HD 4870 Thermal Paste Reapply

[AllYourF0rt]

I'm getting a Sapphire 1gb 4870 in the mail this coming u week. I was wondering if it would be beneficial to apply Arctic Silver 5 on the GPU and the sink as well? This may provide a more stable OC?

[IVIYTH0S]

If you want to, though AS5 isn't very good anymore. I remember I didn't see any temperature change from applying it to my GTX260

[AllYourF0rt]

If you want to, though AS5 isn't very good anymore. I remember I didn't see any temperature change from applying it to my GTX260

What do you mean AS5 has been the standard for almost 10 years?

[Hemidare]

There are better non conductive thermal pastes out there now. MX-3 for one.

[potatochobit]

standard to be a fanboy? yeah, that's true.

in my opinion, AS5 was never any good due to the ridiculous way it is applied

 

here is what I forsee in the future

 

26% chance something messes up a year later due to improper contact or the fan assembly is not re-seated correctly

92% chance changing the thermal paste gives you no change in temperature, 3degrees or less

94% chance your overclocking numbers are completely unaffected

 

you see, overclocking a GPU is not limited to heat, except when the voltage is changed on certain cards

the reason being, is that most GPUs run at 50% fan speed or less

so if you want to get rid of heat it is very easy to turn the card up to full blast

but that introduces a different issue known as 'noise'

so people don't do it

so getting max cooling out of your GPU is not the best idea, you need to aim for the middle ground

 

to sum it all up: don't waste your time

[AllYourF0rt]

standard to be a fanboy? yeah, that's true.

in my opinion, AS5 was never any good due to the ridiculous way it is applied

 

here is what I forsee in the future

 

26% chance something messes up a year later due to improper contact or the fan assembly is not re-seated correctly

92% chance changing the thermal paste gives you no change in temperature, 3degrees or less

94% chance your overclocking numbers are completely unaffected

 

you see, overclocking a GPU is not limited to heat, except when the voltage is changed on certain cards

the reason being, is that most GPUs run at 50% fan speed or less

so if you want to get rid of heat it is very easy to turn the card up to full blast

but that introduces a different issue known as 'noise'

so people don't do it

so getting max cooling out of your GPU is not the best idea, you need to aim for the middle ground

 

to sum it all up: don't waste your time

I'm not a fanboy I have had very good experience with AS5 in previous builds. I might not be posting in the right place when 2c makes a huge difference I was just asking a freaking question.

Oh yeah i've never had a cpu problem with AS5 even when overclocking.

[IVIYTH0S]

I'm not a fanboy I have had very good experience with AS5 in previous builds. I might not be posting in the right place when 2c makes a huge difference I was just asking a freaking question.

Oh yeah i've never had a cpu problem with AS5 even when overclocking.

he means with improper contact between the heatsink and the IHS, but that's prone to happen with others too.

 

AS5 has the chance of shorting out stuff since it's silver but ceramic compounds do not.

[k1e1v1i1n]

i use as5 not cause i think its the best , its what i have in my house.

they all work fine , if you want to use as5 i say go ahead and do it . i have NEVER had a issue with my stuff shorting out and i have been using it longer then some ppl on this site have been alive.

[AllYourF0rt]

i use as5 not cause i think its the best , its what i have in my house.

they all work fine , if you want to use as5 i say go ahead and do it . i have NEVER had a issue with my stuff shorting out and i have been using it longer then some ppl on this site have been alive.

Right on! If you don't use alot then what's the problem?

 

From AS5 site:

Not Electrically Conductive:

Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.

(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)

 

I can see where some problems could arise, but if you dont you use alot of compound on cpu as to not overflow.

Edited November 7, 2010 by AllYourF0rt