cooling improvements of around 5 degrees C if you have high end paste. I've used lower end paste for some of my builds that aren't overclocked, and it keeps them cool.
 
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makarov

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Ditto. There is often not a huge difference between different types. If you're not overclocking or pushing your system hard, I would focus more energy on your heatsink and the application of the paste itself.

To put everything into perspective, I read an article yesterday from Hardware Secrets that discussed using mayo as a thermal paste. It is actually quite effective and will last for a while (I believe 2 weeks+).

I purchased Artic Silver's Ceramique2 thermal paste from RadioShack, which is not as effective as something like Artic Silver 5. I actually prefer this because it is silicon based and not conductive; it will not short any circuits if you accidently get it on something and don't realize it.
 
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P1nnacle

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Yeah toothpaste is the bomb for thermal paste... If you only need to cool for about 2 minutes.
 
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The thermal paste I purchased is here. I thought of using the OC genie to Overclock the CPU but I havent had real need of it just yet. The games I play are MMO based, WoW, Aion, SWTOR, and the occasional Skyrim. I did test the OC genie and it took the CPU from 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz but only left it long enough to run a prime95 to see how it held up. During that test I got around 75c-85c but the test was only around 20 mins.
 
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P1nnacle

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Well I wouldn't worry about those temps if you're running a stress test with your setup. What I would do is hold off on redoing your thermal paste. Later on, if you feel you need to OC to keep up with games, I'd think about replacing it and getting some higher quality paste. Do you know what you idle at?
 
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Idle is usually mid to high 30s

 
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I wasn't so sure about the Idle temps I gave you guys yesterday, so I went home and took a Snip of Coretemp at Idle. Tell me what you think...
ibYtX8a.jpg

I have also given it some thought about moving from a modular water-cooler (Antec h2o 920) and going to a larger Water-cooling system. I wonder about the necessity to do so because I have heard such mixed reviews about the modular systems.
 
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I checked a seperate computer that I used the same paste for and the Temps seem to be a little high, Idling it runs in the 40s, it is Fan Cooled so I might expect it to be a little higher. So what do you think regarding my Temps posted above. Do they seem correct?
 
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P1nnacle

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Hey sorry, I've been out of town so I haven't been checking Toms. Those temps you posted are very good, only slightly higher than I get with watercooling and fancy thermal paste. I wouldn't bother replacing your paste.
 
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Thanks for your reply P1nnacle, Mind If I ask what kind of water cooler you use? As I stated I use one of the Modular ones the Antec 620. I always find mixed reviews regarding these. Might look into upgrading to and actual reservoir pump setup. Would I see a huge improvement?

I might be going a little off topic here!!!
 
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P1nnacle

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I don't care if you go off topic, might want to mark it solved if you want to though... I don't know. Anyway, I use an EK Supremacy CPU WB, an older version than what they sell now, but still a nice block. Talk to a lot of WC guys and they all have their brands, I use EK for all my blocks, while there are slight differences in cooling performance between cards, it's usually close enough that I go with what looks better.
 
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