New Heatsinks and 3 different thermal pastes.

[Seven]

I'm stuck and need some help...

I have the Asus A7N8X with a Barton 2500+
I'm going to use the Thermalright Slk900a that comes with a tube of white stuff shown in the link below.

http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/thermalright/slk900a/parts.jpg

Next is the Swiftech MCX159-R Chipset Cooler which will sit on the Nforce 2 Northbridge just like in this picture in the link below which comes with Arctic Alumina thermal compound.

http://www.modthebox.com/review254_2.shtml


I also ordered the new Arctic Silver 5 that I was going to use on both heatsinks. It came in a plastic ziplock bag with a 1/8th allen wrench.
I'm guessing the allen wrench was a mistake on the shippers part.

Then I saw this about Arctic Silver 5.

"PLEASE READ
Arctic Silver Exclusion - Monarch Computer will not warranty any processors damaged using Arctic Silver or other silver based thermal compounds. Arctic Silver is a thermal paste that is conductive under certain conditions. See this statement found on their website - http://www.arcticsilver.com/as3.htm: "While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 3 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. The compound is slightly capacitive, and could potentially cause problems if it bridged two close-proximity electrical paths."
Monarch Computer's testing labs have never used Artic Silver's products. We have found Artic Silver to be unsafe in most conditions. It should not be used when installing processors. AMD does not endorse use of Artic Silver"
(here's the link)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=TC

Here are my questions.
1.Should I use the compounds that come with each heatsink?

2.Use the no name compound on both?

3.Use the Arctic Alumina thermal compound on both?

4.Use the Arctic Silver 5 on the CPU only, or on the Northbridge only, or on both?

I will be overclocking if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

[Rade]

Id go with arctic on both.

[Glok]

When I built my PC I used arctic, and since I was such a nooblar I got it all over the place. Didn't seem to do any harm.

[Seven]

Originally posted by Rade
Id go with arctic on both.

Arctic Alumina or Arctic Silver 5?

[Rade]

Silver 5

[Wharg0ul]

been using arctic silver in it's various forms for years now...built many a machine with it, NEVER had any problems, and I do have a couple old t-birds that got swapped around a lot and virtually covered with the stuff. Never any problem.
Just be really careful...a little goes a long way.

[Shakari]

I have never had any problems with the standard thermal paste and have seen a few cpu damaged my artic silver tho

[Artie]

If one person fucks up with artic silver there's bound to be a warning. Just remember when you use it that if it fucks your mobo up, then it's your fault...but it's 99.99995 safe. So, if you aren't a complete nooblar and spray if over your entire mobo, it's all good. The use of artic isn't neccessarily a big thing though, and if you're still a tad uncomfortable, go to infotech or some comp savvy place and ask them for a non-conducting thermal paste. Easy as pi3. ^_^

[msdong]

i wonder why anyone use it for anything but overvlocking. that again makes me wonder why ppl overclock :)
not only is it expencive compared to others but i dont think a few degree on a normal CPU makes the difference.
same goes for chipset cooling. the only reason i should change the onbord cooler would be if its vent is broken.

[Wharg0ul]

For the duration of this post, as in most tech posts, Arctic Silver has been abbreviated to AS.

The cooler the processor, the more stable. It's that simple.
AS isn't THAT expensive (like $8.00 u.s. for enough to cover dozens of cpu cores), and the extra few degrees make a big differance if you either over-clock, or live in a place where it's typically very hot all the time.
AS is also very nice for vidio card cooling....for those who like to get every bit of performance out of their card possible.
I've also had a couple of mother-boards whith stability issues due to the northbridge over-heating. A little AS, a nice little fan, problem solved.

Honestly, if anyone's stupid enough to get AS all over their hardware, they shouldn't be fooling around in there anyway.

[Seven]

Thank you everyone for the help. ;)

[HTEC9900]

I love AS. :D