applying arctic silver? to both the die and the hsf? or only the hsf?

[smp]

Am I supposed to apply it to the die and the HSF? or only one or the other? thanks.

 

[johneetrash]

i would think a thin layer on both cpu and heatsink, but ive never done it, and ive been wondering hte same thing actually i think they have instructions at the arctic silver page but i forgot what it said

 

[Muerto]

I put a thin layer on both, it seems to be working fine. The stuff is so damn expensive though that you can't afford to experiment too much. :|

 

[vexter]

Either one is fine as long as its just thick enough not to show metal but no thicker than that. If its a cheap hsf then use a little more to fill in the gaps left by the poor machining that common in cheap hsf. place the hsf on cpu with nothing and hold to light look of gaps. this is where more will be need to fill the gaps. but first try to bend hsf too lay flat.

 

[Regalk]

When applying arctic silver - a few things you do not want to do:
Apply too much
Take the HS off and put it back on
Twist or rotate HS while clamping down.
Therefore apply a fairly thin layer on the cpu core ONLY and plop the HS down on it and LEAVE it alone.
If it did not reduce temps as expected it is probably too thin and should be reapplied a bit more liberally. Also try not to be messy since some say it is electrically conductive which could mess with the AMD traces exposed on the cpu (I am not sure of this but a good clean job does not harm).

 

[smp]

so I should just wait till I get a 'real' heatsink instead of mucking around with this one??? Like.. the reason I'm doing this is because i'm pretty sure that the dealer I got my system from didn't mount the cooler master hsf too good.. so I want to reseat it with the arctic silver that I got.. since I don't have money for an alpha just now.. it's running hot.. for a processor running at stock speed.. it's hot..

oh.. and there is probably gonna be some gunk wether it be tape or grease in there too eh? so how will I get it off of the die??? what's a safe procedure for doing this? I heard that you can use nail polish remover.. or rubbing alcohol.. but off of the die?!!! like.. with a kleenex or something??? or a qtip??

 

[bacillus]

put a thin coat on just the cpu core!

 

[dennilfloss]

Official instructions.

 

[barlav]

"Only apply the thermal compound to the top of the actual CPU core." This is from the instructions. But I can't imagine it would hurt to apply to the HS as well.

 

[dennilfloss]

barlav,

they probably mean 'don't apply to all the wafer, just the cpu core'.

 

[Spoooon]

I put a dab on the core and used a rubber glove to kind of even it out. Then the excess that was on the glove I smeared onto the bottom of my HSF. I spread it real thin, to where you can't even see any AS on the HSF.

 

[cmaMath13]

I went ahead and put the arctic silver on each of the fan blades, too. I figured the air would be cooler around the CPU!

 

[smp]

thanks all.. Fan blades eh? I did it, and it lowered my core temp by 2 degrees Celcius.. SWEEET.. !!! Thanks CmaMath!!










j/k

 

[cmaMath13]

 

[Killrose]

I like to apply a light coating to both sufaces, and then press them together with a few degrees twist each way, and never pull them back apart once I mate them together. It's always worked for me.

cmaMath, on the actuall fan blades? or the heatsink blades?

 

[MigraineMan]

I applied it to the heatsink, since I didn't want the silver to contact any of the bridges on the CPU (heard this might cause some problems). I don't think it matters whether it is applied to one or the other, but a heatsink might be a tad porous and I'd rather make sure the heatsink is coated sufficiently.

I put some saran wrap around a finger and I used that to apply it. Arctic Silver is messy, and my applicator always spews out more than you need... A very thin layer is all I think is needed. My CPU temps are really nice with a FOP32-1.

 

[Geocross]

He was kidding about the fan blades.....

 

[cmaMath13]

Just for clarification, I was joking, but if you want to try.....

 

[ivanov]

i just apply on the core.. i think that works the best