a better thermal compound?

[faruquehabib]

nanotherm silver xtc claims to have 33% more silver than arctic silver 3. i have both and the nanotherm seemed to be good for 2 or 3 degrees cooler. so far it is the best stuff i've used. anyone else use it or have something they think is better?

[WildKard]

From what I've heard, Shin Etsu G751 thermal compound is the best, I've seen it best AS3 by 5c underfull load in several tests

[Major]

Hey WildKard, where can you get some Shin Etsu G751 ?? Sounds like something developed at NASA for Shuttle program ! hehe

[faruquehabib]

Originally posted by WildKard
From what I've heard, Shin Etsu G751 thermal compound is the best, I've seen it best AS3 by 5c underfull load in several tests

hmmm....whats with this test then?

http://www.overclockers.com/articles660/

[Tweaked!]

Personally, I've gotten equivilent results compared to most of those products out of Antec Reference. I actually like the Antec over the Artic Silver. Not saying I've gotten noticeably better results from one over the other, but that at least the Antec comes out of the syringe easier without making as much of a mess and seems to be thicker in consistency. Artic Silver seems to want to come out fast and ends up giving me more than I wanted, in which then I have to draw the syringe back up to suck up the extra which also causes air bubbles in the compound.

[antipop]

Originally posted by Tweaked!
Artic Silver seems to want to come out fast and ends up giving me more than I wanted, in which then I have to draw the syringe back up to suck up the extra which also causes air bubbles in the compound.

I agree so i try to be gentle with the syringue, and what is out is out never come back inside

[WildKard]

I have that problem with Arctic Silver also, and sometimes it SQUIRTS out and gets on the cpu making a huge mess

ShinEtsu can be bought at ajigo-store.com for $7

Those are very interesting results faruquehabib, in fact it is the first test I've seen where Shin Etsu didn't win! I will search the net for some more results

[antipop]

Shin etsu is hard too apply maybe that were the difference comes from?

[WildKard]

That could be it, Shinetsu is EASY to apply once you know the "secrets" of the paste what you do, is get some water close to boiling, and dip the syringe in it for about 10 seconds, or hold your hand on the syringe for like 10 minutes(I prefer the water) and then get out what you need, then take a ROUNDED toothpick and roll the shinetsu out extremely thin just like you would dough, its a bit more of a hassle than AS3 etc but it is well worth it

[SupaMan]

seems like pastes are at a point of limited return. I have always used AS3 myself, but i am going to test AS3 vs AA pretty soon. i have to make some adjustments to my case and RMA meh mobo first

[zakelwe]

Dan has some interesting words on the topic

http://www.dansdata.com/powerdev.htm

One of my pet hates is when hsf reviews actually use a thermal interface material. I wish they'd test using nothing so that the results are conistent betwen the hsf's.

Regards

Andy

[gobbo]

hmm, i use both AS3 and the ShinEtsu paste.

I use AS3 on bit surfaces (NB, P4s, GFX etc) and ShinEtsu on smaller surfaces such as AMD etc

I've done tests on both, and basicalyl they seem to perform virtually identical but i have found that the ShinEtsu gives lower ambient temps, whereas AS gives better load temps. But its normally only by 1C max.

[Walrusbonzo]

That review showing Shin Etsu to be the worst performer is flawed! The reviewer said this "Testing was done in one 8 hour period;"

Shin Etsu has to be left for a good 3 to 4 days to cure before your temps will start to drop on the CPU.

I've used Shin Etsu on several CPUs, and ALL of them showed 2 to 3C drops over AS3. But this was after several days when the paste had time to settle.

And like Wildkard said, the secret with Shin Etsu is to warm it up before applying, then it's much easier to spread.

[Kalway]

Originally posted by faruquehabib
hmmm....whats with this test then?

http://www.overclockers.com/articles660/

Gotta agree with a few others. Shin Etsu has to cure for 3-4 days before you see its advantages. AS3 only takes a few hours to a day to cure.

[MediOCre]

I've used both and I do like the Shin Etzu a little better. Not only does it run a degree or two cooler, if you sneak up on the neighbor kids and scream the name in your best Toshiro Mifune voice you can make them cry. Scream "Arctic Silver" and they just laugh and pelt you with rocks.
If you hold the syringe in your fist for a few minutes (Think Bob Dole) it spreads no problem.

[Tweaked!]

Originally posted by MediOCre
I've used both and I do like the Shin Etzu a little better. Not only does it run a degree or two cooler, if you sneak up on the neighbor kids and scream the name in your best Toshiro Mifune voice you can make them cry. Scream "Arctic Silver" and they just laugh and pelt you with rocks.
If you hold the syringe in your fist for a few minutes (Think Bob Dole) it spreads no problem.

