Building a new 1.2Ghz system looking for cooling/general tips!!!

[Thumper2]

Greetings all,

I have all the goodies either here or on the way for a new 1.2 Ghz TBird System. I plan on running the processor at 133mhz or faster FSB and overclocking it. I bought a FOP 32-1 HSF and copper shim for it and I noticed the heatsink has a patch of pink stuff on it where it will touch the processor. My question is this, do I remove the pink stuff and use arctic silver instead? What other tips can you guys give me for keeping this thing cool? Any other words of wisdom?

The rig will look like this when complete.

Antec SX-830 case.
1.2 Ghz TBird W/FOP 32-1 HSF
Crucial PC133 CL2 256MB ram
Abit KT7A
Promise Fastrack 100 raid
2 X IBM 75GXP 30Gb hard drives
Quadro 2 pro Video card
SB Live Value sound

Thanks in advance,
Thumper

 

[Thumper2]

^^Bump^^

 

[AdamK47]

The pink stuff is for little girly men overclockers. Rip that crud off and slap a glob of arctic silver gunk on that mofo.

 

[Compuguru]

Yes! Rip the pink stuff off and use ArcticSilver. But be careful not to scratch the HS.

 

[Thumper2]

Thanks guys, one more question though. Should I use arctic silver on the copper shim that I got for the processor?

Thumper

 

[mechBgon]

Looks like a nice rig you will have 🙂 Use the Arctic Silver between the CPU slug (the small center area, about 1cm square) and the heatsink, to transfer heat. I would not use AS on the copper shim because I would be worried about it getting on the bridges and causing a short. Yes, I know it is "minimally electrically conductive" but I realy don't forsee a whole lot of heat being transfered in such a roundabout path anyway. If you want to use thermal paste on the copper shim, use Radio Shack or another non-conductive variety.

If you want to take an extra step to maximize heat transfer from the CPU to the heatsink, you could "lap" your heatsink so that the bottom is very flat. This helps because it reduces the gaps between the CPU and heatsink that must be filled by the thermal compound. Do a Forum Search on "lapping."

 

[DaddyG]

The copper shim has absolutely no cooling benefits, throw it away !!.
BTW, AMD has some excellent PDFs on their site regarding just about everything when building a TBIRD.

 

[Thumper2]

I was under the impression that the copper shim was to help support the heatsink so that the CPU doesnt get crushed. Will it make the processor run warmer? If not why do you say to throw it away?

Thumper

 

[Bodaman]

I would keep the shim if only to help with heatsink install. I think you will like your Rig I know mine is one fast MoFo.

 

[ZeroBurn]

it has higher potential to heighten the temp then anything. it may also protect your chip but by being careful as you should anyway i don't think you shuold have any problems. hopefully you've had experience handling HSFs and chips before, knowing you need to keep equal pressure on the core, etc. the real problem is when you REMOVE the heatsink, it has a tendency to tip and exert more pressure on one side, that's when it cracks.

i'd stick some AS on then, get rid of the shim, and be careful. make note the shim isn't going to make your chip invulnerable- you're still gonna have to be careful w/ that core 🙂

 

[DaddyG]

Thumper2, surrounding the core with copper is not the best idea. Heat should move away from the core to the hsf. Multiple pathways exist for the heat. The primary pathway is through the hsf. A second pathway exists through the ceramic base. A third involves air around the core.
AMD is strictly against the spacers.

Two potential problems exist with the shim:

1, the shim could be slightly too thick, result, the hsf doesn't contact the core correctly and the core self destructs.

2, the shim is slightly warped, (the copper is fairly thin), same result as 1.