Thermal Paste?

davidacorddavidacord Humboldt CA
edited May 2008 in Hardware
I'm new to OCing...
I get a general idea of what it is from the name, but what is thermal paste? Where do I get it?
How much $?
From the other recent thread I saw "TIM" what is that?

I'm thinking of pad modding a dual core E2160

Comments

  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    TIM is Thermal Interface Material - it's whatever is sandwiched between the processor and the heatsink to conduct heat between their surfaces. A TIM is designed to fill in the microscopic gaps between CPU and heatsink. Some are better than others: a Thermal Paste is better than a stock thermal pad, for instance. This is because TIMs get to the point of diminishing returns very quickly. A thicker coating is almost always worse.

    Many manufacturers have come up with some excellent options for thermal paste these days. I'm not 100% current on what's latest-and-greatest, but Arctic Silver has a good reputation.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    you can pick up thermal paste at almost all computer stores. Like GHoosdum said thermal paste that is an artic silver mix is what everyone uses when they have to reapply. Thermal paste is just a conglomerate of materials that are decent to good at conducting heat through itself. Usually you can tell what the major component is them based on their name i.e. Artic Silver or Artic Ceramic. There are different blends and everything but usually as long as you get something that is a silver based paste you are good. This is because of the thermal properties that silver has for transferring it to the heatsink that is sitting on top of it.
    You are looking at a steep 7-10 dollars American.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    artic silver mix
    Typo, I'm sure. Arictic Silver is a brand. I'm sure somewhere in the Arctic silver is mined, but I'm sure it's just called silver. :)

    David, following are some good brands of thermal paste:

    Arctic Silver
    MX-2
    TX-2
    OCZ Freeze

    There are plenty of others that are good as well. BTW, thermal interface material, the most common with home builders being paste, is not just for overclocking. It should be used for just about any heatsink - CPU, PWM/MOSFET, northbridge, and southbridge.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    Um yeah the arctic should be takin' out of there but there are a lot of products labeled as Arctic Silver (#).
  • garfield619garfield619 Philippines New
    edited May 2008
    ............ TOOTHPASTE
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    I say forget the thermal paste lets just get hold of a giant diamond and level the base out and stick that sucker on there. You want the best thats where its at. The one time your gf or wife will want you to get her computer hardware.
  • garfield619garfield619 Philippines New
    edited May 2008
    :hrm:
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    Diamonds have the best heat [FONT=&quot]conductivity so if you could make your heatsink out of that it would be pimpest air cooler in the world besides the most rare and expensive one. Its kind of a joke.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_conductivity a quick ref for how good different materials are at conducting heat.
    [/FONT]
  • garfield619garfield619 Philippines New
    edited May 2008
    Heatsink made from diamods. that would be heavy for your pocket. but your CPU would have some BLING!
  • DonutDonut Maine New
    edited May 2008
    Not a heatsink but..http://www.innovationcooling.com/article1.htm
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