Author Topic: Thermal Paste recommendations for an Athlon64? (Read 556 times)

Reschke · « **on:** April 28, 2004, 08:48:45 AM »

I am putting together an Athlon 64 based system and need to grab some of this stuff. I know Artic Silver was pretty good the last time I used it a good while back but I have no idea if anyone has made something better in the last couple of years.

ChasR · « **Reply #1 on:** April 28, 2004, 11:49:58 PM »

A review I read rated Shin Etsu G-751 tops. I got some with the Corsair Hydrocool 200 and can say that it works very well. Finding it is the hard part. Google lists a few places that say they have it. I've used Arctic Silver 5 for most of my builds and it also works well. Don't let any of it get anywhere that it can short things out. It is conductive.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #2 on:** April 29, 2004, 12:08:43 PM »

The thermal paste plays a very minor role in the cooling of the CPU. The a64 has a heatspreader which lessens the role even more.

Any decent paste will do, personally I use arctic silver. The difference between el-cheapo and expensive paste is marginal (2-3 fahrenheit.)

You'll be fine as long as your heatsink/fan or watercooling is up to the job.

ChasR · « **Reply #3 on:** April 29, 2004, 12:59:07 PM »

The difference between the best and the worst can be as high as 8 to 10 degrees centigrade. Thermal tape is far and away the worst followed by silicone based greases. Another factor is the finish on the contact surface. Some expensive HSFs (Thermalright to name one) have milled contact surfaces as opposed to polished surfaces. On these, you can feel the tiny ridges left by the milling machine with your fingernail. If you're not willing to lap the HSF, the thermal paste you use is crucial. Many serious overclockers even lap the heatspreader on the processor because they don't beleive it's smooth enough.

ChasR · « **Reply #4 on:** April 29, 2004, 01:31:39 PM »

Here's a review of Arctic Silver 5 compared to Arctic Silver 3. The difference under load between the two is 3 degrees centigrade. I consider that to be a significant difference.

Arctic Silver 5

Reschke · « **Reply #5 on:** April 29, 2004, 02:41:22 PM »

Thanks for the input guys. I can wait a couple of days since no one close to me has any good quality cooling goo.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #6 on:** April 30, 2004, 12:22:30 AM »

Just a little input ......... Ive gotten as much as 8c drop from switching to artic silver . 3-4 c is the avg though .

the copper base heat sinks and or water cooling works best for over clocking

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #7 on:** April 30, 2004, 01:17:25 PM »

Well duh if you use the thermal pad the diff will be larger naturally.

I was comparing cheap thermal _paste_ with arctic silver.

3-4 C or even 5-6 C isn't a big deal when you consider heatsink/fan combos have 10-20C differences easy between them.

If your cooling is limited by that extra 4C you're doing something wrong to start with.

ChasR · « **Reply #8 on:** April 30, 2004, 02:34:25 PM »

It took me a while to find the review of Shin-Etsu but here it is:

Thermal Compound Review

Shin-Etsu G751 outperformed generic thermal compound by 10 degrees C and Arctic Silver 3 by 3 degrees C. As other reviews show Arctic Silver 5 to beat AS3 by three degrees, I'd say it's about a tie between AS5 and Shin-Etsu.

I wouldn't let my $200 plus cpu run 10 degrees C hotter than it had to over the $5.00 difference in the cost of el cheapo thermal compound vs. AS5. Heat = Early Death.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2004, 06:45:45 AM »

Well its not about the cost - just the worried thread about 'which paste should I use' went a bit over the top IMO.

ChasR · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2004, 08:06:19 AM »

Siaf,
I must confess to using the AMD thermal pad equipped HSF in a few of the XP 2500 + computers I've built. I knew they were going to be in an office environment and would never be overclocked. 45 degrees under load was acceptable. So I actually agree with you that in most instances, the TIM would make little diffference. But for a guy building his own computer with a very fast and hot cpu, why settle for less than the best. If Reschke is like many of us he'll tinker around OC'ing the beast and he'll need the best.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2004, 03:51:00 PM »

Well if you go that road, invest into a vapochill straight away..

I find tinkering with this kind of stuff little moot when we still discuss aircooling.

Reschke · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2004, 06:56:26 PM »

As of now I have the stock HSF on the chip and its working great and it seems to be working great. I found a local company with Artic Silver but it wasn't the latest good stuff. I do have to go back tomorrow and grab the Thermaltake power supply since this one just isn't quite pulling its load like it should. I have a 350W in there now but it needs something else since I have several devices in the system.

ChasR · « **Reply #13 on:** May 02, 2004, 12:50:19 PM »

Thermaltake is a good choice in power supplies. The stock AMD heatsink will do fine but buy somethig better if you plan to overclock any. I put a Thermalright SLK-900A on a 2500+ Barton and it reduced the temp under load by 11 degrees centigrade. That allowed me to overclock it to 2.2GHz (3200+) with room for more.