I guess that's one way to look at it

[BrainStorm]

Originally posted by MediOCre
I've used both and I do like the Shin Etzu a little better. Not only does it run a degree or two cooler, if you sneak up on the neighbor kids and scream the name in your best Toshiro Mifune voice you can make them cry. Scream "Arctic Silver" and they just laugh and pelt you with rocks.
If you hold the syringe in your fist for a few minutes (Think Bob Dole) it spreads no problem.

Thanks for a couple of laughs!

[WildKard]

Yeah that was quite humorous, I now have something new to try tomorrow Let me practice!

/me sneaks up behind brainstorm SHIN ETSSUUUUU!!!

[PiLsY]

Yeah the shin etsu stuff is good. Its MUCH better than AS2/3 under extreme suvb zero temps as well (-20c or lower). It gave me between a 6c and 8c temp drop under the prometeia compared to AS. The AS always seemed to freeze and "crystallize" a bit whereas the shin etsu was exactly as it was the day I applied it.

Ive moved on to akasa thermal pads now though. Theyre much easier to apply than shin etsu paste and give me a degree or so better temps under load (probably due to a more even coat). Theyre actually shin etsu paste without as much liquid additive, and pressed into a sheet form. You simply cut a square as big as you need, pick it up with a stanley knife blade and place it on the cpu. Clamp the heatsink down and you get perfect and even coverage every time. Product code is AK-TC11 and it costs over here about £3 for "5" thermal pads. As I said it comes as a strip and actually does around 20 XP cpus or 5 P4s.



PiLsY.

[antipop]

I thought that the thermal pad weren't as good as the regular stuff and even not as good as as3 (i've made a thread a few time ago and that's what people told me)

[full loaded]

Originally posted by PiLsY
Yeah the shin etsu stuff is good. Its MUCH better than AS2/3 under extreme suvb zero temps as well (-20c or lower). It gave me between a 6c and 8c temp drop under the prometeia compared to AS. The AS always seemed to freeze and "crystallize" a bit whereas the shin etsu was exactly as it was the day I applied it.

Ive moved on to akasa thermal pads now though. Theyre much easier to apply than shin etsu paste and give me a degree or so better temps under load (probably due to a more even coat). Theyre actually shin etsu paste without as much liquid additive, and pressed into a sheet form. You simply cut a square as big as you need, pick it up with a stanley knife blade and place it on the cpu. Clamp the heatsink down and you get perfect and even coverage every time. Product code is AK-TC11 and it costs over here about £3 for "5" thermal pads. As I said it comes as a strip and actually does around 20 XP cpus or 5 P4s.



PiLsY.

sounds good.
I have a prometeia to so this wil be the way to max even more
but are those sticker likly thinks not to thik (big) to cool more than other pastes?

[gobbo]

Hmm, might aswell give those thermal pads a try, as they are cheep! Plus i can never get ShinEtsu paste to spread properly, it always seems to go on like putty!

[PiLsY]

Theyre about 0.25mm thick. VERY sticky as well so make sure you dont touch them at all with naked skin.

Theres a trick to applying them.

Cut off a square slightly larger than you need using a sharp stanley knife blade. The left hand side of the tapes with shin-etsu written on is a "handle" to peel the stuff off the backing tape. Lift off your cut out square using that. Lie it over the core without touching the compound part at all. Then run your stanley knife blade around the edge of the core of your cpu at 90 degrees to the edge of it. This will make an impression in the compound exactly the shape of your cpu core.with the top plastic cover tape still in place mount the heatsink and leave it for a couple of minutes. Remove the heatsink and peel off the top tape. This will leave ONLY the compound which was touching the core giving you 100% perfect coverage. Mount the heatsink again to give you a fully useable thermal interface. Unplug you fan, boot into bios and set your cpu to 8 x 133 (or as low as you can go) and the minimum voltage it takes to get into bios at this setting. Reboot to bios and sit on the pchealth screen. Let the termperature rise until it reaches 60c, then shut the pc down and leave it for 10 minutes. This stage is very important as it melts the pad to the exact even shape and thickness your after, and the cool down period afterwards cures it to its optimum performance. This stage can make as much as 5 - 8c difference to your core temps. There is no danger of core damage as long as you dont let the temp go over 60c. Plug your fan back in, set your cpu to its previous stable settings (or start ocing if its a new cpu). When you come to remove the heatsink at some point you will see that you have a microscopically thin layer of compound across your core - so thin infact thats its transparent. Perfect coverage every time.

It leaves no mess at all, very little wastage, plus as Gobbo said the pads are very cheap in comparison to other compounds.

BTW - gobbo youve spelt "custom" wrong in your sig .

PiLsY.

[full loaded]

sounds good pilsy, but I don`t know where to buy these thinks, you all live in uk/usa and country`s like that, but I live in the Netherlands.

[PiLsY]

Try checking the resellers listed on akasa's site (www.akasa.co.uk). You should be able to find somewhere at least within postal range .

PiLsY.