Is Thermal Paste all it's cracked up to be?

Scrubking

Scrubking

CAGiversary!
Been doing some research and I think that I'm now less likely to try it.

Most reviews only claim a 2 or 3 degree decrease, and the rest claim a ridiculous, hard to believe decrease.

Most importantly application seems a like major pain and the application inscructions have more warnings than actual instructions. On top of all that they say I have to wait up to 200 hours to get any results while at the same time stating that your cpu can fry in less than 10 seconds - WTF?

I would appreciate any input, and as a funny note - the artic silver instruction page on their website has this as the very first warning:

DO NOT PUT IN MOUTH.

I though that was hilarious.
 
Depends on your processor and what sort of cooling you have in the case. I would put SOME sort of heatsink compound or what-have-you at the very least if you don't want to drop the cash on the fancy stuff.

Hmmm...motherboard questions, now thermal paste questions. Sounds like someone is upgrading!
 
Yeah, it's time for me to upgrade. I found some good deals over at newegg so I decided I might as well.

If I use anything other than the standard thermal pad It might be ceramique since it is non conductive and a lot easier to use than the silver stuff.

Also does anyone know how long this stuff lasts before you have to apply it again?
 
Ya like Psyclerk said, only once unless you remove it. The stuff on the stock heatsink works fine. You may want to upgrade if you are going to overclock, but then again if you overclock, you arent gonna be using the stock heat sink,
 
Whoops, meant to mention overclocking. But if you overclock, thermal paste will be the least of your concerns.
 
[quote name='PsyClerk']Whoops, meant to mention overclocking. But if you overclock, thermal paste will be the least of your concerns.[/quote]

lol isnt that the truth. Ya in short, stock thermal stuff is fine for %99.99 of the population. If you get an OEM processor it wont come with a heat sink fan combo. Just make sure the heatsink you choose has thermal compound on it, or get a tube. I almost always get teh retail version, as it comes with a HSF combo.
 
I purchased many cpus and heatsinks from newegg, and if you go the AMD route, and decide to get a heatsink/fan combo, it would be good to pick up a tube of thermal paste for a few bucks. Most heaksinks dont have shit for paste on the bottom and with AMDs being so hot, you want to spread the paste all over the cpu die.

Better to be safe than to burn out a cpu.
 
[quote name='Scrubking']Can anyone recommend a good and cheap heatsink/fan combo?[/quote]

In my experiences from newegg, after you buy the heat sink and fan and pay for shipping, it comes out to be the same or more than a retail processor. Plus retail ones have a 3 yr warrenty where teh oem only have 1 year.
 
Ok,

Hold the phone. a thermal pad is not for thermal purposes its actually used as a base for the fan so you dont crack your cpu.

Check out PCMECHANIC its at PCmech.com

GREAT SITE!!

They will galdly help you out. Another option is to use the newegg reviews and sort the productsw by reviews. It will put the highest reviewd item at the top.

Now watch out that its not 5/5 with just one review or whatever make sure it has a decent amount fo reviews.

I personally found the AMD 2500 MOBILE cpu and an ABIT NF7-S board to be the perfect combo it can easily overclock to AMD 3200 speeds. Great bang for the buck.

The aftermarket fans are better than stockers especially if you are even considering overclocking.

Jump on those boards before you make a decision do a few searches and then ask questions. You will be amazed at the quick/accurate/polite responses you get.
 
Funny, I have an NF7-S with a 1400+ (holdover from a previous board that burned out), and am looking to upgrade my CPU. I posted about this situation on the sharkeyextreme boards, and heard much the same thing about the 2500+.

How much hotter does the overclocked 2500+ run? I used to have trouble keeping my 1400's temperature under control (had to get a new case and throw 4 or 5 fans in there to keep it from overheating).
 
Overclocks are never guaranteed. Temperatures vary by system. You have to buy the chip and give it a run to see how you fare. Some chips may be able to overclock with lower volatges, some may not. It will also depend on what kind of cooling you will put on the CPU.

I have my desktop 1800+ @ 2.3Ghz 1.7 vcore. Stays at around 45C on load. NF7-S and TR SP-97 w/ Panaflo 92mm M1B.
 
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