Cold Thermal Compounds

[Player0]

All right, let me get your opinions on this one. Anyone who is anyone knows that Arctic Silver is some of the best goop around. But, it turns to absolute sludge at anything under 5-10c degrees.

I haven't had a chance to thoroughly test it yet myself, but I'm actually starting to think that Arctic Silver II is better than AS3 when it comes to thermal transfer at cold temperatures. I've always found that using the absolute thinnest layer of goop when using cold water gave me the best results, althuogh using a medium (standard) coating for normal heatsinks gave me the best results.

I think AS is designed with temps in the 30-50c range in mind, not the -10 to 10c range. What do you other chillers use? Has anyone else noticed if AS2 works better in the cold?

[sjohnson]

I haven't done chilled cooling since the cel 300a days - but since it meets both WECo and Mil Spec, perhaps Type 44 should also be a candidate.

From http://www.altex.com/Detail.bok?category=Computer+Hardware%3A+Heatsink+ Compound&start=1&total=2&no=2810 , the operating range is -40-deg C to 200-deg C...

[calantak]

strange...
I'm using AS3 very very thin layer between my evap and the p4 and it works out perfectly...
here is a temp by mbm @ evap -43

http://users.pandora.be/guy.cnockaert1/MBM.BMP
no problems whatsoever here.

[Player0]

Calatank, no problems here either. But have you tried AS2 in the same configuration? It seems to work better for me in colder temperatures than AS3. I wrote the AS guys, maybe they can confirm which one works better in that thermal range.

[UaZa]

generic thermal compounds works better than as2 in my chiller.

[Player0]

Hmm. Well that just confuses things more ;)

[Leo]

AS3 and AS2 have both "foiled" for me under low temperatures. It's been widely speculated that this is not great for performance.

http://www.mustangmods.com/publish/BigL\/side1.jpg

http://www.mustangmods.com/publish/BigL\/side2.jpg

[Player0]

I just got an e-mail back from Nevin at Arctic Silver. He sais that newer batches of Arctic Silver 3 work better for cold temperatures. He sais the current formula is best suited for warmer temperatures though.

I think he's going to send me some samples to test for some new formulas which should like cold better. So that is very cool. SubArctic silver here we come :)

[calantak]

woow!
give him my adres also, some sub 40°C madness to test that stuff