# Thermal paste vs.silicone compound ?



## Carlos_3 (Nov 27, 2005)

Hi all, I'm new to the gaming and upgrading world.  I'm going to up grade my video card from a raedon 9800 pro to a radeon 850xt.  I'm geting ready to also put an arctic cooling system on it for the heat.  What I'm confused about is that I have read posts before about putting thermal paste on your heat sink before I put the fan on.  Well I forgot to order it with my card and fan, decided to see if Radio shack had any and they suggested that I use their heat sink compound, which is silicone based.  Is there a difference in the two, can I use it without hurting my card and fan.............any thoughts and suggestions whether to use it or not?

Thanks in advance,

Carlos_3


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## Flashnc (Nov 27, 2005)

the arctic cooling you have orderd will have some with it.

it would be preferable to use AS5 or ASceramic, but the stuff that you will recieve with your card is going to be better than the stuff from radio shack...also...if you have a "compusa" near, you can get AS5 there.

be carefull, only use enough to spread a very thin layer on the gpu.

also make sure that your artic cooling "fan" sits evenly and not touching anything at all on the board but the gpu itself

             Flash


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## M. Mellough (Nov 28, 2005)

If you can't find AS5 you can use Antec Formula 5 silver compound which is identical to AS5. It sells for the same price so you won't save anything but in my experience the Antec compound is easier to find at retail stores; those who sell Antec components (which are relatively common) will usually also have the compound in stock. Antec products can be found at many electronics supplies stores (real ones not Radio Shack) as well as computer stores.


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## Aevum (Nov 28, 2005)

becuase of the on chip resistors and solder points, you might want to use artic ceramic insted of artic silver, artic silver tends to conduct under pressure and heat (guess what a x850XT with a heatsink screwed to it generates)

with artic ceramic you only give up a little bit (1-1.5 degrees differenace) and you have a non conductive paste


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## Christer (Dec 2, 2005)

OCZ silver.....lowered my CPU temp by 10degC compared to what came with the Vapochill....:d


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