Hello, so I thought my G5 quad leaked but after removing the LCS with a folding torx key set. I checked it hasn't leaked yet, it just need a new thermal paste. I don't have thermal paste in my house but I was thinking of getting Arctic Silver 5 or Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (Not liquid metal). What the best thermal paste here?
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Thermal paste for Power Mac G5
- Thread starter AdiPlayZ
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My personal preference is Arctic MX-4, as it is not electrically conductive and will not ruin anything if it spills onto any circuitry. It also does not need any "curing time" like Arctic Silver 5. Not only that, it ships in a much larger syringe than Arctic Silver 5, decreasing the amount of times you need to restock when constantly making new applications of paste.
I also feel like I've collectively gotten lower temperatures from use cases with it as opposed to when I used Arctic Silver 5.
I also feel like I've collectively gotten lower temperatures from use cases with it as opposed to when I used Arctic Silver 5.
Agree with MX-4. That is the go-to thermal paste these days. Grizzly is really only for overclockers and those who need to extract the absolute maximum cooling from their equipment.
I use AS5 because it's inexpensive and available.
In reality, I've used most of the main-line thermal pastes on the market and found that for normal applications none of them make a difference in operating temperatures beyond a a couple of degrees either way. That kind of difference could easily be put down to difference in application.
Remember that the best cooling comes from direct contact between the CPU die/IHS and heatsink. Thermal paste is there to fill irregularities and is necessary, but in most cases "less is more." Use any good quality paste on the market, apply it properly and sparingly(most don't give instructions for bare dies-I like doing card spreads on them) and you'll be fine.
Aside from that, any of these pastes under discussion are going to be better than what Apple used originally, and are going to be better than even a great quality paste that's now ~15 years old.
In reality, I've used most of the main-line thermal pastes on the market and found that for normal applications none of them make a difference in operating temperatures beyond a a couple of degrees either way. That kind of difference could easily be put down to difference in application.
Remember that the best cooling comes from direct contact between the CPU die/IHS and heatsink. Thermal paste is there to fill irregularities and is necessary, but in most cases "less is more." Use any good quality paste on the market, apply it properly and sparingly(most don't give instructions for bare dies-I like doing card spreads on them) and you'll be fine.
Aside from that, any of these pastes under discussion are going to be better than what Apple used originally, and are going to be better than even a great quality paste that's now ~15 years old.
Something like that. Here are my DC 2.3GHz G5 results from 2018;
Power Mac G5 Dust Out and Thermal Paste Re-do
In following up on an old post, I re-pasted the Dual Core 2.3GHz G5 on the weekend as it was getting high temp reports and also occasionally not booting / POSTing. I use my Dual Core most days and during normal activities I was seeing temps jump around between 55°C and 69°C when in "Automatic"...
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