why bother buying / using as5 these days

[wagex]

like the title says lets have a nice discussion over TIM's comparatively.

personally i use mx-2 because its cheaper and works better than as5, i bought like 10 tubes on sale for $1.00 each free ship.


one reason i can see people still using as5 is purely nostalgic like "zomg it used to be the best" or they don't know better and still think it is the best.

what is everyone elses thoughts?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I use NT-H1 for anything I care about, IE my desktop in the sig.

Artic Ceramique 2 for my benching stuff and server because it does good and is super cheap (25g for $7).

 

[Blaylock]

I love AS5! I put that **** on everything. It's like liquid gold...er silver.

 

[freakdiablo]

Also, people may stick to it for brand/name loyalty, maybe? Basically what wagex said, "it used to be the best", . The only reason I'd consider using it is because I still have a tube lying around here...somewhere. Saves me from buying a new tube, and I'm not benching or anything. But if I was going to order some new stuff, I doubt I'll get AS5 unless it's heavily discounted (as in free).

 

[EarthDog]

Considering the difference between the best and worst is a few of C... who cares what TIM is used?!!!

That said, I bought Mx-2 because it was a a degree or two better than AS5, but mostly because it was cheaper!

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

'cause it's what I thought was the best at the time

Gonna pick up some ceramique for my 6850 when the AS5 dries up again lol.


I saw some crazy metal TIM, you brush it on the CPU?? It was crazy looking very shiny like melted metal!

 

[freakdiablo]

I saw some crazy metal TIM, you brush it on the CPU?? It was crazy looking very shiny like melted metal!

I know what you're talking about too. It's the Coollaboratory stuff, right? Thought that stuff was corrosive to aluminum, which freaked a lot of people out.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I know what you're talking about too. It's the Coollaboratory stuff, right? Thought that stuff was corrosive to aluminum, which freaked a lot of people out.

It corrodes aluminum and is electrically conductive. Use with care, but its the best for delids.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

I know what you're talking about too. It's the Coollaboratory stuff, right? Thought that stuff was corrosive to aluminum, which freaked a lot of people out.

It corrodes aluminum and is electrically conductive. Use with care, but its the best for delids.

Yep, that's the suff.

Corrodes you say? wow, why would they make a product that does that?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yep, that's the suff.

Corrodes you say? wow, why would they make a product that does that?

Because its meant to be used for delids, which is die to a copper IHS.

 

[Blaylock]

Honestly I used to love the Zalman brush on grease and decided to try AS5. The Silver is better than the Zalman grease by a few degrees, but now that I've entered the benchmarking realm I'll get something better when I run out... or when it turns to toothpaste like Silver Pharoahs. Lol

 

[JeremyCT]

Because I still have a tube of it and it works well. Apparently I thought I'd be doing a lot more with it than I have. I bought a 12g tube in 2008 and after using it for 10+ CPU mounts and 3+ GPU mounts I still have plenty left.

It might not be top tier anymore, but it works well and it's predictable. I know exactly how to use it to get a good mount these days.

 

[freeagent]

It's the one I know how to use best.. I consistently get a 3-5c spread across 6 cores

 

[GTXJackBauer]

My preference is Gelid GC Extreme and MX-4. Both are phenomenal TIMs for anyone looking when budget isn't an issue. Here's a great testing of TIMs from almost a year ago.

 

[madhatter256]

AS-5 is like ketchup to me. I put it on all of my cpus/gpus.

I still have Ceramique, which I use on non-GPU/CPU components that do not require thermal pads, such as VRMs.

I'm so nostalgic, I think shin-etsu is still the bomb...

 

[m0r7if3r]

This is old, but still largely relevant

 

[JeremyCT]

Difference between the performance of AS5 and MX-2 in that test: 0.4%

That's the basic reason so many people still use it.

 

[freeagent]

Oh yeah I forgot about that noctua paste, I thought it was awesome

 

[ATMINSIDE]

And 0.12C difference from AS5 to Ceramique2. And Ceramique2 doesn't have a long cure time or the capacitance.

 

[m0r7if3r]

Difference between the performance of AS5 and MX-2 in that test: 0.4%

That's the basic reason so many people still use it.

MX2 is cheaper though, and doesn't cure noticeably...I have the graph for that too!

And 0.12C difference from AS5 to Ceramique2. And Ceramique2 doesn't have a long cure time or the capacitance.

Tru dat.