How dangerous is artic silver?

pirate252 · Dec 29, 2002

I have this on my CPU and was never worried about it becasue theres no real places for it to short out next to that little dye...but now i want to get the expoxy stuff to put ramsinks on my video card, the traces leading into the ram chips are right there...i am worried about this spilling over the side onto those traces and shorting it out, but i dont want to put not enough on to get good contact, what should i do guys?

Thanks

Matt

FleshEating Bob · Dec 29, 2002

Get Arctic Alumina epoxy for your video card. AA is non-conductive, so it won't short anything out.

-J- · Dec 29, 2002

or u might try to cover the traces with some tape while aplying the AS, then taking it out, and then putting the sinks.

that should help.

toastedzergling · Dec 29, 2002

The AS thermal compound is conductive and killed one of my video card, the AS epoxy however, is not conductive

Tygur · Dec 30, 2002

toastedzergling said:
The AS thermal compound is conductive and killed one of my video card, the AS epoxy however, is not conductive

The Arctic Silver Compound is just as bad/good/whatever as the Arctiv Silver Epoxy, according to their website.

Also, according to their website, the Arctic Silver is supposed to be slightly capacitive, not conductive, whatever that means. It can cause problems, but it's supposed to be hard to, or something like that.

I would suggest using the Arctic Alumina epoxy.

flixotide · Dec 30, 2002

If you wanna go safe, AA is probably the better solutiion... but hey, unless you have grandma hands, I doubt you'll plaster the whole lot huh?

Just keep som isoporyl alcohol nearby, that'll remove the stuff if you get the connectors moist.

Cheers, Flixotide

ArBiTaL 24 · Dec 30, 2002

If AS is so conductive and kills componants, why don't they design a non-conductive version?

Tygur · Dec 30, 2002

ArBiTaL 24 said:
If AS is so conductive and kills componants, why don't they design a non-conductive version?

They did. That's what Arctic Alumina is.

Jab-tech · Dec 30, 2002

Correct me if I am wrong but Arctic Alumina uses Aluminum as a thermal conductor, arctic silver uses silver a a thermal conductor ?

If one coducts so should the other...

Also neither are supposed to be conductive except under pressure (under a heatsink) so a blob on a couple of traces shouldn't hurt (although not ideal)

It is also slightly capacitive... Basically means it could hold a charge like a capacitior but it doesn't transfer the chrage to other components.

madsam · Dec 30, 2002

you are supposed to smear a thin layer of silicone on the little legs on the ram before using the as adhesive. this is like aquarium sealer stuff. let it dry, and then proceed with the as adhesive, or aa adhesive. also, make sure you do not use too much adhesive, just the same as being sure not to use too much thermal grease. i know, it's hard to tell what's too much, and what's not enough, but that's why you might want to use the silicon to seal off the legs on the ram chips. that silicon stuff takes like 24 hours to cure though, maybe faster drying stuff is available.

there is an article somewhere here at the forums about that, but i cannot find the thread right now.

Tygur · Dec 30, 2002

jabtek said:
Correct me if I am wrong but Arctic Alumina uses Aluminum as a thermal conductor, arctic silver uses silver a a thermal conductor ?

If one coducts so should the other...

Also neither are supposed to be conductive except under pressure (under a heatsink) so a blob on a couple of traces shouldn't hurt (although not ideal)

It is also slightly capacitive... Basically means it could hold a charge like a capacitior but it doesn't transfer the chrage to other components.

Arctic Alumina uses ceramic, I believe. It certainly doesn't contain aluminum. The people that make it call it a "Premium Ceramic Polysynthetic Thermal Compound". They also state that "Arctic Alumina Compound is a pure electrical insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive".

Jab-tech · Dec 30, 2002

THANK YOU !

flounder43 · Dec 30, 2002

From the AS website:

Re: Arctic Silver:

Negligible electrical conductivity.
Arctic Silver 3 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 3 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.)
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as3.htm

Re: Arctic Alumina

Electrical Insulator.
Arctic Alumina Compound is a pure electrical insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina.htm

pirate252 · Dec 30, 2002

Thanks for the info flounder43 clears up a lot for this thread

MichaelMu · Dec 31, 2002

artic alumina is much safer for VC'S

madsam · Dec 31, 2002

i would still use the silicon and the as adhesive personally, but it seems artic alumina adhesive is the preferred choice here. i dunno why. it's not hard to smear a little silicon on the traces, or legs, or pins..whatever you prefer to call them.

and if i was using arctic alumina , i would protect the traces anyways, so, wouldn't it be wise to use arctic silver for better cooling? i mean, i've read it cools better than arctic alumina.......and the whole idea is to get better cooling to the video card, so, why skimp and use second best?

i mean....has no one ever read about protecting the legs or pins with silicon before? am i the only one who's heard of this? if anyone has a link to what i'm referring to, please post it.....

AntmanMike · Dec 31, 2002

Directly from the man (Nevin House).

Arctic Alumina is Aluminum Oxide in a polysynthetic substrate, pretty much. Basically, its an advanced ceramic. I have a protype sample of Ceramique in front of me (an evolution of Alumina). It performs better than AS3. Then again, I also have a sample of the next Arctic Silver.

pirate252 · Dec 31, 2002

i would still use the silicon and the as adhesive personally, but it seems artic alumina adhesive is the preferred choice here. i dunno why. it's not hard to smear a little silicon on the traces, or legs, or pins..whatever you prefer to call them.

I would rather use artic alumina for two resons, one, its not conductive so theres no reason to have to put silicon on your pins, and 2 i have read about it and it preforms just as good as arctic silver 2, not as good as asIII adhesive, but i would rather not risk the life of my card for one degree of difference...

Matt

madsam · Dec 31, 2002

pirate252 said:
I would rather use artic alumina for two resons, one, its not conductive so theres no reason to have to put silicon on your pins, and 2 i have read about it and it preforms just as good as arctic silver 2, not as good as asIII adhesive, but i would rather not risk the life of my card for one degree of difference...

Matt

when i said as adhesive, i was referring to as3 adhesive...oops. he he he .

yeah, that and AntmanMike says this as3 and aa is old news too. lol. i understand the less risk idea, but sometimes overclocking is all about risk, and doing the mod right. i do have a gf4 ti4400, and like you, i don't want to fry it either. my card has ramsinks on it from the factory, but i'm sure their adhesive is nothing like aa, or as3, and i would like some copper ramsinks too.

i would like to know if there is a safe and effective way to remove my ramsinks?

AntmanMike, when does the next generation of aa, and as, come out? i just recently purchased as3 adhesive for my gpu, but if there is newer, better stuff coming out, i'll wait. i am willing to do the silicon idea, if the new as is going to be that good

gat any links? and thanks for the info....

pirate252 · Dec 31, 2002

You can try sticking your card in the freezer, never tryed it myself but a lot of people here tell people to do that and then they will just 'snap off' May want one more opioion before you do it, but i think you can get them off that way.

Matt

How dangerous is artic silver?

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