A quetsion about a generic heatsink from tcwo.

[zippy]

I got a heatsink from tcwo (jonnyGURU, hello??? ) and I just realized...I dunno if it comes with any thermal grease. It is this hs/fan: Generic Supercooler HS/FAN. I have some of that Radioshack thermal grease. But I know I would just have to take it off when it starts to crack and put good stuff on anyway. Sheesh, I can't believe I forgot about friggin thermal grease!

Thanks.

 

[zippy]

I called TCWO...seems like a logical thing to do...and I spoke to "Ben" (jonnyGURU, tell ben I say hi. ) for about 10 seconds, there is a thermal pad. Yeah, that'll do until I get some good thermal grease and a nice heatsink for him. The only reason on go that heatsink was because it gave my buddy a 1 year warranty on the 1GHz Tbird...plus it was cheap and gets the job done.

 

[jonnyGURU]

I see you're in here talking to yourself. Eh, zippy? :Q

I'll say Hi to Ben for you.

DO NOT use that Radio Shack crap. :|

If you decide to not use the thermal pad (which is more than adequate for stock speeds), use only Arctic Silver and even then USE VERY LITTLE.

 

[zippy]

Yes, I'm talking to myself...hey you shut up...ack...thats just my other personality acting up...so now Iiiii'm the other personality?!...Shut up you!

Yeah, I didn't use the radioshack crapola.

I am gonna get him a FOP32-1 with a lil grease.

Should I use the zinc oxide or the aluminum oxide? I just don't think its worth it to get all of that artic silver grease! I use the ceramic kind with the tiny little crystals in it that conduct heat on my p3 550e@808@1.65v (it could do higher if the settings above that on my mobo weren't broken...they shouldn't have even bothered putting them into the bios if they don't work! OH well...). The kind I used works well...I didn't buy it though, the person who sold me my gorb and p3 already had it on there so I just used it.

BTW, jonny, in case you didn't see, I don't like that generic hs/fan...I made a post about it in General Hardware (Thread) , no one seemed to notice it, but daaaaum those clips are TIGHT and you need to use some muscle to CLAMP (heh, any other heatsink and I'd say clip ) it on! Plus it's a poor performer. And the thermal pad sucks, I was attempting to get the HS/FAN on and i couldn't and there was a piece of the pad stuck on the core! ARG! Not impressed with that hs/fan at all. :disgust:

EDIT: I say "I" but it's really on my friend's machine that I put together last night.

 

[jonnyGURU]

The clamp is supposed to be tight. If it wasn't, it wouldn't do it's job well. I'm surprised you say that it wasn't a good performer. I've save 5 deg cel over using an Orb with that particular fan.

AMD requires 12-15 psi, I believe. That's pretty tight spring tension for a little clip.

 

[zippy]

Hi, since then it has cooled down a bit I guess. My friend will leave it running for awhile then reboot and the temp is only around 41-43`C...not bad.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Well, the phase change thermal compound doesn't change phase until 60 celcius, so that may explain your initial high temps.

 

[DABANSHEE]

virtually the only heatsink that comes with a 'phase change' thermal pad is the Agilent Articooler, the rest come with either those graphite pads (such as Lasagna coolers) or those pink ones (such as some Global Wins & Coolermasters) & such like.

There's absolutelly nothing wrong with generic (zinc oxide) thermal grease, really unless one is planing on overclocking (or just want to maximise efficiency, so they can use a quieter fan), Artic Silver thermal greas is a waste of money. Actually if one is just going to run things at stock standard speed your best off just leaving the thermal pad on as AMD recommends (its a bit easier on the core - they have a habit of cracking, particully if you keep fuking with it).

BTW, I'm current typing this on my own Duron600@1000 system. That's cooled by a HP 'Panaflow Orb' Arcticooler, that's attached using a 10mm thick coppoer plate that's (recess) bolted to the Articooler via its 4 standard bolt holes, the copper plate is then bolted down by another set of bolts that utilise the 4 holes all Socket A boards have (for Kryrotech cooling, its a part of the reference design for socket A). All surfaces are lapped & have a very thin layer of thermal grease. Its a much better setup than the Gobal Win FOP32 as its no where near as noisy & it cools better too.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Arctic Silver is expensive, but one tube goes a long way. I can build many a PC with one tube of silver.

The margin of error is too great with thermal grease. You ONLY want it on the die and you only want very little. Too many people put too much on and too many people install the grease exceeding the area of the die.

This is bad in two ways: Too much grease has an adverse effect and can actualy become insulative. Secondly, grease on the resistors, if the grease is electrically conductive as many are, can cause major issues with the CPU and possible SIDS*.

BTW: The pink stuff IS phase change thermal conduct by AMD's own account as well as the fact that it hits 60, melts and then becomes more effective at thermal transfer which by definition epitomizes the very concept of PCTC.






* Sudden Inexplicable Death Syndrome