wga22

Is it worthwhile for me to replace the thermal pad on my volcano hsf with the radio shack paste I own from before?

Should I get some artic silver, and do it right? I have a 1.4mhz tbird on an ECS k7s5a. Temps are a little on the high side, but I think it has more to do with my case cooling, cause without the cover I get good temps. With the case I run around 51C, without around 46!

Thank for any input.

Markel

Are those temps idle or load? If idle, yeah, they seem a little high. I've only used arctic silver, so I don't have much to compare with. It's supposed to be able to drop temps by a couple of degrees. I think your biggest problem is that the volcano is not the most robust cooler.

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wga22

The temps are under moderate/heavy load. To me, when having the case off makes such a big difference it means the case isnt getting enough air. I dont have a single case fan, but its a full tower case with all the slots open in back. Here is a picture of the volcano 6f I have. disappointing that it is weak, as its quite loud!

Thank you for the help.

Leon

I've used Radio Shack thermal compound before. Guess what? It DRIED OUT on me. Use some better stuff instead.

Markel

Oh, you've got the 6 Cu+. When you said Volcano, I thought it was one of the more basic models. That's not too shabby a cooler. But from what you say, I think some more case ventilation would definitely be a good idea. If you run below 50 under load, you should be ok, as far as I know.

ribitch

spend the extra 5 bucks and get artic silver. Its worth it.

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wga22

Thank you, that was the exact advise I was looking for. So often buying the best doesnt make that big of a difference.

ribitch

Not a problem

phreakyzen

Arctic Silver says that once you burn in the thermal pads you will never get out all of the stuff from the micorscopic gooves. You should lap the heatsink to get rid of a few degrees and the left over thermal pad.

Here's my 6cu

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sho.gun

So I've been wondering, how does one get those thermal pads off of a heatsink anyway? I tried using a razor blade once but that just screwed up the HS by making marks all over it.

Markel

Bad idea to use a razor blade -- too easy to scratch the underside of the heatsink. A better idea is to use something like a credit card.

phreakyzen

You should use a plastic edge like somebody else mentioned a credit card will work

sho.gun

So basically you just scrape the stuff off? But there will be some residue left and won't that affect the arctic silver performance?