Application of Thermal paste, on die only or whole cpu?

[VeteranDMD]

I am getting Arctic Silver 2 Thermal paste and a 600mhz Celeron FCPGA on friday...I have been worrying about the application of thermal paste on the cpu because of my 566mhz celeron dying because of corrosion. I was running Windows 2000 and forgot that it had a cpu idle built in so the cpu got to 14c while I was at work (actually last I saw was 8c) and when I got home nothing worked but the computer was on. I removed the cpu and there was water from the peltier and corrosion on the chip. For this cpu I put regular thermal paste all over instead of just on the die. I didn't experience any problems that way with my other celeron but I wonder if that is what made it that much more cooler and develop water, maybe if I put it only on the die everything would have been fine? I don't know, someone help me out on this. plz

 

[dadx2mj]

You should only put the thermal compound on the die. I don't think that is what cause the water on your chip it probably just was not insolated correctly

 

[PapaRomeo]

I found this page immensely helpful:

Artic Silver Official Application Instructions

Good luck!

PR

 

[VeteranDMD]

no doubt it is anything but helpful. However because my supplier of peltiers says that applying paste all over the cpu has not caused any problems either, I was just wondering what people thought was best and if this might affect performance.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

it doesn't effect performance, unless your cpu-top is conductive... but it does not improve cooling performance either.


Mike

 

[jsmonet]

arctic silver is slightly conductive. if you have ANYTHING to pushes ANY power on top of the chip, then you could possibly hose yourself. the last thing you want is errant radiation/electricity flying around on top of your cpu...

as for the condensation from your peltier.. sorry, but you just need to find a way to drastically lower the humidity in the room. you need to attempt to lower the dewpoint beyond what the bottom of the peltier hits. I can't offer any suggestions on how to lower the humidity other than have the central air going more often (a/c that ISN'T swamp cooler technology tends to dehumidify the air, hence why you turn on the a/c in your car to defog the windshield)