Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Compound

[yazzy11]

Hi

I recently bought a market cpu heatsink & cooler to replace an intel stock cooler. I cleaned off the pre-applied paste off the CPU attempted to attach the new cooler but it wouldn't fit.

So I decided to replace the Intel stock-cooler but realised I would need to re-apply some thermal paste. My question is - is it suitable to apply after-market thermal paste such as the one in the title to use with the intel stock-cooler which came with pre-applied thermal paste?

For the record the CPU I have is the 2600k and the cooler looks like this:

http://assets.overclock.net.s3.amazonaws.com/9/9f/9fb9553e_vbattach189183.jpeg

(has a copper colouring on the bottom)

 

[rds1220]

Hi

I recently bought a market cpu heatsink & cooler to replace an intel stock cooler. I cleaned off the pre-applied paste off the CPU attempted to attach the new cooler but it wouldn't fit.

So I decided to replace the Intel stock-cooler but realised I would need to re-apply some thermal paste. My question is - is it suitable to apply after-market thermal paste such as the one in the title to use with the intel stock-cooler which came with pre-applied thermal paste?

For the record the CPU I have is the 2600k and the cooler looks like this:

http://assets.overclock.net.s3.amazonaws.com/9/9f/9fb9553e_vbattach189183.jpeg

(has a copper colouring on the bottom)

I use to be a huge fan of Artic Silver 5 and I've been trying to avoid threads about Artic Silver 5 because I don't know how I feel about it. It's not a bad thermal paste but what turned me against it was the 200 hour curing time. It will work fine but it's not on top any more like it was a couple years ago.
Also what aftermarket fan/heatsink did you get? Did you check to make sure it was compatible with the 1155 socket?

 

[yazzy11]

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 was the cooler I bought

It went in but meant I would need to sacrifice two RAM slots to have room for the fan.

 

[nforce4max]

200hours na, I usually get fairly good temps in a lot less time than 200 hours but usually it cures in less time but by then the cooler is well on it's way to be needing to be cleaned again where I live. A world of dust is no place to live in :/

Arctic silver 5 about one of the few good compounds out there besides a few others. You can't go wrong with it but it isn't the very best compound out there though. The very best compound is rather hard to get and very expensive.

 

[rds1220]

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 was the cooler I bought

It went in but meant I would need to sacrifice two RAM slots to have room for the fan.

That's the way it is a lot of times with these aftermaket coolers. The Hyper 212 was the same way for me. These aftermarket heatsinks are huge giving better cooling but a lot of times (depending on your mobo setup) you have to sacrifice the first and sometimes second RAM slots.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

I use to be a huge fan of Artic Silver 5 and I've been trying to avoid threads about Artic Silver 5 because I don't know how I feel about it. It's not a bad thermal paste but what turned me against it was the 200 hour curing time. It will work fine but it's not on top any more like it was a couple years ago.

I uset to use AS5 too, until i discovered Noctua NT-H1. No curing time and works better overall. Doesnt really cost more either. Now I wouldn't use anything else.

 

[rds1220]

I tried Timtronics thermal paste and like the thermal round up done here I got great temps with a water cooling loop.

 

[jsc]

I have been using AS5 and I have never noticed a significant difference in temps before, during and after curing.

I overclock and my goal is a successful, 24 hour Prime95 test run. Because this usually takes several days of trying, it takes 9 days to finish the "curing" time.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If ya have questions about the curing, just read AS5's own web site

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Important Reminder:
Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

read carefully .... that's not like 200 hours straight time .... that's 200 hours of thermal cycling .... in other words, if ya turn on the PC and use it for 8 hours, then that's 5 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down or 10 minutes of thermal cycling.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=5

After this article was first published, there was an immediate backlash from some of the manufacturers listed in this review. The primary argument was the lack of cure time. Here is the Arctic Silver 5 recommended cure time instruction from the manufacturers web site .... So by my estimation of this statement it would take almost a year of normal use to properly cure the AC5 compound, or almost nine days of continuous power cycles to meet their recommendation

As ya can see here, AS5 an Shin Etsu have identical thermal properties but Shin Etsu doesn't have the curing issue.:

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12

Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Thermal Compound (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.55°C A+
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G751 (0) Aluminum Oxide Moderate 37.55°C A+

TIM - $ 5 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080

 

[delluser1]

If ya have questions about the curing, just read AS5's own web site

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Important Reminder:
Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

read carefully .... that's not like 200 hours straight time .... that's 200 hours of thermal cycling .... in other words, if ya turn on the PC and use it for 8 hours, then that's 5 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down or 10 minutes of thermal cycling.

After this article was first published, there was an immediate backlash from some of the manufacturers listed in this review. The primary argument was the lack of cure time. Here is the Arctic Silver 5 recommended cure time instruction from the manufacturers web site .... So by my estimation of this statement it would take almost a year of normal use to properly cure the AC5 compound, or almost nine days of continuous power cycles to meet their recommendation

How do you get "200 hours of thermal cycling" from " up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles "

 

[nforce4max]

How do you get "200 hours of thermal cycling" from " up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles "

You don't, normal use is typically enough to cure this compound. Been using it over three years and it typically hardens after a week to two weeks. From when you first apply it and lets say 500 hours of normal use you won't see to much of a big change in overall temps but there will be gradual improvements.

 

[amuffin]

Wait, so which thermal paste would you guys recommend? I thought arcitc silver was on top and was the premium stuff, hehe i am using the paste that came with the 212 evo!

 

[memadmax]

My experiance with AS5 was immediate and apparent: The temps dropped, NOW.
I dunno about the whole 200 hour cooling time thingy.... It seems to me that the real trick with AS5 is applying it correctly and attention to detail...
Right now, I have what is reviewed as a crappy heatsink for overclocking: A thermaltake key3 spirit spinq(first version)... right now, my idle cpu temps are at or below system temp... When I overclock, I generally go +8-10 degrees above system temp, whereas before without AS5 my idle temp was always +5 degrees above system temp and my overclock was around +20 above system temp....

Now, I tried AS5 two times... the first time, I did a "traditional" glob of the stuff in the middle and slapped the heatsink on it and called it good.... this ended up doing hardly anything to my temps....

Then I went to AS's website and they have a detailed, proper way of putting this stuff on.... and bingo, thats when the temps dropped.

Plus, the second time around, I was a real clean freak about the whole thing. I cleaned and recleaned the cpu and HS. The cpu was really nice and shiny =D and the HS was already shined up from the factory...

So, I guess it all comes down to attention to detail, cleanliness, and following the instructions =D

 

[amuffin]

They use real silver in the paste!!!???? :O Btw is there performance differences between the grams of silver? I am thinking of water cooling one my builds, but I don't know if this is worth it :/

 

[delluser1]

You don't, normal use is typically enough to cure this compound. Been using it over three years and it typically hardens after a week to two weeks. From when you first apply it and lets say 500 hours of normal use you won't see to much of a big change in overall temps but there will be gradual improvements.

I know
Been using it much longer than that.
Like jsc, I've never witnessed any significant change after "curing"