Which thermal paste ? [Options included]

kkiddu

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Hi guys. My AMD Athlon 2400+ [I know, it's ancient] proccy needs some thermal paste.

I've got three options, budget being the highest preference. Please verify the prices as well to make sure the products aren't counterfeit.

Intel D54816-001 Paste : ~@2.20
Arctic Cooling MX2 : ~$8.00
Cooler Master Thermal Fusion 400 : ~ $16.60

I'm personally inclined towards Intel for obvious reasons ;) but can an Intel product be so cheap ? And is there a catch like it won't do the job ? There aren't many times my processor runs at 100%.
 
Solution
I don't know that any of those pastes alone is going to drop your temps 16 degrees. You may have other air flow issues. If you're going to re-do the paste, make sure you also clear the dust out of the heatsink/fan, at least.

The Arctic MX2 would probably be your best option. Good product for a good price. I'd pay the extra $6 for a solid product.
What obvious reasons? Intel is a reputed CPU manufacturer, not a reputed thermal compound manufacturer. If it's their stock compound that they are selling, then it will not be the best. Odd though, I've never heard of intel selling their thermal compound. I'm pretty sure they don't manufacture their own anyway. The arctic cooling has the best reputation. But really, get the cheapest if you just need some quick paste. Your cpu will stay within specs if you don't overclock and keep good airflow. But if you want good thermal paste get the arctic cooling.
 

kkiddu

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I don't need the best. I just need something to bring my temp from 76C to 60C. I'm running everything at stock settings (Brand PC, no choice :(( ). So Intel is it then ?

Obvious reason being the price. I guess that was so not obvious. lol.

And guys, I can buy it only from eBay India. This is all they have. I don't have any other choice. So please stick with the options mentioned in my first post.

Thanks.
 
I find the problem unlikely to be your current thermal compound. More likely dust buildup. What program are you using to monitor?

Of course when you dust out your computer and clean the heatsink you'll need new thermal compound anyway...
 

branflakes71

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I don't know that any of those pastes alone is going to drop your temps 16 degrees. You may have other air flow issues. If you're going to re-do the paste, make sure you also clear the dust out of the heatsink/fan, at least.

The Arctic MX2 would probably be your best option. Good product for a good price. I'd pay the extra $6 for a solid product.
 
Solution

kkiddu

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That's the problem. I took apart my entire PC, and even disassembled the fan and the heatsink, and removed all the dust. After that, my proccy fan runs on high power most of the time.

I'm using a utility called 'SpeedFan' to monitor temperature and fan speed, and it's readings are consistent with what I see in the BIOS. My proccy seems to run on two modes only, 76 degrees for a bit of usage, 60 degrees for no usage.

I'm using a Compaq Presario SR1105IL. My CPU Fan pushes the air into the heatsink which comes out from the sides of the heatsink and the auxiliary fan on the cabinet throws the air out.

Any other recommendation ? After a bit of usage, my fan speed becomes 4600RPM compared to 2000RPM at normal temps, and CPU rises to 76 degrees. It used to be much much quiter before I took it apart. And I think I put it back right. Everything fit tightly with a lot of clicks and ticks.
 
It kinda sounds to me like you dealt with your dust problem, then just slapped the heatsink back on without reapplying thermal compound?
Also make sure you are looking at the "core" temperature. I'd use HWmonitor and look at the core temps.
 

BadTrip

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16c is not unheard of with no thermal paste vs thermal paste.
 

Zinosys

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The best paste on the market is the little-known Shin-Etsu x23 7783D. ($10 for 1g)

http://www.crazypc.com/products/x23-778d-50119.html

MX-3 is also good (not as much as the 7783D, but easier to apply and a little cheaper).

The BEST TIM is Indigo Xtreme: http://www.svc.com/1366-x1.html

But, it requires baking your processor at 90˚C (hot!) to let it almost literally melt.

If I were you, MX-3 is what I would get.
 

kkiddu

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Yeah, I haven't applied thermal paste. It's not a any-thermal-paste vs good-thermal-paste rather no-thermal-paste vs any-thermal-paste.

So is there a possibility that MX2 would get the job done ? I don't have any options other than the three mentioned in the first post as I live in a small town and no one has thermal paste here.

And I'll use HWMonitor, but I'm 101% sure that some problem is there. This is evident by the way that my CPU fan runs on high speed almost 70% of the time compared to 10%-20% earlier.
 

branflakes71

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You need to put paste on that cpu ASAP. You need to have thermal paste between the cpu and heatsink, period. You're lucky you didn't fry the processor.

Buy any of the 3 pastes you want and apply it properly. That should get your temps back into normal range.