Until now, there have not been many solutions for installing
better GPU and chipset coolers...
Some chipsets use standard heatsink paste and pins to
hold it in. This gives quite good cooling, but the heatsinks are generally
pitiful, and using the old pins to install a new one is difficult.
Frag Tape is often used, it's like double sided tape
but with thermal transfer. This proves to be quite poor compared to paste.
My favourite method, thermal paste with a drop of super glue
in each corner to hold it in place for good transfer and ease of installation.
And of course Epoxy. But most epoxies used (often seen
on GPU's as standard) are of a poor thermal transfer. But then along came
Arctic Silver Epoxy!
Arctic Silver are well
known mainly for there excellent thermal pastes used by most true hobbiests
on their CPU and HSF combinations. As we all know (don't we boys!) silver
is one of the best conductors of heat (thats a metal and available), so the
fact the thermal paste has 78% to 82% silver content just makes plain sence
it should work better than silicon based! Now, lets compare the qualities
of this popular thermal paste to the epoxy variety.
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Arctic Silver II
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Arctic Silver Epoxy
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Made with 99.8% pure micronized silver.
78% to 82% silver content by weight.
Extended temperature limits: - 40C to >160C
New formula insures minimal viscosity change from 0C to 150C
Thermal conductivity: 8.4 W/m°K to 8.8 W/m°K (Hot Wire Method Per MIL-C-47113)
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Made with 99.8% pure micronized silver.
62% to 65% silver content by weight.
Temperature range: - 40C to >150C (Bond strength is weakened at very
low temperatures due to crystallization.)
Superior thermal conductivity. Greater than 7.5 W/m°K
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As you can see, the main difference between the two (which is
probably the most important factor) is the amount of silver content. Even
though there is a difference, you can see it doesn't affect the conductivity
too much and temps should be very reasoable using the epoxy. One warning that
is shown for both the epoxy AND the paste is this:
"Arctic Silver II was formulated to conduct heat, not
electricity. It is only electrically conductive in a thin layer under extreme
compression. (While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper
greases, Arctic Silver II 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.)"
Becuase of this, you must be very careful with application. This is how I went
about installing it on my chipset and GPU....
