Is thin layer of silver / gold a better heat conductor?

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Sep 8, 2004
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If somebody uses a very thin layer of Silver / gold metal between CPU and HSF will that be better than the thermal paste as silver/gold are good conductors of heat?

What is the thermal paste made of?

Just curious

Regards.
 
Artic Silver actually contains silver. Cheaper thermal pastes can use other conductive metals. The point of using a paste is that it fills in small gaps, grooves and imperfections in the surfaces of your CPU's heat spreader and the bottom of the heatsink.

You don't want to use a layer of silver (or gold) unless it was "lapped" perfectly smooth, and your heatspreader and heatsink were also "lapped".
But, if you have a "lapped" heatsink and heat spreader, you wouldn't need the layer of silver, since the heatsink and spreader would make direct contact.
 
If somebody uses a very thin layer of Silver / gold metal between CPU and HSF will that be better than the thermal paste as silver/gold are good conductors of heat?

What is the thermal paste made of?

Just curious

Regards.
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The silver/gold itself yes, however, the interface of the hypothetic sheet would be a pretty poo conductor because even if it was smooth @ molecular level, the heatsink and heatspreader surfaces are not and the contact surface would still be reduced to the heatspreader/heatsink grain pattern; Without filling these gaps, the surface may be reduced up to 1/8, even if your haked eye sees it smooth. That's why all thermal materials have some viscosity.
 
It all depends on how much heat each individual element can transfer. Look at the Coolaboratory Liquid Pro, it's an amalagam of different metals that also transfers heat decently (we won't talk about how it eats Alumminum...)

Ask a chemist these questions, I'm sure they can tell you what would facilitate heat transfer better. I'm an EE, we don't deal with heat... (At least theoretically)
 
I'm an EE, we don't deal with heat... (At least theoretically)
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hey, i'm an EE, and i deal with heat (although, that's because i build high-powered amplifiers)

but anyway, silver is the best heat/electricity conductor, then copper, gold, aluminium, etc.
(silver is best for heatsinks, but damn expensive, copper is barely far behind, and a lot cheaper, although Al is even cheaper, any oxidisation doesn't matter on heatsinks)

If anyone was wondering, the only reason gold is used for quality audio connectors, for example, is because silver and copper oxidize, gold is inert. And copper (at least, OFC) cables are the best, unless you want to waste your money on Silver cables (ie silveraudio.com)

ps, look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_conductivity#Some_typical_thermal_conductivities_.28k_values.29


and as everyone else said, the "paste"ness is to eliminate any tiny air-bubbles, and smooth out imperfections. Normal (non-AS5) heatsink paste is silicon-based, and conducts heat pretty poorly, but won't short-circuit anything when you get it everywhere...
 
For the best air cooling, build your own heatsink from sterling silver. It might cost a bomb - but it will cool a lot better than aluminium will.
 
hey PF haven't seen you up there in ages...Just reading and occasionnal posting?
 
For the best air cooling, build your own heatsink from sterling silver. It might cost a bomb - but it will cool a lot better than aluminium will.
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Hah... I'll get right on a custom fabrication of a 100% silver HS. It's not like it will cost more than water cooling or anything! :lol:
 
Artic Silver 5 contains silver as it is mentioned. Soldering the hs and cpu would provide better thermal transfer. :lol: That is if you are rich and would not worry about throwing out cpu and hsf everytime you upgrade.

Anyways there's this from Frozencpu.com. This thermal material, Coollaboratory Liquid PRO Thermal Interface Material. It's like liquid metal and then sets dry, but I heard that this liquid metal stuff basically binds the cpu and the heatsink and it could be a pain in the arse to take them apart.

So as for you, the Artic Silver 5 or Artic Silver Ceramique would be good enough.
 
I highly doubt it. But they should make diamond powder/silver paste.
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man you stole my idea! i had the same thought about a month ago but if you inhale powdered diamond it'll cut up for lungs and you'll basiclly drown in blood so it would be extremly dangerus, other than that it should work great! and cost insane amounts of money!
 
Not to mention after you'd welded/soldered the heatsink to the cpu, you'd never get it back into the socket properly.

--Shodar
 
I highly doubt it. But they should make diamond powder/silver paste.
Click to expand...

man you stole my idea! i had the same thought about a month ago but if you inhale powdered diamond it'll cut up for lungs and you'll basiclly drown in blood so it would be extremly dangerus, other than that it should work great! and cost insane amounts of money!
Ummmmmm ouch!!!
 
The other advantage of gold, and the reason it is used for contacts for every connector in a PC, is that it bonds to itself. Gold bars literally stick together and have to be forced apart due to this cohesion. So, if processors came gold plated and milled smooth, a heatsink with a milled gold surface would outperform any thermal paste, because it would basically weld itself together at room temperature.
 
Yea, I've been grinding up diamonds for years and using them as thermal interface. It's really easy, just swipe enough wedding rings (you'll need roughly 2 carats, color and clarity don't matter) Then you have to crush them up. I use a dremel moto-tool and the griding attachment w/ carbide tip. You'll need to have about 20 of these tips cuz they get eaten up pretty quickly. Suspend the diamond in a vice above a bowl of water and get to grinding. Once done, let the water evaporate out of the bowl and scrape the diamond residue out. To make the thermal interface compound you'll need approx. 1 teaspoon of ground diamond residue, 1 egg white, 2 Tblsp corn starch, 1 Teaspoon clear silicone (NOT RTV), a pinch of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and lemon rind to garnish. Bring all to a steady boil over medium heat and whip. Serves up to 4 CPU's.
 
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