thermal compound

[sdot]

someone told me, that when building a pc...a thermal compound usually
comes with the heat sink..either a compound or a pad....he said that i
should buy my own compound...remove the one that was supplied and put
the new one in....i am not sure how necessary this is...as from
intel...i would excpect a compound or pad that is efficient
enough....does anyone have any experience with this....or opinions or
suggestions....i am leaning towards leaving the supplied one there..but
just changing it after a year or so....wat is your take on this
guys..an gals...

 

[JAD]

no need to 'touch' the pad or to touch it in a year or 4 years or 6
years........... never have done this (unless I was upgrading the CPU). for
instance this P4B266 system has never been fooled with after its debut in
2001, other than a cleaning. Temps are not even worth mentioning, as they
are as average as it can get.

 

[Bob Davis]

someone told me, that when building a pc...a thermal compound usually
comes with the heat sink..either a compound or a pad....he said that i
should buy my own compound...remove the one that was supplied and put
the new one in....i am not sure how necessary this is...as from
intel...i would excpect a compound or pad that is efficient
enough....does anyone have any experience with this....or opinions or
suggestions....i am leaning towards leaving the supplied one there..but
just changing it after a year or so....wat is your take on this
guys..an gals...

Go with the compound. Even the best costs very little, around $12 for
enough to do many CPU's. Most newer P4 Prescotts run hot, and a good
compound will cool the CPU several deg. C lower than the strip that comes on
a stock HSF. Every little bit helps. If you do a lot of gaming or heavy
graphics work, you might consider an aftermarket HSF. That costs a bit
more, usually around $35 for a good one.

To my knowledge, Arctic Silver 5 is the best available now. Follow the
installation instructions on their site, and remember that a little goes a
long way. Their instructions for the Socket 478 P4 is to start with a dab
"the size of half a BB." It's been a while since I've seen a BB, guys, but
that's pretty small. IOW, don't glob it on.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

Go with the compound. Even the best costs very little, around $12 for
enough to do many CPU's. Most newer P4 Prescotts run hot, and a good
compound will cool the CPU several deg. C lower than the strip that comes on
a stock HSF. Every little bit helps. If you do a lot of gaming or heavy
graphics work, you might consider an aftermarket HSF. That costs a bit
more, usually around $35 for a good one.

To my knowledge, Arctic Silver 5 is the best available now. Follow the
installation instructions on their site, and remember that a little goes a
long way. Their instructions for the Socket 478 P4 is to start with a dab
"the size of half a BB." It's been a while since I've seen a BB, guys, but
that's pretty small. IOW, don't glob it on.

I replaced the thermal pad on my AMD with Arctic Silver and the
difference is about 5 degrees C.

Charlie

 

[Bob Davis]

I replaced the thermal pad on my AMD with Arctic Silver and the
difference is about 5 degrees C.

That's a great improvement for that money, IMO.

 

[JAD]

not taking into account the probability of a screw up

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

That's a great improvement for that money, IMO.

Yeah, it's huge relative to the dollars spent. Good thermal compound
is a no-brainer. I like to go long on the basics and short on the
crap, like mini-skyscraper heat sinks with colored fluid heat pumps.

I wouldn't mind building a pimp machine for someone else, though. I
could see if being fun, if it was someone else's money.

Charlie

 

[Guest]

someone told me, that when building a pc...a thermal compound usually
comes with the heat sink..either a compound or a pad....he said that i
should buy my own compound...remove the one that was supplied and put
the new one in....i am not sure how necessary this is...as from
intel...i would excpect a compound or pad that is efficient
enough....does anyone have any experience with this....

If you bought a combination CPU and heatsink covered by the CPU maker's
warranty, use the thermal conductant they included or else you may void
the warranty. AMD, for example, requires use of a phase-change
compound (much more viscous than any thermal grease, like clay) to
maintain warranty.

The worst thermal conductors usually are thermal pads made of rubber
and thermal tape, probably because they're so thick, but as long as the
CPU stays at least 5C below its maximum (preferrably at least 10C)
under worst-case conditions, there's no reason to use anything else.
The important factor is to keep things cool enough, not to achieve the
lowest temperature possible, and unless you're overclocking, there's
absolutely no benefit to cooling a processor from 60C down to 40C.
It's more important to keep other components cool, such as hard drives
and electrolytic capacitors located next to hot coils or MOSFETs. The
best solution to hot electrolytics is to replace any from Taiwan or
Chinese manufacturers with those from Japanese companies, but blowing
air over the MOSFETs is helpful.

 

[`A tower nj]

Maximum PC magazine recently tested all this stuff and found out the stuff
that comes in the little plastic bags is
just as good as anything else in real world applications.

There was a measurable difference between the various products but not
enough to make any difference in how the computer runs.

Their recommendation is to go with whatever came
with the CPU/Cooler.

