Installation and compounds
Installation
Applying thermal compound is not difficult, yet the number of people who seem to think applying it like thick peanut butter is a good idea is literally astounding – take note graphics card makers! Starting with a thoroughly cleaned processor you should apply the smallest dab of thermal paste to the corner of the die and spread it evenly yet as thinly as humanly possible across the chip. A credit card works well, but my instrument of choice is a blunt butter knife with an even edge. Arctic Silver recommends using a razor blade, but I do not as a heavy hand or slip of the wrist and you *will* gouge a trench into the core of your chip!
With a very thin, even layer, you are now ready to install the cooler. This should be done as cleanly as possible. If you mess it up then remove the chip and re-apply thermal paste until you get a good clean contact. A flat based cooler is essential to testing the true efficiency of thermal pastes and I have opted to use the flattest surface I have ever seen on a cooler, the noise control Silverado. It’s hardly the best performing cooler on the market these days, but it’s quiet and more than adequate for cooling the JIUCB 1800+ "Magic" Athlon chip I am using today.
Above you can see the various compounds on display. The first thing that you will notice is that they all have rather different viscosities. By far the most viscous is the Shin Etsu, which is a true thermal paste rather than a compound. It's hard to squeeze out and even harder to spread. Vapochill thermal compound is rather similar in thickness to the OCZ compound, with it being thick enough to not be runny, but still very easy to apply. Arctic Silver 3 is more viscous than AS2, but definitely less shiny as you can see :). Finally we have the newest kid on the block, Arctic Silver Céramique. It's rather bizarre in texture, being quite viscous but with a very high affinity for itself. This means that after applying the paste, when you pull away the syringe, it leaves a trail of compound rather similar to pulling mozzarella cheese away from a margherita pizza.
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