deskthority

Hey guys, posting from my phone because, yes, my ancient freebie 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 is still in pieces.

I did a motherboard swap, which involves pulling off the giant cpu coolers to unmount it from the case. Turns Out™ that I only had enough ancient Arctic Silver left for 1 CPU. So I need fresh cooling paste. First time I've shopped for this stuff since George W was still just getting started in the White House, and is it me or is the stuff a ripoff these days?

Here's the two local options I can find:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing ... 1-pdt.html

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/jetart-ck4800 ... aste-n58hq

The Jetart one looks better (I snapped my chubby old Artic tube in two, naturally, while squeezing the very last from the surly get) but if anyone's got better ideas for something I can get my hands on here this weekend, tell me now now now!!

Suggestions please!*

*Only interested in thermal paste, available here in Scotchland. Or deeply discounted second hand Mac Pros, ditto. In case my metal bending repair style has well and truly ducked this thing up already…

Welcome back! I can definitely recommend getting some more Arctic Silver rather than dealing with cheapo alternatives. It's well worth every penny, considering that it's preventing my 300 euro CPU from melting into putty!

I *assume* Amazon ships to Scotchland... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Silver-T ... TIC+SILVER

Sorry I can't help you from the US.
If you could come to the trusty Micro Center 15 minutes from my house you could get it for less than half that price.

Yeah, I remember America…


@Scott:"Odd on" item? The duck they on about? Come here and I'll add on a slap of sense, free of charge!

Anyone got some handy? I'm too skint to piss pennies into Amazon's thankless maw.

Not more of a ripoff than usual. Both of those are fine, thermal paste is of course also available in larger quantity but that's pretty pointless unless you're doing this more often. Of those two I'd go for the Jetart.

http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste ... en-ln2/12/

http://xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/other-pr ... nd-ck4800/

AS5 is better than most pastes, but it isn't the best anymore. It's conductive as well, which has always concerned me.

Here's another conductive paste in a 30g tube:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prolimatech-PK- ... words=pk-2

Here's a non-conductive paste in a smaller tube:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/noctua-NT-H1-No ... ords=nt-h1

Here's a handy performance reference:
http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste ... gen-ln2/6/

I'll have fun reading those on my desktop… Wait! Need thermal paste first!!

Shall I just head off to Maplin for the £7 Jetart stuff now or what? They're not close by.

Aw hell. Just buy something cheap and slap it on the bugger. You won't have performance issues because you aren't overclocking or otherwise messing with your desktop. (Right?)

I've been using Arctic Cooling MX-4 for years now, and it's been excellent.

MX-4 goes on easily. Not the absolute best performer, but you can't go wrong with its consistency.

Any luck, Mu?

Aye. Nipped off for some overpriced CM gunk. Seems to work the trick. Still had a lot of metal bending to do to get the damn thing back together (note to Jony Ive: needs moar iron) but seems to be surviving a stress test now.

Phew. Because I've no other options besides a great hooftin' Drobo and strapping my laptop down like an advanced punter in an S&M dungeon. Which I don't much like to consider!