 

[Bob Davis]

Yeah, it's huge relative to the dollars spent. Good thermal compound
is a no-brainer. I like to go long on the basics and short on the
crap, like mini-skyscraper heat sinks with colored fluid heat pumps.

I wouldn't mind building a pimp machine for someone else, though. I
could see if being fun, if it was someone else's money.

I'm in your camp, and to me visual appeal is the last priority. No LED
lights or gizmos in this box, and just one look reveals the appeal of
appearance. The black case with biege peripherals is a dead giveaway.

I did build one for a friend, though, who got off on LED's and a plexiglass
side cover. Kind of cool if you're into it, I guess, but in my office you
can't see any of that anyway where the box is located. Plus, why load down
the PSU with this crap, even if the extra stress is small?

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

Maximum PC magazine recently tested all this stuff and found out the stuff
that comes in the little plastic bags is
just as good as anything else in real world applications.

They may have compared thermal compounds, but if the contest is
between thermal pads vs. compounds, my own experience demonstrated
that the compound is significantly better than the pad supplied with
the CPU.

I could give a shit about voiding my precious warranty. I want to
keep my CPU as cool as possible.

Charlie

 

[JAD]

They may have compared thermal compounds, but if the contest is
between thermal pads vs. compounds, my own experience demonstrated
that the compound is significantly better than the pad supplied with
the CPU.

I could give a shit about voiding my precious warranty. I want to
keep my CPU as cool as possible.

says you until you need it.

 

[Matt]

someone told me, that when building a pc...a thermal compound usually
comes with the heat sink..either a compound or a pad....he said that i
should buy my own compound...remove the one that was supplied and put
the new one in....i am not sure how necessary this is...as from
intel...i would excpect a compound or pad that is efficient
enough....does anyone have any experience with this....or opinions or
suggestions....i am leaning towards leaving the supplied one there..but
just changing it after a year or so....wat is your take on this
guys..an gals...

It's good to be so concientious ...

The people who design heatsinks for a living don't know half as much
about what they are paid to do as your 'someone' or the people who post
on this group. If the pros happen to have engineering degrees or years
of experience, that's just window dressing ...

Choose a popular make and model. I would just buy the retail-boxed
processor that comes with heatsink and everything. Install the hsf with
stock pad or compound. Make sure you do it right the first time, then
don't mess with it unless you have a good reason.

Install the HSF before you install the motherboard.

 

[sdot]

Word

 

[beerspill]

my own experience demonstrated that the compound is
significantly better than the pad supplied with the CPU.

I could give a shit about voiding my precious warranty. I want to
keep my CPU as cool as possible.

Below a certain temperature you'll get no real-life improvements in
reliability or performance, just bragging rights.

Think of it this way: The people who tell you to use the factory
thermal pad material on their CPU are the ones who will replace your
CPU for free if it fails, but the people who sell Arctic Silver and
claim that it's superior will not warrant the CPU. Money talks,
bullshit walks.

 

[Dave (from the UK)]

Below a certain temperature you'll get no real-life improvements in
reliability or performance, just bragging rights.

Think of it this way: The people who tell you to use the factory
thermal pad material on their CPU are the ones who will replace your
CPU for free if it fails, but the people who sell Arctic Silver and
claim that it's superior will not warrant the CPU. Money talks,
bullshit walks.

Well put.

--
Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
for a couple of months only. Later set it manually.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

says you until you need it.

It's burned in. I won't need no steenking warranty, and it would be
void for other reasons even if I did.

Charlie

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

It's good to be so concientious ...

The people who design heatsinks for a living don't know half as much
about what they are paid to do as your 'someone' or the people who post
on this group. If the pros happen to have engineering degrees or years
of experience, that's just window dressing ...

Your sarcasm is misplaced. Nobody would suggest the engineers are
incompetent. They design a system that blends convenience,
cost-effectiveness and "idiot-proofness" with performance that is
satisfactory, not necessarily optimum. If they have designed a
thermal pad that works as well as Arctic Silver, I'd like to see the
data.

Choose a popular make and model. I would just buy the retail-boxed
processor that comes with heatsink and everything. Install the hsf with
stock pad or compound. Make sure you do it right the first time, then
don't mess with it unless you have a good reason.

Sure, that's a good enough approach. You can buy an OEM machine and
eliminate even more risk and effort.

Charlie

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

Well put.

I don't claim that my CPU performs better because it's running cooler.
I do assert that I got it to run cooler by replacing the stock thermal
pad with Arctic Silver. I have hopped up my system and I am using it
to crunch video, play RTS games, etc. etc. Some would say I'm abusing
it, and maybe I am, so I'm at least gonna do the easy things to
enhance cooling.

Charlie

 

[JAD]

It's burned in. I won't need no steenking warranty, and it would be
void for other reasons even if I did.

explain what is 'burned in' in relation to a warranty based on time and
no tampering.
You use the pad for 'the duration of a warranty then take the thing apart
because you want a 5 degree drop in temp?