*HOT* Free Thermal Paste

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mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,359
1,555
126
WARNING!

This is just cheap generic "silicone oil" thermal compound.
Silly kids on websites try to declare a winning thermal compound based on 1-2C temp difference but that's not what matters if you have an even remotely quality (flat) heatsink and compound at least thin enough that the heatsink settles in.

What is more important is the base oil, as synthetic ester base (as used in Arctic Alumina, Silver, etc) is an extremely desirable formulation for modern high-heat CPUs.

If you have a CPU with a metal thermal spreader on top, you might be able to get away with using this stuff but don't even think about using it on a faster-grade flipchip without a heat spreader (like some video cards, northbrides or Athlon XP).

Considering how many years (uses) the typical person can get out of a dozen or so grams of Arctic Silver (or your preferred synthetic stock grease) it's hardly worth a couple dollars savings to get this stuff, and it can damage CPUs if used long-term because silicone oil is inferior and pumps out more than the specifically engineered synthetic stock types. You're left with islands of solids and the temp of the part may not even accurately indicate temp of other portions of the chip.

In other words, your compound dries out too much, but a certain % of core is still contacting nardening grease. If that area of the processor happens to be above the thermal diode, your temps will not accurately reflect the entire core as it would (come closer to) if entire surface was uniform as it was when first applied.
 

MX2

Lifer
Apr 11, 2004
18,651
1
0
That was fast. Mine showed up today already. Its a pretty gosh darn big tube

'mindless1'....Are you basing your post on personal experience with this particular paste?
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,359
1,555
126
Originally posted by: MX2times
That was fast. Mine showed up today already. Its a pretty gosh darn big tube

'mindless1'....Are you basing your post on personal experience with this particular paste?

No, I do not use this but it is inherant in ALL silicone based compounds. This one, yesterday's, and tomorrow's brands as well. This specific reason is why the premium compounds switched to a synthetic base formulation.

On the other hand I have had flipchips display the previously described condition where the compound degraded over time. AMD for example has also mentioned the need to reapply grease for this reason. Unless you want to pull the 'sink off and reapply grease every year (really best done more often than that, I've seen it degrade a chip onto instability in 8 months) you should choose a compound formulated appropriately. Any new up-n-comer can throw a pinch of magic pixie dust into generic compound and claim it's just great, and indeed, if all that mattered was temp then they could just make it thin and the heatsink would settle in fast and do fine for short term purposes (like web reviews).
 

foodfightr

Golden Member
Sep 19, 2004
1,563
0
76
Uhnm now charging $3.99 for S&H... I bought my tube of AS5 for $4.99 shipped.

I'll stick with AS5, I got too much on the line to risk ordering from a company that used Microsoft FrontPage for thier website.

 

Devil2U

Senior member
Nov 11, 2004
514
0
0
Originally posted by: foodfightr
Uhnm now charging $3.99 for S&H... I bought my tube of AS5 for $4.99 shipped.

I'll stick with AS5, I got too much on the line to risk ordering from a company that used Microsoft FrontPage for thier website.



Yea! If they are now charging $3.99 for S/H..... go ahead and spend $2 more to get the best stuff around.
ARCTIC SILVER 5 THERMAL COMPOUND - 3.5 GRAM TUBE (FREE FIRST CLASS SHIPPING)
$5.99
http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/as5-3g.html
 

themikel

Junior Member
Mar 14, 2005
7
0
0
I requested the sample on the 10th, on the 15th recived my notice that i would get a sample and should recive it in a week. and checked my mail today, 17th and it was there. It came from texas to california pretty quick for a free sample, so all in all for something free it came quickly. well done.
 

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
Originally posted by: MX2times
That was fast. Mine showed up today already. Its a pretty gosh darn big tube

Got mine today too. It is a big tube, but as mentioned, and as you can see if you remove the yellow sticker, it's only 1ml of the stuff. The tube looks like it holds 5+ ml.
 

MX2

Lifer
Apr 11, 2004
18,651
1
0
Originally posted by: codeyf
Originally posted by: MX2times
That was fast. Mine showed up today already. Its a pretty gosh darn big tube

Got mine today too. It is a big tube, but as mentioned, and as you can see if you remove the yellow sticker, it's only 1ml of the stuff. The tube looks like it holds 5+ ml.

Didnt even notice till now. Oh well, free is free
 

conk9

Member
May 31, 2005
36
0
0
Got mine. Thanks kamranziadar
BTW, I'm going to use it on my yet to be delivered Opteron 165 paired with ASRock 939Dual-SATA2. I like the AGP/PCI-E slots and it's cheap. Not sure if I can maximize oc'ing. What's your take on your opteron 165 setup?
 

FDF12389

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2005
5,234
7
76
I got a three ml sample, maybe it was because I odered before all of the rush. Seems to work well on my pentium $ system, same temps as AS5.
 

rugger29

Member
Jan 3, 2001
196
0
0
My personal feelings on all this...
Charging $4 to ship a sample is definitely not meant to be some marketing tactic. Production, packaging, and postage probably cost at least that. I'm sure with the wave of requests they've received in the last month, it's starting to strain their wallets. Besides, how many people spent $50 on a nice heatsink, but are complaining about a couple bucks for the grease?
1mL in a 5mL tube? This is a sample folks. Unless you're running a shop, you probably have 9/10 of a tube of the best stuff on the market (as of 5 years ago) lying around. I know I do.
mindless1 seems to have the only logical knowledge of the makeup of thermal compounds. I'd say this type of info plus reviews from personal experience will be most valuable.
 

weepul

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2000
5,134
0
0
www.hd-trailers.net
Originally posted by: Cynicist
umm if its half the price of as5 and performs almost the same isnt that a good deal? formulav8 I hope you are being sarcastic.

well, that depends if you just take their word that it "performs better than AS5".

It's hard to say if it was a gimmick or not. I can understand they were propbably bombarded with sample requests, but charging $4 for shipping?!?! Unless they're shipping Priority Mail, I don't see how it's possible to cost $4 for shipping. Do note, this should ONLY be the cost of S&H since it is "a sample" (or as they said: Since we have had huge volume of requests, we have decided to charge a shipping and handling cost for each request.). Do remember, they are not trying to get you to purchase the actual item. They're trying to get you to try it for free, but need reimbursement for shipping.

It appears that ppl are getting 1ml samples. Is there even a direct comparison between ml and grams? The $4 AS5 bottles come with 3.5g of stuff.

formulav8 probably was being a bit sarcastic, but his points do have merit.

//krunk (^_^x)
 

shinzwei

Banned
Jul 5, 2004
3,117
0
0
well i got mine awhile back and just gotan Opteron 144. I decided to put some of the Thermal Max on the Opteron and im gettin g 31C Idle.....thats great! havent touched over 43 when i ran SP2004/Prime95. then i took off the themralmax and added as5.....what i notiuced was i was idleing at 37..going up to the higher 40!!!! This Thermal Paste is good!!!
 
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