Artic Silver vs Artic Silver 2 comparison

[Dexion]

Ok this was posted in the general hardware forum, I think it deserves to be here instead for a more productive discussion.

I currently own both tubes of Artic Silver and Artic Silver 2. For typing ease I will abbriev them as AS and AS2.
Here are the specs of AS2 posted on Articsilver.com, does anyone know the original specs?



<< Artic Silver 2
Made with 99.8% pure micronized silver.
78% to 82% silver content by weight.
Extended temperature limits: - 40C to >160C
New formula insures minimal viscosity change from 0C to 150C
Thermal conductivity greater than 8.0 W/mK
2 to 7 degrees centigrade lower CPU temperatures than other thermal compounds >>



I notice that on paper AS2 is supposed to be 40% more efficient in heat transfer(original is 5.7 W/mk) , but how much of this 40% is represented in real world?
I purchased it recently despite having a tube of &quot;regular&quot; artic silver just for curiousity and the hope of better cooling performance I'm currently using a Hedgehog 238 w/ Y.S tech fan on my Tbird 850@1Ghz with the regular artic silver.
Since I'm not using a very accurate temperature monitoring system, I leave it up to reviewers or Mikewarrior to either back or disapprove this statement. However, since I was using the exact same CPU, Heatsink Fan, Motherboard and application method there is still some relevance to this small experiment.

Artic Silver 1
36 C Idle
43 C Full load
21 C Ambient.

Artic Silver 2
33 C Idle
43 C Full Load
21 C Ambient

Both temperatures are not really that much different except for the idle temp. I used RC5 for the FULL load temperature. I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but so far theres really no real purpose to purchase AS2.

Mikewarrior2, can ya make a &quot;official&quot; comparison with your methods?

 

[smp]

AS2 comes in smaller tubes doesn't it? Someone was selling it for 5 bucks too.. that's a difference if you ask me..

 

[shiznut123]

It only comes with 3 grams of stuff. Arctic silver comes with 6.5.

 

[lundog22]

I think the 3 degrees in Idle temp isn't that big of a deal. On the other hand if its under stress or full load .... thats a different story (may be if they aren't cheap about how much to give you)

 

[Mikewarrior2]

On a p3, roughly 35W, i get a 1-2C drop depending on application method and thickness(i'm currently set on using the finger-in ziploc bag method).


Mike

 

[Sunny129]

hey Mike, i'm not too up to date on thermal compound application methods. what exactly is the finger-in ziploc bag method? i just took my tube and covered the entire CPU core with arctic silver about .5 mm thick. is there a better way to apply it in which my CPU will yield lower temps?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

I squirt a little bit on the cpu core, then use my finger(sealed inside a ziploc bag to eliminate finger-oil contamination), and smooth out an even layer.

You can get it really thin, and really smooth, and really even this way.


Mike

 

[Sunny129]

would you call half of a millimeter too think?

 

[Gringo]

yeah, by a lot.

you generally want as thin of a coat as possible; a lot of people (and the AS website to boot) say that a translucent layer is optimal; on Intel's you can get that, on AMD's I've always had to use a slightly thicker layer. You DO want it as thin as possible to reduce the conductive mass that sits between your core and your HS.

G.

 

[bacillus]

I use clingfilm wrapped around my finger vs Mikewarrior2's finger-in ziploc bag method!

 

[ZeroBurn]

using a credit card seemed to give me more even results, guess i'll have to try the ziplock method now =P