is xoticpc's arctic silver 5 option worth it?

[derlin]

ooh, good call on the standardizing of the AS5. I didnt kno that. Guess i'll have to go check up on that a bit more.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[drbiff]

Related question...I bought my Clevo M570RU-U (i.e. NP5793) from R&J Tech. Is it worth the $5 and little bit of time to put in Arctic Silver? Feel pretty comfortable taking electronics apart. Just wondering since I've read of some notebooks having worse cooling problems after people put in thermal compounds (e.g. Alienware M15x...although presumably taking out compound that was already in there). I have no problems with temps right now (but have not really stressed the system yet).

[Shyster1]

Using a higher-grade thermal compound than you currently have will always be worthwhile if you're going to be stressing the system (even just normal stress with no OC'ing). I haven't gone and read through any of the _Dell-related posts you've referred to (hey, like most people I'm inherently lazy and no link was provided ), so I'm going to use the vast powers of pure speculation and say that many, if not most, of the problems you referred to are more likely the result of not properly applying the new thermal compound.

Basically, properly applying new thermal compound is a bit like putting on a new head gasket in a high-performance engine. You have to be very meticulous about cleaning off every single last bit of the old compound, and removing any residue that might be inside the pores of the metal on the CPU and the heatsink, and then you have to be equally meticulous about making sure that the new stuff is applied as smoothly and evenly as possible, and with the greatest maximum coverage and no overspill.

That's very difficult to do (I've tried it a time or two - both gaskets and CPUs) and probably the biggest problem is going to be leaving too much residue from the old compound, especially little solid particles, or not getting proper coverage when putting on the new. Basically, anything that gets in the way of full contact between CPU and heatsink is going to cause problems, and in an extreme case might cause localized hotspots on the CPU that could do damage even if the overall temp reading is within normal range.

As a simplistic analogy, think of the old fairytale of the princess and the pea -

your CPU is a princess and even the slightest bit of leftover from the old compound is one giant pea (ok, ok, for the macho types, it's Xena the warrior-princess

feel better now? )

[drbiff]

hehe...Thanks. Like the graphics :-) Appreciate the info.

[Nirvana]

I did it on my thinkpad, it was fun.

[TommyB0y]

I wouldn't recommend taking anything apart that may still have a warranty.

Sometimes things just aren't as good as they were the second time you put it together.

Unless there is a sympton, don't fix what aint broke.

If someone tries to spread the paste with their finger it will probably cause a failure, because the little bit of oil on your finger might fry it. Spreading with a little tool may be hard to get it even, although it doesnt have to be perfect. The paste is just to provide the conductivity between the cpu die and the heatsink, because the two metal surfaces won't be perfectly flat, so the paste provides greater surface area of conductivity. I usually put plastic over my finger and spread it, after cleaning each surface with acetone.

So is AS5 really better than the white thermal grease stuff people may use. Maybe negligibly better, the cooling aperatus itself is more important. The only reason I would do it is if they were using a little heat pad/sticker thingy. I never understood those and must assume no one would keep using them.