[GAMING PC] Draco1962's "Old" PC build

[Draco1962]

OK, I have a PC rebuild to start and need some advice on what would be the best thermal paste to use with an Intel i7 2600k.

I have seen good reviews for both Tuniq TX-4 and Arctic Cooling MX-4, especially in that they are electrically non-conductive. I know to possibly expect a wide variety or recommendations for either or something altogether different, but curious what others use routinely in their own PC builds/rebuilds.

Thanks!

[nullPointer]

I generally roll with the tried and true; good ol' original Arctic Silver 5. Dollar for dollar and ounce for ounce I feel like it's the best deal going in thermal paste. Obviously you'd want to avoid the bargain basement stuff, but for the most part I feel like the effectiveness of any thermal paste is dictated much more so by the quality and effectiveness of the application than it is by the "secret herbs and spices" they put into the formula.

Arctic Silver is somewhat conductive so that is a bit of a concern, but there again in order to actually make contact with any bare connections you'd really have to be globbing it on in the first place.

I have heard good things about both Tuniq TX-4 and Arctic Cooling MX-4 though.

[Adultery]

+1 for arctic silver. :-)

[hansolo77]

I had some generic stuff that turned into nothing more than flaky paint after it got hot for a few days. Then I got a cooler master heatsink/fan that had it's own compound syringe. It was 'ok' but not the best. I've since only ever bought Artic Silver brand compound, seemed to be the most used/trusted, and it's never failed me so far. I've not heard of the others you mentioned.

[Tempest]

I only use K-Y brand.

[Draco1962]

I only use K-Y brand.

Not surprised. Nope. Not a bit.

[Draco1962]

I went ahead and ordered Arctic Silver 5 since my town (aka "Bubbavile") is a DIY tech wasteland. The stuff at the local Tiger Direct and Best Buy stores is absolute crap. I told one of the "techs" that the stuff they have on the shelves is only slightly better than toothpaste. I asked what they used on their builds/repairs for customers and they said "whatever comes with the CPU/heatsink..." to which I replied, "I'll stick with toothpaste."

[Adultery]

Lol! I didn't know that Tiger Direct was even a real store until I read this, I only order from them if I can't find what I need from anywhere else, which is rare.

Side note: their emails have been unbearable the last two weeks, along with NewEgg. P'shaw Black Friday!

[Draco1962]

Yeah, they bought out CompUSA around here a few years ago. I used to frequent the independent PC stores but they have almost all vanished - at least the good ones - because they can't compete with the big box and online retailers.

[hansolo77]

I hate that CompUSA got bought out. Here in Columbus, we had 3 CompUSA stores at one point, and one just down the street. Now there's zero. The only computer store we have left is called MicroCenter. It had 2 locations but now it's down to just one, and it's a 40 minute drive away. I mean, come on. This is the capital of the state of Ohio, and there's only ONE computer store for a hundred miles?! Sure, there's Best Buy. But they want you to pay a lot more for not even 1/25th the selection. Last time I was there, they had 2 mobo's on the shelf, no cpu's, and 3 videocards. Sure they had RAM and HDD's, and prebuilt systems. But that was about it. They really drive home the idea of buying a prebuilt pc or laptop. The only other option I have is Staples. I only shop there if I need some blank DVD's cause they sometimes have their cheap storebrand DVD-r's for $16/100pk. MicroCenter is better though; $12/100pk but I can't afford the gas to drive across town to buy blank disks. I like online shopping to a degree, but it looks like you have to buy more than 1 at a time to get decent packing. I bought a motherboard from NewEgg and all they did was slip it into another box the same size, with no peanut packing or bubble wrap. The PS/2 ports on the back had broken off in shipping. So I don't tend to do much online shopping for electronics; only Media (movies, music, etc).

[Draco1962]

I tend to gravitate towards Amazon.com for most of my online shopping. Yeah, it tends to be a few $$ more than Newegg, but they are worlds away easier to work with on returns and most of the time, the packing is superior (if you get it through Amazon's distribution - not 3rd party).

[davidj1987]

@Draco1962 I live in the Tampa Bay area and the Tiger Direct store a mile from my house is complete garbage. The one in Tampa is much better but both are lacking compared to Micro Center which was great in a pinch. I never had a problem with receiving goods from Tigerdirect but they are my LAST source... if Newegg or Amazon doesn't have the item.

I personally use the thermal paste that comes with Thermalright and or Noctua CPU Coolers. I also have used Shin-Etsu - it works great and can be inexpensive also but keep in mind you only get a few uses when using it, and a bit hard to find also.

Arctic Silver 5 was the bomb back in the day but it takes forever and a day to cure, it still holds up though but not the best. If you don't mind the curing time and the fact it is conductive, you can't go wrong.

