Thermal compound question

I am changing my heatsink/fan combo for new ones, I was wondering what was the best method to get the old thermal compound out before applying some new Artic silver 5. Gently removing it with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol?

 

Thanks MA, great info. I didn't think there was such a minimal difference between artic silver and other stuff around, maybe I bought this too soon and should have checked a little more. I have an old P3 Intel CPU, I doubt it's generating much heat compared to newer CPUs. Anyway, I will clean up the old grease and apply my newly aquired Artic Silver and see. My only concern now is that my new Heatsink and fan are slightly heavier then my old ones, hope im not putting too much stress on the plastic support that I clip it on.

Anyways, thanks again for the help!

 

Its is an excellent article but be aware although they do test toothpaste it has a high H2O % and thus the water will evaporate and leave a non-effective crust. But the point of the article seems to imply the $2 cheap thermal paste is probably just as effective as the more expensive "Name Brands".

 

If you are determined to use a high quality paste, look into Arctic Silver Ceramique. It isn't a conductive material and can't short out anything.

 

Why would these compounds even purport to contain silver when silver is a conductive material??

 

Because it conducts heat very well.

 

What's a good material for conducting heat but not electricity?

 

I use my credit card to scrape the CPU & the HS, then Q-tip is OK but can leave little fibers behind.
I do use Q-tip's on occasion, I also use camera lens cleaner material I get at Walgreens aprox $1 for small pack, no fibers to leave behind

Rubbing alcohol is a bit on the mild side also contains too much water, I think most is about 1/2 water
I opt for Isopropyl alcohol 91% or higher, at Walgreens 16oz 91% probably under $1

I prefer Artic silver ceramique.
safer/clean up easier/last longer
Any drug store will have lens cleaner rags & Isopropyl

 

Artic Silver Ceramique works very well. Not sure whats in it, but it conducts almost as well as their silver TIMs.

 

The best known conductor is Diamond its over twice as conductive as silver and when pure an insulator,when impure its a semiconductor,better not let it get to warm though as it will evapourate to CO2 or CO1 cant remember

I agree unless your looking for every last degree of temperature loss anything that thermal paste written on will do especially on a p3,here is an interesting article,about whats in a couple of TIM's

http://www.overclockers.com/articles938/

I actually stand by arctic silver 5 which I am currently using I cant speak for any others,one thing thats missing from every heat greese roundup is a break in time 'AS5 its 200 hours, others are similar',if you used the same computer to test 10 pastes your looking at a couple of months of solid testing not only does the computer need to be on,but it must be turned on and off like normal use,a stress program run,the computer turned off left to cool then repeated,the room temperature would also have to remain constant throughout the test,that or 10 identical computers being turned of and on at the exact same time,a stress program to be run again for the exact same time,then all the comps shutdown left to cool and the process repeated, it would be quite a logistical and expensive nightmare

In this time arctic claims your mean temperature will drop 5-9 degrees,there is science behind the myth though as the paste heats up it becomes less viscous and the heatsink speazes it out,it then cools and alot of its stays out,this repeats itself over time until there is only a fine layer left,this slow movement of the paste arranges the different size silver particles into the smallest volume they will fill increasing density and thermal conduction

speaking only from my experience it has my 6800gt "agp" idles at 45c, in the few weeks after application 5 months ago' it idled around 50c,my cpu temperature and reaction to load for example running toast the temp now reacts much more slowly,at first application the temp would almost instantly go up 45 degrees,now after the breakin time it slowly rises up toward its max temp evidence the paste is letting the heat pass through more efficiently,the max temps of both though are only a couple of degrees lower,I havnt tested the mean temp

My two cents

 

Thanks for all your insights, very much appreciated. I cleaned the old thermal paste with an old "clean" plastic card and final touches with q-tips + alchool (as ASUS mentioned). Then I applied a very thin layer of my artic silver 5 on the CPU. So far everything seems smooth, I also enjoy the soothing / silent new fan I installed on the heatsink, my old fan was very loud and annoying. Thanks again, I wish y'all a great weekend!

 

I have to say during the recent sub-tropical summer period (max can hit 42-43C!) I was often running my computer in ambient environments of ~32C. I had bought this system in August last year (2005) and was a complete n00b. My system started hitting ~65C and a warnig alarm beep began sounding in my case, I was at a complete loss, thermal throttling was kicking in and my CPU processing became signifcantly slowed and impaired. The sys was still under warranty thus I took it back to shop. They returned it to me on 2 occasions and said there was nothing wrong (in AC environ of 24C!), here began my enforced technical learning of computers. So on the 3rd occasion I took it back and put the system under load in front of them and got the alarm beep to sound. Finally I got their attention and at this stage was beginning to sound like an informed comp user (in comparison to owner) and to my dismay was beginning to understand and diagnose the prob better than they could. We had the tech look at it and he removed the stcok thermal pad and replaced with AS5 and we instantly achieved a permanent 5C decrease to ~55C idle. Over time this is now at 45C but seasonal ambient temps have decreased so I can't ascertain actual CPU temps overtime.

I'm happy with AS5 but have not conducted good comparitive assessments between this and other/generic brands, repeated the experiments to generate means and used statisical analysis to try to distinguish actual (meaningful) significant differneces. As long as you don't spend to much on TIM and get sucked into marketing hype (compared to scientific proof) it doesn't overly matter which you use.

 

Excellent article I love seeing the shonks get wots for and you can't fault the Science behind it

 

I am floored, after reading this whole thread I am astounded. I swear by AS5 and apparently I'm just a victum of good marketing. I own my comp business where I buy from a recycler and sell as used. So I am always changing cpus and fans out. MA (or if he would perfer Mom he he) using stock paste until now that would have been unthinkable. I put the little tubes that come with processors out on my counter for my customers to take when I sell used CPU's.
The only purpose behind paste is to fill in the scratches between the two mating surfaces, if you used car wax that should work right, It would fill in the scratches and is non conductive.

As for removal, I use a kleenex and rubbing alcohol, that gets 90% and usualy works. for a thermal pad, I use a razor blade, fresh, clean, and sharp. This works very well by watch out for deep scratching.

 

Described in your context, someone is going to put a huge glob on their CPU

The idea is to increase the contact of the heatsink to the core.

For removing a thermal pad, I'd use a plastic putty knife to get the big stuff, alcohol should get the rest. No worry of scratching that way.

 

For those seriously into OC the choice of thermal interface material can mean 4-5C then they can squeeze more CPU speed. Which is the best? Still not sure but it can be like motor oil in the car some do perform better than others.