Ab Work Outs: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound 3.5 Grams with ArctiClean 60 ML Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)Arctic Silver 5 (or AS5) is the best thermal compound on the market IMHO. It's basically an essential if you're installing a new CPU. This kit is everything you need to clean your heat sink, prepare the surface of the heatsink and your CPU, and ensure that your chip functions at the coolest temps possible.

If you apply the compound correctly, the result is always a 4-10c drop in CPU temperatures under load. You will not notice a huge difference at idle. The real gains in heat dissipation come when the CPU is being pushed. Also, don't trust the board maker's proprietary software to tell you what your temperatures are; download a good program like RealTemp 2.41 or Everest for free (use google to find them). Either will give you more accurate numbers than Asus PC Probe, or whatever software your board manufacturer supplies.

The instructions provided with this kit are minimal (small text on the side of the bottles) and could be confusing if you've never used thermal paste before, so here are some detailed instructions that will help you do it right. Here is the process:

1. Remove the old thermal compound. This is accomplished by using the remover (bottle 1). Apply a several drops of the cleaner to the top of the chip and let it soak for 20-30 seconds. You might have to reapply more drops of cleaner again depending on how much thermal compound was present on the chip to begin with, or how hard it's gotten over time. Wipe all the waste off with a lintless cloth or cotton swabs. You might have to do this several times. Make sure you get it as clean as you can before moving to step 2.

2. Apply the surface cleaner (Bottle 2). Apply several drops, and then work them over the entire surface of the chip or heatsink in a circular motion. Make sure there are no traces of the old compound. You can tell that the surface is perfectly clean when you can wipe it with a new q-tip and it comes away pure white.

3. Apply Arctic Silver 5. DO NOT USE TOO MUCH! If you do, it will squish outside the edge of the chip, get on your motherboard, the CPU locking mechanism, your hands, etc... It makes a real mess. Start with a small amount and add more if necessary. The idea here is to get a THIN, EVEN LAYER across the entire chip surface. A toothpick actually work's really well at spreading the paste around. You should not be able to see any part of the metal of the chip when you're done. Less is more in this instance; many people think they need to slather this stuff onto the chip, but trust me that does nothing but make a mess.

4. Install your heat sink and fan assembly. I recommend getting an aftermarket heat sink as those provided by Intel are notoriously poor. Zalman makes some great ones. Do NOT buy on that uses push pins to lock in place. You want one with screws and mounting bracket so that it is very securely attached to the motherboard and in turn, your CPU. This is probably equally important to applying the thermal compound correctly, because all the compound in the world won't help you if the heatsink isn't making solid contact with the chip's surface.

If you follow those steps, you will see a massive improvement in your core temps. Just remember that heat dissipation is achieved by the fans in your case and heatsinks, not the compound itelf. The compound simply allows for a much better transfer for heat from chip-->heatsink. I swear by Arctic Silver, and I promise you it works if you use it correctly.

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Product Description:
*Arctic Silver 5 With its unique high-density filling of micronized silver and enhanced thermally conductive ceramic particles is optimized for use between modern high-power CPUs and high performance heatsinks or water-cooling solutions.*ArctiClean is a two-step cleaning process that removes existing thermal grease or pads and prepares the thermal surface for a fresh application of thermal interface material. ArctiClean 1 Thermal Material Remover quickly emulsifies and dissolves the existing thermal grease or pad from the CPU and/or heatsink so that it can easily be removed with a clean cloth or paper towel. A few drops of ArctiClean 2 Thermal Surface Purifier and some gentle wiping then removes the remaining residue and inhibits flash corrosion on copper or aluminum.*Bonus MicroFiber cleaning cloth included