Do different thermal compunds make a difference

jon76

jon76

Member
Hi all, just wondering if it matters which thermal compound I use and are they specific to the cpu I'm using? as the one I re applied is Akasa 455, just hoping I am using the correct one, I got it from a computer shop down the road
 
JHM said:
..It also make a difference if they are applied well as opposed to being poorly applied...
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This is really where you are going to see the biggest differences.

IMO price/performance AS5 is the best. Just looking at performance there are better ones. Personally, I like Artic Cooling MX-4 the best. Problem is that is it almost 3 times the price.
 
I use AS5 most of the time because it's good and cheap. Shin Etsu is also supposed to be really good.
 
Any thermal compound will do the job if applied correctly but just be aware some compounds are electrically conductive so if you apply to much and it spreads and make contact with electrical tracks/pins this could be detrimental to your PC.
 
Are you OCing? If you are OCing and really pushing the envelope then one of the more expensive compounds like AS5 may make just enough difference to make it worthwhile but, as mentioned above, it needs to be applied correctly. If you read the instructions on the Arctic Silver website, you are supposed to "tin" the top of the cpu and the heatsink before applying the paste and installing the cpu and heatsink. The website also says it can take 200 hours for the paste to reach maximum effectiveness.

If you aren't OCing then the stock heatsink (often with thermal paste already applied) will work fine and it isn't really worthwhile to spend the extra money on more expensive thermal paste.
 
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Thanks everyone for the replies, sorry it takes me a while to get back, always really busy with kids etc, I'm not overclocking, I was just playing Civ 4 one day and after a ringing noise went on for a while I turned off the volume to realise it was coming from the computer, the heat sink was stuck to the cpu, I re applied it but I think I did it wrong, I read somewhere that if you have to pull it off you should start the process again. So today I re applied and the cpu temp is now down to 45 degrees c in bios, however it still crashes in windows
 
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