Do you "tint" with AS5?

omaticrail

Member

​

Joined

Feb 11, 2002

Location

Seattle area

• Jan 5, 2004

• #1

In the Arctic Silver instructions it says that "tinting" is not required when using AS5.

So far I have interpreted that to mean that I'll get the same performance either way, but that tinting doesn't do any harm. Given the whole "settling" issue of debate, I also interpeted the "tinting" step as a possible means to minimize the settling time, and have tinted every time.

I'm considering NOT doing that step, in an effort to finally witness those elusive AS5 claims of fame.

Do you tint with AS5? What are your experiences?

 

V

vincent_1985

Member

​

Joined

Dec 2, 2003

• Jan 5, 2004

• #2

i did it just for the hell of it. better safe then sorry who cres doesn't waste much anyways haha

 

PabloEscobar

Registered

​

Joined

Jan 4, 2004

Location

Paradise

• Jan 5, 2004

• #3

That would be good if it acually took away from the 200 hours that the "AS" company sais it has to settle for.

Im sorta a newbie though... and i dont know exacly what you mean by "tinting". Ive heard of it i beleive but i forget what it acually is... or what the process is.

I just ordered some artic silver so the answer to this question i would like to know also.

What is tinting? lol

 

PabloEscobar

Registered

​

Joined

Jan 4, 2004

Location

Paradise

• Jan 5, 2004

• #4

Note:
Arctic Silver 5 is much thicker than our earlier silver compounds and it is very difficult to rub it into the base of the heatsink. With it's superior flow characteristics, the tinting steps can be skipped when using Arctic Silver 5.



Just got that from there site... So i guess no tinting is needed.

 

D

DoubleJ8

Member

​

Joined

Nov 29, 2003

Location

Bremerton, WA

• Jan 5, 2004

• #5

I tinted mine and got great results. I have never tried it without tinting though

 

OP

omaticrail

Member

​

Joined

Feb 11, 2002

Location

Seattle area

• Jan 6, 2004

• Thread Starter
• #6

PabloEscobar said:

Note:
Arctic Silver 5 is much thicker than our earlier silver compounds and it is very difficult to rub it into the base of the heatsink. With it's superior flow characteristics, the tinting steps can be skipped when using Arctic Silver 5.Just got that from there site... So i guess no tinting is needed.

Click to expand...

Pablo, that's the whole point. It's not "needed," but how many people do it anyway, and is there a benefit? I started this thread because I've yet to witness the hyped AS5 goodness (after several remounts), and am wondering if this step can actually be detrimental.

 

Agent_Mull

Member

​

Joined

Oct 18, 2003

Location

Leawood, KS

• Jan 6, 2004

• #7

What is tinting?

 

Sharkman

Member

​

Joined

Nov 20, 2003

Location

California

• Jan 6, 2004

• #8

Tinting is when you put a little bit of TIM on the bottom of the HSF. Then getting a piece of plastic, like a strip of saran wrap. Wrapping it around your finger and rubbing the TIM into the the HSF. Once you do that you wipe off the excessive TIM from the HSF. It will produce a slight tinting on the HSF from the TIM filling the microscopic valleys.

 

Susquehannock

The Mad Smelter

​

Joined

Aug 26, 2003

Location

Maryland, USA

• Jan 6, 2004

• #9

Agent_Mull said:

What is tinting?

Click to expand...

It's when you rub a very thin layer of TIM
on the HeatSink base.
It's sometimes refered to as "clouding" since you only
want to apply enough to make the surface look "cloudy".

 

BLIssID

Member

​

Joined

Dec 18, 2003

Location

Connecticut

• Jan 6, 2004

• #10

i always tint new HS.

 

Tekime

Member

​

Joined

May 12, 2003

• Jan 6, 2004

• #11

I don't know, but I've got over 20 kinds of TIM here I'm going to start testing as soon as my month-in-waiting order of Alumina from SVC actually gets resolved. This might be an interesting thing to test out.

I've always tinted, it just makes sense.

 

C

Colin

Arctic Silver Senior

​

Joined

Dec 19, 2000

• Jan 7, 2004

• #12

Susquehannock said:

It's sometimes refered to as "clouding" since you only
want to apply enough to make the surface look "cloudy".

Click to expand...

Not cloudy. Once you have wiped the heatsink clean there should be no visible compound.

 

repilce

Member

​

Joined

Aug 1, 2003

Location

E600000 - E60000FF

• Jan 7, 2004

• #13

i have an amd and just went from some crappy copper compound to AS5 and just used the "blob in the middle" method and i got 10C drop in temps outstanding

 

I

iLLestOne

Member

​

Joined

Dec 13, 2003

Location

San Jose, Cali

• Jan 7, 2004

• #14

Although the site says you can skip tinting, I still did. I think they would have stated that tinting is bad for as5, if it really was. So I figured if it doesn't hurt it, it should improve it (at least a little)

 

OP

omaticrail

Member

​

Joined

Feb 11, 2002

Location

Seattle area

• Jan 7, 2004

• Thread Starter
• #15

Well I was in the "glob methodology" camp until I got Arctic Silver (5), at which point I began following the preached application method dutifully. So far all I've seen is worse temps, and I cannot get anyone to explain it. When I get down to about 1/3 of my AS5 remaining, I'm going to save that last application for the tried and true glob method of ages past. Every ounce of information I've gathered on my own suggests that having TIM form a (admittedly weak) thermal connection between the edge of the CPU and the HS does make some small improvement; at least according to the onboard thermistor. There just isn't any other explanations left.