Tip on ZALMAN ZM - STG1 Thermal Compound..?

[zooairz]

To all,

I received a bottle of ZALMAN ZM - STG1 Thermal Compound with a 9700 fan that I purchased earlier in the year and thought nothing of it. Read a review that indicated it was a hair better than classic AS5 and got it back out.

With Zalman on the phone, I asked about this stuff being electrically conductive or not and they said "insignificantly so" (no thank you, I'll use Ceramique and sleep well) and they added "use a very thin layer."

Their instructions say to add a layer, using a lazy man brush (I'm all for it), to both interfaces and tighten down.

Should I follow their instructions or just put one layer on one surface, wipe it as a prep for the micro holes and apply a normal layer to the other surface and tighten it down? (I always clean with alcohol etc before using TIM's.)

I have heard that less is more with this stuff and if all were perfect, metal on metal would be ideal.

I recently tried to replace the TIM gunk on my evga 680i NB and SB with the ZM-STG1 and the temps improved wonderfully on one and worse on the other, that is why I am throwing this out there. This was the result of adding a VERY thin layer to one, spreading it with my finger in a bag and applying a normal layer to the other surface and wiping to fill the micro holes.

Any thoughts welcome, thanks for reading and your thoughts.

 

[mad-dog]

I wonder if STG stands for "super thermal grease"......lol
The results of your comparing 1 thermal grease against another and recording different temps are most likely due to the 2 mating surfaces not being perfectly flat and inconsistencies in the thickness of the layer that separates the 2 components, I firmly believe that you realize the thermal grease is simply intended to form a thermal bridge between the 2 components and permit the exchange of heat over a larger surface area.
Electrical conductivity is not a issue as the 2 components make metal on metal contact anyway, larger gains in thermal transfer to a heat exchanger can be had by ensuring the 2 surfaces are perfectly flat allowing the conductive barrier to operate at higher efficiencies.

 

[zooairz]

Thanks again for the info Mad-dog.

Yes, the electrical conductivity bit was related to another thought, it should have been omitted. I was asking about that in-particular for some voltage regulator heatsinks.

I read what you are saying, but I am limited to how flat I can get the NB and SB heatsinks to the chips as they are connected to each other by a heat pipe and install with springed pushpins supplied by the company.

Say I cannot get them flat. should I just use more "super thermal grease" or a small dab of old school AS5 and let it spread how it will? ie, the most efficient (though not ideal) situation?

Here is the process I'm pursuing, for what it is worth:
http://evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=61145&mpage=1&key

Thanks again for your help.

 

[mad-dog]

The NB and SB chips themselves are considerably smaller than the heatsinks themselves, you should apply a small amount to the top of each chip and not the bottom of each heatsink, then reattach the heatsinks.
You can tell from the pictures that the manufacturer used entirely too much TG when the mobo was assembled as there was a thick accumulation of it around the chip........just a dab will do ya.....

 

[zooairz]

Thanks again, appreciate your wisdom.