my grease lasts for maybe a week TT, any better products?

[Try'n 2 Learn]

i generally grease-up & clean-up heading into every new summer. after a week (or a little sooner) my temps jump right back up 5,6,7,, degrees Celsius. my temps are still fine. i typically use a bargain basement non-conductive ceramique. can anyone recommend a longer lasting thermal grease product?

[MartyMint]

You're doing something wrong. Thermal paste should last much longer than that...months if not years.

I suspect the fault is either in the mounting system...or your imagination.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

You're doing something wrong. Thermal paste should last much longer than that...months if not years.

I suspect the fault is either in the mounting system...or your imagination.

ok, so... i should avoid using grease altogether?

[Neil Edmond]

No thermal compound at all is a recipe for disaster! Many think Artic Silver 5 is the best, but most any, properly applied should last for years.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

ok, thankyou for that Neil. seems every time i open a new syringe, by the following year the grease has changed into a dryer consistency. albeit only about a 1/4 of the tube remains for use, i just toss it away and grab what appears to be a new & fresher syringe.

[MartyMint]

No thermal compound at all is a recipe for disaster!

As is slathering it on like peanut butter on a cracker, as some installations I've seen over the years.

Many think Artic Silver 5 is the best...

I've been using Arctic Silver products for over 10 years. It is reasonably priced, it's easy to find and a small tube goes a long way.

[niowluka]

Definitely something wrong.

I've recently stripped down a system I built up some 4 years ago, using grease that came with Zalman fan. It looked brand new: the colour, consistency, etc.

No issues with temps.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

well, not much to it really. i just lay down an evenly placed layer that is thin enough to be barely translucent ( the grease itself i have comes out opaque white.) 2 laptop w/cards, 2 desktop +chipsets w/3cards (the media center is a pair of 590's) +mem-controllers, thats about 2/3 to 3/4 of a syringe for the grease i currently use.

edited; like i say, the temps are all fine, just a noticeable increase after about a week.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

uh, that arctic silver is conductive. will it cause trouble with mem controllers? anybody know?

[MartyMint]

uh, that arctic silver is conductive. will it cause trouble with mem controllers? anybody know?

Not if you use it properly.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

uh, that arctic silver is conductive. will it cause trouble with mem controllers? anybody know?

Not if you use it properly.

i'd rather not try to solve a cipher here Marty... by properly, are you implying to not use it on mem-controllers?

[MartyMint]

What do you mean "memory controllers"? Do you mean that you have ramsinks on your memory modules (DDR2...DDR3...whatever)?

[all41]

MartyMint brought up a good point regarding excessive thermal compound. I spent many years in rf and power conversion R&D.
The purpose of the compound is to eliminate micro air gaps between the surfaces which effectively
increases the area of surface to surface contact. It does not take a lot to do this.
Both surfaces should be very well cleaned before application. The tool I preferred for spreading was an 1/8 in half-round teflon rod.
I would spread with the flat and then smooth with the round.
Effective airflow through the fins out to ambient air extends component life as well as the thermal compound's longevity.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

as it turns out, and as one might expect, we can't win the day by a thermal paste alone. in contrast, we can certainly loose by selecting a conductive paste and applying it incorrectly and/or applying it to the wrong components. so for myself, being a "non-professional" paste applicator, i think the best choice is Arctic Mx-4 citing this comparison review. http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/ind ... itstart=12
although Mx-4 is not mentioned in the review, it is slightly higher quality then its relative Mx-2. appears modestly priced from newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186038 and entirely safe,(would not recommend eating it or any other human body-consuming action). further suggestions appreciated.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

@41, yeah, as crazy as it sounds, i did stumble upon an article for lapping the processor. and it did have favorable improvements. maybe if i needed a mission critical set-up, i would venture down that path. its just outside of my needs. so something thin and low viscosity suits me up perfectly.

[Chiefahol]

There is not much difference in brands of thermal grease.

If your regreasing weekly something else is wrong,
- bad airflow?
- overheating of other components like motherboard or gpu?
- perhaps the CPU fan isn't connected down tight to the motherboard? (check if it wiggles)

I dunno, it's probably not the grease if you keep reapplying it to no effect.

[all41]

There is not much difference in brands of thermal grease

exactly--as the link in Try'n 2 Learn's post confirms.

Exacting comparisons would also include a constant torque specification--however ,
no data for this specification was offered in these tests. Question: was the torque constant? -not specified.
I would definitely expect to see 1.0C or so measurement variation--but I would never have thought 50 companies would compete here.

[Try'n 2 Learn]

@ Chiefahol, i do think your correct, it was my fault. at the checkout line, the cashier asked if i found everything i needed. after she jogged my memory, my response was, "oh, i do need your cheapest non-conductive ceramique thermal paste". she got on the blow, and within a minute or two, a colleague of hers showed-up with this product i am currently complaining about. i do enjoy constructive criticism, but all my components, that i can monitor, are returning this variance in temperature (the GPU's slighly higher %-wise). the generic ceramique was nice out of the starting gate & cost-wise, but then the wheels str8 fell off. it has to be some type molecule in the suspension which is prone to evaporation. i think i indeed got exactly what i asked for, . we'll see how this MX stuff goes. i just hate reworking this type of job in such a short time frame.

[JohnBobSmith]

I'm wondering if, to make better contact/spread the paste better, it would be appropriate to use popsicle stick and toothpick. Like, take the popsicle stick to spread it initially, and toothpick for edges. I'm also fairly certain you dont need much more than a pea sized drop, depending on the size of the die. I've never had to apply thermal paste, but here's just my thoughts on what might help.