arctic silver 1 or 3?

Getting ready to order a new maze3 from dangerden and realized I still have a tube of arctic silver but it's not the as3. Any benifit from getting a tube of as3?? I'm sort of 8 bucks-ing my self to death so If there's no benifit I'm not getting it!

Thanks!

I'd just like to say that even the best pastes will only give you about 2C difference at most, 1C probably....no harm really using the supplied goop....

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.

maze3 dont come with grease, infact when watercooling that 2-3c temp diff matters, get the new tube of AS3 so that you can get the best temps~

Nothing is free my friend.. that's why I say 8 more bucks and it's mine..

AS1 dries out after a while. That can lead to some air in between the core and heatsink, and although miniscule, it will affect temps. I had that problem back in the day and had to redo the contact point once every few months. Now I never have to redo it with the newer version. I'm still on an AS2 syringe, but I'm sure AS3 is just as good.

I used generic paste for awhile, then bought some AS3. I saw about a 2 degree temp difference. But since you have some AS1, I would just keep that for a while, and then get some as3.

well i have seen 3C-4C using as3 over as1 as i just upgraded my grease as like previously stated as1 dries out after awhile which was like 3 months and i was tired of taking of the HSF and reapplying so much. my recomendation is get the as3 as that is what i will be using on my water rig once its done

IMO:

A well lapped heatsink will perform almost as well using crap thermal paste as it will with AS3; application of the compound is more critical than which compound you use........

UNLESS- you are trying to get the absolute lowest temps possible! In which case the AS3 is worth it.

In your case I would say to use what you have now and get a tube of something newer when that runs low.

As a side note about compounds drying out over time: I usually screw with things too often for that to be much of an issue, lol.

rogerdugans said:

IMO:

A well lapped heatsink will perform almost as well using crap thermal paste as it will with AS3; application of the compound is more critical than which compound you use........

UNLESS- you are trying to get the absolute lowest temps possible! In which case the AS3 is worth it.

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well i dont totally agree it depends on how well the HSF is lapped and how often you change out your paste. overall the lapping isnt worth the time i feel as you can get yourself a tube of as3 and save some manual labor

rogerdugans said:

In your case I would say to use what you have now and get a tube of something newer when that runs low.

As a side note about compounds drying out over time: I usually screw with things too often for that to be much of an issue, lol.

Click to expand...

i personally think he should just go with the as3 he may use it now or later save himself some time and money later down the road. also with the side comment i totally agree as for my personal rig i am always changing something so it never has time but on my other rig which needs to be up 99% of the time had as1 and it dried out so bad that i had to take a tooth brush and clean it up just to get it to work again

I used to pull mine aprt all the time but over the past year or so I've pretty much left it alone.. Since I'm doing the waterblock I'll probably go ahead and get the 3. Side note: I hear the alumina is not as good but that is what they are bundling with the swiftech mcw5000-a Check it out:

http://www.directron.com/mcw5000a.html

Think I'll get a tube of the as3..

get the as3 and the alumina in testing is not as good as the as3

Just stick with the AS1.

I have:
1/2 tube Radio Shack white silicone.
2, 1/4 tubes of AS1
1 & 1/2 tubes of AS2
1 unopened tube of Alumina
1 & 1/2 tubes of AS3
4/5 tube of AS2 Epoxy

heh... They're all the same.

Not really, but the differance between them is not worth the upgrade for $8. Get it if you want it, but the fact that the C or so differance between them is not going to make any relativly large impact on your life.

Take it from me. Unless you know that you'll be running out in a month, there is no need. Just put it off until the next upgrade you do and buy it then.

-Toysrme

*edit* I find alumina to be above white silicone compound, but = AS1. Alumina is not conductive, which may be the reason they bundle it I wouldn't pay for someone shorting their stuff on in install when they clearly can read (warning this is conductive)

AS2 epoxy is about the same as AS1 also. It's an epoxy however Good for glueing heat sinks to the back of video cards.