Many Cooling Questions - Arctic Silver 5

[digitalhardware]

Arctic Silver 5, I've heard, is the best thermal paste around. I will purchase some from Amazon, but I would like to know what the difference is between ones with "3.5g" or just "3.5" in their title.
For example, this one with "3.5g," http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-Polysynthetic-Thermal-Compound/dp/B0002VFXFE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337387892&sr=1-1
Versus
This one without "3.5/g" in its title:
http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-5-Thermal-Compound/dp/B0002EQU6C/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337387892&sr=1-3

Well, it's probably a very ignorant question on my part, but I would also like to know, how does the thermal paste work?
My father, me being only twelve years old, makes all the "executive" buying decisions, and strongly believes thermal paste is not necessary. I believe otherwise, and I know it is crucial to transfer heat from the CPU to the heatsink. But, that's all I know. How exactly does it work? My father's argument is "Jason, metal against metal are the best heat conductors. Placing an organic material between them would make them perform worse, if not the same." Usually, I would not argue with my father, but I'm beginning to surpass him, even if I am twelve years old. I've built a computer, know the ins and outs of the computer, but both he and I still have much to learn.

Alright. After I purchase the paste, I'm obviously going to remove the existing heatsink/fan and use Isopropyl Alcohol 70% (it's the best I've got) to remove the current thermal compound. Then, apply Arctic Silver 5 on the cpu by squeezing a little grain of rice amount and spreading with a business card. Finally, put it together. So, here are the steps I am taking, please check if they're correct:
1. Remove heatsink. Unlatch the "cam" hook and turn the heatsink clockwise and counter-clockwise to break thermal seal. Pull vertically.
2. Clean CPU and Heatsink of thermal compound, using Isopropyl Alcohol 70%.
3. Apply AS5. Squeeze grain of rice amount and spread with credit card.
4. Put heatsink back on, latch the "cam" hook securely.
5. Check connections.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to all your answers!

- Jason

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Voltage and case look OK. Is the computer in a hot room?

Also run Task Manager and make sure your CPU is actually at idle when it is that hot. You could have something in Windows making your CPU useage go way up when you think it should be idle.

It might be time to think about aftermarket cooling. Even overclocked to roughly 4Ghz your CPU should be at 60C tops. If you are hitting close to that at idle it can reduce the life of your chip. A $20-$30 Hyper 212+/Evo would be a worthy investment. I don't know how a stock cooler could be defective really unless the fan did not work or something but I suppose it's possible. You might also just have a "bad" chip or have one with stuck temp sensors. Either way those temps are not something I would be comfortable with.

 

[digitalhardware]

Voltage and case look OK. Is the computer in a hot room?

Also run Task Manager and make sure your CPU is actually at idle when it is that hot. You could have something in Windows making your CPU useage go way up when you think it should be idle.

It might be time to think about aftermarket cooling. Even overclocked to roughly 4Ghz your CPU should be at 60C tops. If you are hitting close to that at idle it can reduce the life of your chip. A $20-$30 Hyper 212+/Evo would be a worthy investment. I don't know how a stock cooler could be defective really unless the fan did not work or something but I suppose it's possible. You might also just have a "bad" chip or have one with stuck temp sensors. Either way those temps are not something I would be comfortable with.

Well, I'll see what happens after I apply the new thermal paste I ordered.
The ambient temperature is 24-26C depending on the day.
I doubt my CPU fan is defective, since it spins at 2000-3000 RPM due to my high temperatures.

EDIT: Although I have high load temps, the thing that bewilders me the most is that the CPU temp does not go down all the way after running a CPU intensive program, like BF3. When playing BF3, the temps gradually increase to a high of 69-70C, and then I close it and the core multiplier goes from 14x to 4x, but even with Cool n'Quiet Enabled, as well as C1E and the Balanced Power Option which utilizes a minimum of 5% of the CPU's speed (or something like that), the temps only go from 69-70C to 50-54C. It should be going down to the idle temp of 40-41C, which is what I get after the CPU cools down while the computer is off. Sure, my full/near load temps are high...but what the heck is causing THIS??? Even with aftermarket cooling (which I would much rather prefer...but my father doesn't want to spend money on, him being a person who believes thermal compound is pointless) how would it fix that problem? I know it will allow the CPU to cool off, but if it has an idle temp of, let's say 30C, and the full load temp is 45C, it might cool down to only 40C. I have no idea why...Can someone...ANYONE...explain this to me?