Do I really need a "shim" for my CPU/Fan?

[Achilles97]

???

It's an XP 2100+ TBred B.

Thanks!

 

[Ilmater]

That's a pretty proc, and no, you don't. It's nice, I guess, but I've never used one and haven't cracked a core yet. I'm not superstitious, am I.

Oh, and some think that they're bad for heat reasons, though your specific proc won't have any, if you O/C, you might be better off without one.

 

[kidjan]

I wouldn't waste your time with one. I've never cracked a core either - although I've never used the kind of HS's that screw into the motherboard either.

Still, I don't see how you could crack a core on one of those AMD chips. You would have to be pushing WAY to hard, IMO.

 

[Achilles97]

Thanks, guys.

 

[JavaMomma]

whats a shim?

 

[Achilles97]

It's like a little pad thingie that goes inbetween the CPU and the heatsink so that the heatsink rests on the pad and the cpu core evenly.

Here's a pic:

http://www.accubyte.com/applications/search/itemdetails.asp?sku=CPU-SHIM

 

[MedicBob]

There are several styles of shims. Most aren't meant for the XP chips and can damage it by conducting electricity or by being too thick and the chip fries.

I wouldn't use one, haven't used one, and have never chipped a chip. Pun intended.

 

[Shockwave]

I think the shins are more for peltiers and watercooling, but not very sure.
Anyways, I havent used one.
I'm on my 4th (yes, 4TH!! CPU)
I crack those things like mad.
1st victim: 800 mghz T-Bird (An orignal WITH uncut bridges!)
2nd victim: 800 mghz Duron
3rd not-yet-victim: 1.1 Duron, still runnin strong
4th hopefully-wont-be-victim: 2200XP

Just be very careful, also, I think cracked cores were a much bigger problem when they first released the K7 chips. I think they made some minor changes which has pretty much taken care of that, although that doesnt mean you can just bang on it with a hammer.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

There pretty useless.

 

[bgeh]

no, it's very hard for a person to crack a core
i'm 15 and i've never cracked a cpu core eventhough i've reinstalled my heatsink several times

 

[r0guenj]

i actually like to use themand i do recommend them..........it would really suck to chip the corner on your core because you were off by a little bit........definitely good for the corners.......

heat isn't a problem with shims anyway....... how many fans do you have that normally blow onto the core itself? i would bet none as 99.99999999999% of the heat is supposed to be carried away by the heatsink anyway.......

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: r0guenj
i actually like to use themand i do recommend them..........it would really suck to chip the corner on your core because you were off by a little bit........definitely good for the corners.......

heat isn't a problem with shims anyway....... how many fans do you have that normally blow onto the core itself? i would bet none as 99.99999999999% of the heat is supposed to be carried away by the heatsink anyway.......

I think that the problem is that the shim causes the heatsink to be very close to, but not in contact with, the core.

I've had 3 T-Bird CPUs, one of which I used that huge Alpha 8054 screw-in heatsink, and have had no problems with cracking the core. I've been really rough with them, and nothing has happened.

 

[r0guenj]

the shims i have seen are even if a tiny bit lower than the core.........so i have not seen that problem with the shim not causing full contact......

 

[MedicBob]

Originally posted by: r0guenj
the shims i have seen are even if a tiny bit lower than the core.........so i have not seen that problem with the shim not causing full contact......

AMD has released several versions of their chips, we all know that. XP Palimino and XP T-bred are differant heigths at the core. So are older T-Breds, there was a number of failures from using a shim meant for a classic T-Bred on an XP chip due to core differences.

Do a search here and in CPU's including the archived posts and all your questions should be answered.

 

[Chu]

Answer: No. Especially if your cheap, since a lot of the cheaper shims can actuially do more harm then good with improper milling.