Arctic Cooling MX2 tarnishes copper

[swaaye]

I took off my 8800GTX's cooler the other day to replace it with a HR-03 Plus and noticed that the MX2 I had put on there months ago had tarnished the copper base. ArctiClean took some of it off, but it's not all coming off without some serious polishing or light sanding. Just a FYI.

I bet the stuff would be ok if the cooler was nickel plated. I wonder what my lapped IHS and Scythe Ninja base look like...

[GripS]

I took off my 8800GTX's cooler the other day to replace it with a HR-03 Plus and noticed that the MX2 I had put on there months ago had tarnished the copper base. ArctiClean took some of it off, but it's not all coming off without some serious polishing or light sanding. Just a FYI.

I bet the stuff would be ok if the cooler was nickel plated. I wonder what my lapped IHS and Scythe Ninja base look like...

Thanks for the heads up! :up:

***scratches MX2 off of list of things to buy***

[NickS]

This is true but haven't we gone through this before -- tarnishing of the base doesn't affect performance. If you want it off buy a sheet of 2000 grit and a piece of glass (4x6" or so) and spend a whole 15 seconds on the base. It'll look brand new. Heck, you don't even need the glass.

[situman]

So does as5 or any other thermal paste I've used. The copper will slowly tarnish on its own anyway.

[Demo]

Sounds pretty normal, as based on my own experience even AS1 did that

[Talonman]

Nothing ketchup won't solve...

[it_burns_when_i_pee]

copper always tarnishes, shame really. there are alot of snazzy looking all copper coolers but after a few months in your pc they are soon dull :(

[Ugly n Grey]

Aunt Ugly's home cleaning tip of the day;
all copper is easily cleaned with a light ammonia solution, Windex even works fine (because of the ammonia) , just rinse totally clean and dry well.

[AliG]

At least it doesn't seriously mess up the base like that coolabrotary gunk will do to alu bases

[swaaye]

So does as5 or any other thermal paste I've used. The copper will slowly tarnish on its own anyway.

I don't remember AS5 doing this. I have it as well and I'm almost positive it doesn't cause a perfect tarnish area exactly where the paste was, as MX-2 did. The area of copper not in contact with the paste (just air) was barely tarnished at all (after months).

But yea, the effect on thermal conductivity may be miniscule.