EDIT: Done + Pics. 2.5 Quad - Upgrade thermal compound = better?

[burnout8488]

Just rebuilt my 2.5 Quad but refrained from removing the CPU boards from the pump assembly. I wanted to replace the factory thermal compound, but didn't know if it would actually make enough of a difference.

What is the stock thermal transfer medium? Thermal pad, or grease?

All four cores are currently idling at 38ºC, which isn't bad at all, but I can't help but think I could've cleaned it out and maybe dropped the temps a few ºC with some Arctic Silver. Does anyone know if there is improvement to be made, or is the factory stuff good enough?

It isn't *too* big of a task for me to pop off the processors now that I've done it a few times, but I'd rather not just incase I break something. It all feels so fragile.

 

[666sheep]

Stock is thermal grease.
After few years it certainly lost its performance, so replacing it with new, better one is right idea. Arctic Silver is good, but there are better ones. For instance: IC Diamond 7 Carat, or Coollaboratory Liquid Metal (top one but PITA when it comes to remove it).

 

[burnout8488]

Thanks for the reply.

As of right now, I've got Arctic Silver 5 on hand, but I'd certainly look into the others.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

I used AC5 and seemed to see improved results.

 

[burnout8488]

Got bored tonight and did the thermal swap. The old stuff worked, but it was hard and crusty.

I used Arctic Silver 5, it was all I had laying around. The pictures are of the old thermal compound, I didn't take pics of the new stuff.

This was pretty straightforward. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask, I'd love to help.

Temps seem to have dropped 2-4ºC. I'm idling at 36º give or take 1º now. Might improve after a few heat cycles too, who knows.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Apple uses enough thermal grease on one machine to do a whole fleet of computers lol. They definitely were not shy when they put it on from the factory. Lol

 

[macdudeguy]

If you think that's a lot, I shudder to think of how little you use in your builds.

 

[bizzle]

The pictures posted are not that bad in comparison to other Apple machines. Take a look at a MacBook or MacBook Pro.. it's bad. Sometimes there is so much it covers the entire chip, not just the die.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

If you think that's a lot, I shudder to think of how little you use in your builds.

Use just enough in my builds, many happily overclocked beyond 4ghz and run 24/7. You do not need a lot, more is actually worse.

I uploaded some pics a while ago of my MBP when I redid mine. Seems like they used a whole tube of whatever Apple uses.

 

[burnout8488]

Yeah, I wasn't taken aback by the amount on my Powermac. It was decent. They could've done with a little less, but it wouldn't have made too much of a difference. There's always gonna be a little "squish" on the outsides of the chip.