[Draco1962]

The PC is assembled and we shall see how things look in a few weeks. I am getting a lot of notifications from the Intel app about core temps exceeding 88 C however it seems to be mainly at startup. Idle temps seem to hover between 39-42 C.

[Tempest]

You should have gone with the K-Y brand. It reduces friction and the resulting heat, thereby avoiding hi temps all together. :-)

[hansolo77]

Wow 88 is high.

[Draco1962]

TJMax for this processor is 98C so I am not too concerned. My guess is that things will level out once the paste has reached its 200 hours burn-in time.

[davidj1987]

I had a 2600K and it was a very poor overclocker and it was paired with the highest end Gigabyte P67 MB not too long ago and sold it at a loss - it was my main PC then when I moved it became secondary as I then went to a 2500K and Z77 for my main PC while my new HTPC is a 4670K with a Z87 MB. My 4670k does get hot but was a bit crazy to get stable at a mild 4.2ghz overclock.

What cooler are you using and are you overclocked? I'm not going to give you grief about having a 2600k over a 2500K but good luck!

[Draco1962]

I am using the stock Intel cooler and have not overclocked. I have ordered the Cooler Master GeminII S524 as a replacement to see if that makes a difference.

[davidj1987]

That should make a bit of a difference - for some reason stock intel coolers aren't very good while the stock AMD coolers can be pretty good if you get a 125W+ (I think some 95W ones too) processor

[Draco1962]

Well, it took me about 2 hours to install the new cooler. I am home sick with the flu so had to take a few breaks to cough and hack, etc. The previous cooler apparently did not make a good seat on the CPU so that was part of the thermal issues. I cleaned the old paste from the CPU and applied a generous bead of the Arctic Silver 5 and installed the S524 (pain in the ass having to install the bracket BTW). Cranked up Mr. Beefy and seeing much better cooling right off the bat, with an average of 25C at idle. Max 38C right after startup. I haven't put much of a load on it as of yet, but so far, temps less than half of what I was experiencing prior.

[nullPointer]

Oh dude, I had completely forgotten about how tricky that stupid Cooler Master mounting bracket can be! I seem to remember a few tense "balancing act" moments while trying to secure that bracket down. (having the cooler upside down with the mobo precariously balanced on top while securing the nuts down - the whole time hoping that I wasn't screwing up my application of thermal paste) I'm so glad to hear that your temps are more manageable now.

Not as glad to hear that you're socked under with the flu though. Hope you feel better soon man!

[Draco1962]

Found a decent page here for temp ranges for various CPU types. I have provided an excerpt that includes my processor below:

Intel CPU Temps - Sandy Bridge Idle Temperature Normal Temperature Max Temperature

Core i7-2600K 32 to 40°C 47 to 60°C 72°C

My Temps 20 to 30°C 48 to 52°C Undetermined

I have yet to push this rig to achieve a consistent maximum load and probably will not do so for a few more weeks to allow the reapplication of the Arctic Silver 5 paired with the Cooler Master GeminII S524 a chance to "bake in" at 200 hours as recommended. So far, everything looks much better than when I started with the stock Intel cooler.

[Tempest]

Looking Good!

[davidj1987]

I had the Coolermaster V6 back in the day when I had my AMD Phenom II X6 (I cycle through PC's rather quick) and had NO problems installing it while a lot of people said it was hard. I had more problems with my Thermalright CPU Coolers but then I was like oh wow I'm dense.

I have a Noctua cooler in my HTPC and it was tricky at first when using both fans (down-draft cpu cooler).

[Draco1962]

My PC build is just about complete - what I have so far:

CPU - Intel® Core™ i7-2600K Processor

MOBO - Intel® Desktop Board DZ68BC

RAM - Corsair Vengeance® - 16GB Dual/Quad Channel DDR3

Case - Antec P280 Performance Series Case

Boot SSD (OS, Office 2013, some apps) - 120GB OCZ Agility 3 - SATA III 2.5"

Apps, Games, etc. - 1TB Western Digital Velociraptor - 10K RPM

Backup - 2TB Western Digital RE (Enterprise ) – 7200 RPM

Cooling (CPU) - Cooler Master GeminII S524 along with 4 120MM fans (1 rear, 2 top, 1 internal pulling air in)

GPU - Galaxy NVIDIA GeForce GT 440 1GB DDR3

PSU - Ultra LSP 750 Pro 750W

Blu-Ray - Pioneer BDR-206DBK 12x Internal BD/DVD/CD Burner

OS - Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit with Media Center

I am at a point now that i need to buy a new GPU and put the GT 440 back in my old system (so I can backup the data on it and wipe/restore to Win 7 x64 Pro). Due to cost, I am considering purchasing a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB GDDR5 as I am not impressed with the onboard video. While I would like to do more, I can't justify spending much more and feel that this will get me by for a few years at least and provide enough bang for the buck. Does anyone have any experience with this brand or model?