Artic Silver 5

[azokaei]

Hi i was wondering how much Arctic Silver to install on my Amd Athlon X2 4200+ AM2 processor, i read the instructions and just wanted to make sure i fully understood it, so do you just put a pea size in the center of the processor and then put the heatsink on it and twist it a little to get the air bubbles out, or do you put a pea size on and put a plastic bag on your index finger and spread it out to a thin layer?

 

[dragonsprayer]

I spent some time trying different methods - heres my low down:

1) too much is ok too little is bad - too little and you get high temps - you know this immeadiatly if you get too high of temps. Remove the hsf you see dry areas.

2) the best way is put a half pea in the middle - not a bb size.

then make a small spatula and spread it back and forth from center to the edges - cover the entire chip.

 

[badge]

Use a very small amount like you mentioned, not too much, and it is ok to spread it out very thin in the center of the cpu cover. I use a guitar pick to spread it very thin, a credit card will work or the finger in plastic bag should work although I have never tried that method.

 

[dragonsprayer]

I will add by spreading it from the center to edge you tend to get more in the middle - thats what you want.

after you finish spreading it and you see ridges and vallies trowl it smooth - like trowly cement with a light force go from edge to edge in all for directions.

if follow this method you see that you do not see a large temp drop later due to movement of the tc and you get low temp numbers fast

i cut a small 15mm by 5mm plastic spatula from the plastic packaging of many parts

 

[Spikke]

They say just to put a dab in the middle and twist the heatsink a bit. Some people spread it out prior to putting the heatsink on. I suppose it is just personal preference, I'm really not sure if one way is better than the other.

 

[azokaei]

ok i'll try that, thanks you guys, i was like trippin cause i didnt know exactly how to do it, i think i 'll use a a guitar pick, lol

 

[badge]

Here's some of the more desirable official artic silver thermal paste spreaders. Not! LOL.

http://www.guitarpickshop.com/

 

[Spikke]

Hey, I suppose anything that doesn't get your greasy hamburger chompin fingers all over the cpu is good.

 

[dragonsprayer]

with a hot chip lets say 3.5ghz qx6700 its important you put in on properly

with a e6600 unclocked just stick a bead on it and forget it!

 

[jitpublisher]

I have always used a grain of rice size dab, and slightly twisted the heatsink left and right just 1 time while applying a little pressure. I have noticed when I remove the heatsink at later date, that the application is even and covers the surface pretty well. Never had any heat problems, so far anyway.

 

[little_scrapper]

The "proper amout" is going to be determined more by the flatness, or lack there of, or the IHS and HS. If they are both flat, then grain of rice is easily twice what you need. Most IHS's are concave so grane of rice or more is about right. I have put on just about every kind of thermal paste you can think of and I have put it on in about any way concievable. And from my experience, which I have lots, no matter how I put it on, dab in middle, line, spread it, squish it with HS, it never made more than a couple degrees C difference. And what I do now is just put some on a go, I dont even think about it.

As dood said too little, trust me its hard to put on too little, is bad, but also make sure your not putting on a toothpast size line..hehe.

just put a line in the center, and go with it. when you put the HS on it pushes the air out the sides. I personally dont like to SPREAD AS5 cause its really easy to make ridges that trap airbubbles.

People are far too worried about it. Unless your going for a world record OC, your worrying for not. If your running so far on the ragged edge that that 2C will make or break you then.....well your OC is going to fail and crash your system in a week anyways so who cares. hehe

 

[jitpublisher]

I got to argee with you on a couple of points little_scrapper, it doesn't take much as it will spread out a long ways across the surface when you clamp down the HS. I think also people do tend to get a little over-technical and carried away about the whole application thing. The highest source of the heat is the center area of the processor anyway, not the edges.
I don't like spreading it out either, you have more of a chance of getting air bubbles trapped, and a less effective application, IMO.
All the talk I see about lapping, sanding, applying, etc. For all that trouble, heck I'd just spend a little more and buy a faster processor in the first place.
But, I guess there are a lot of people who just like to play around and see how far they can go. Nothing wrong with that, but for most people, yeah apply a little dab and go.

 

[little_scrapper]

The lap job I did was actually my first attempt at lapping and I just wanted to see if it really helped temps. Knew it did but yea I like to play with things. Both my HS and CPU were very concave. After lapping I got and immediate 7-8C dropn in load temp. Thats pretty significant. I figure after the paste had time to set I was getting like 9-10C.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Here's a link to a related thread from 2006. It has AS application instructions as a link, and some good discussion.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/202577-28-arctic-silver-instruc tions-core

 

[dragonsprayer]

it makes a huge difference if you spread it properly with a square heatsink interface, uneven faces - like thermalright and really hot chips like a 3.4ghz qx6700 or 4.25ghz p4

last night i built a e6420/g33 lan system - when using the stock intel round interface i just put a half a pea on the center and add the heat sink.

again - thermalright heats are best but they very "unflat" poorly machined. I can not emphasize enough that apply the compound in the center and throw ling toward the edges makes a huge difference - 10-15c difference sometimes