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Do the AMD 64's need thermal paste?

Originally posted by: w00t
Originally posted by: rleemhui
either do a thing layer or put a smaller than pea sized amount in the middle and just put the heatsink on

hmm.. i heard rice size.

AS themselves recommends about 3/4 of a BB. You can always clean up and adjust a few times before doing the final install.
 
Originally posted by: rleemhui
3/4 a BB....smaller than pea....rice....c'mon guys, they're all beyond similar

They are... I didn't mean to perpetuate the little "debate" of sorts.
 
Will that small of an amount really cover the entire core though?

The reason I say this is I thought that the pea, rice, bb, whatever sized amount applied to the smaller cores of processors such as the T-Bird and XP Athlons. The newer processors such as the A64 have much larger heat spreaders.

Even the stock heatsink has a good amount that covers the entire heat spreader.

Now I am not saying you need to gob it on because that defeats the purpose, making it act like an insulator of heat rather than a conductor.

If I remember correctly, doesn't AS have a guide or something on how to apply the stuff to different processors?

EDIT: Well I was wrong about the size but right about the guide --> Applying AS and a direct link to larger contact area processors --> Applying AS to Large Contact CPUs.

They have a bunch of other guides here as well.
 
The actual core of the AMD64 processors is about 1.5 times the size of an XP core. It is covered by the heatspreader, and you should NOT cover the entire heatspreader with AS5. As was suggested, only use 3/4th of a BB sized, it is enough to spread out to cover the area of the core under the heatspreader.
 
wtf are you talking about?!
This is not MF rocket science, just put a small amount of the MF paste on the MF cpu, now push the heatshink on (gently) and make half a turn (so the paste will spread), now turn on your MF pc.
If temps are not satisfying after a couple of days (yes it takes time for the MF paste to "sink" or whatever), then repeat the MF process, this time apply a little more paste, and so on.

Now, that didn't take a MF brain suregeon to do that, right?
 
If you are implying that you really need Arctic Silver, then the answer is no. The thermal pad that comes on the retail AMD heatsink is actually pretty good stuff. A lot of people here are getting some pretty nice overclocks using just the stock pad and heatsink. But yes, you need some sort of thermal conductor between the heatsink and cpu.
 
Originally posted by: DrCrap
wtf are you talking about?!
This is not MF rocket science, just put a small amount of the MF paste on the MF cpu, now push the heatshink on (gently) and make half a turn (so the paste will spread), now turn on your MF pc.
If temps are not satisfying after a couple of days (yes it takes time for the MF paste to "sink" or whatever), then repeat the MF process, this time apply a little more paste, and so on.

Now, that didn't take a MF brain suregeon to do that, right?

LMAO, that was great. :laugh:
 
Originally posted by: DrCrap
wtf are you talking about?!
This is not MF rocket science, just put a small amount of the MF paste on the MF cpu, now push the heatshink on (gently) and make half a turn (so the paste will spread), now turn on your MF pc.
If temps are not satisfying after a couple of days (yes it takes time for the MF paste to "sink" or whatever), then repeat the MF process, this time apply a little more paste, and so on.

Now, that didn't take a MF brain suregeon to do that, right?
Very informative except that on MF A64's you can't make a MF 1/2 turn. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: DrCrap
wtf are you talking about?!
This is not MF rocket science, just put a small amount of the MF paste on the MF cpu, now push the heatshink on (gently) and make half a turn (so the paste will spread), now turn on your MF pc.
If temps are not satisfying after a couple of days (yes it takes time for the MF paste to "sink" or whatever), then repeat the MF process, this time apply a little more paste, and so on.

Now, that didn't take a MF brain suregeon to do that, right?

this should be on arctic silvers website as the OFFICIAL process
 
The purpose of thermal paste/pads is to bridge surface irregularities between the cpu and heatsink. If the cpu and heatsink were perfectly flat, mirror finished, and aligned absolutely parallel, you wouldn't need it. Since this is an unlikely senerio, you will need it. It has no special magic, it only fills any gaps with thermally conductive material.
 
Originally posted by: kukyfrope
The actual core of the AMD64 processors is about 1.5 times the size of an XP core. It is covered by the heatspreader, and you should NOT cover the entire heatspreader with AS5. As was suggested, only use 3/4th of a BB sized, it is enough to spread out to cover the area of the core under the heatspreader.

Your full of crap! The entire top surface of the heatspreader is the transfer surface. Why pray tell would you not use compound across the entire surface of the heatspreader? If you only put a thin layer of paste where you are guessing the core to be under the heat spreader then in effect you only have a good thermal contact where the compound is applied. Also because the compund creates a certain amount of displacement the heatsink contact with the portions of the heatspreader that do not have compound applied will be even less efficient. It is called a HEAT SPREADER because it takes the heat from the relatively small surface of the core and spreads it over a larger surface area allowing a larger transfer contact area with the heatsink. Not applying compound to the entire contact surface of the heatspreader impedes the efficiency of the thermal transfer between the heatspreader and the heatsink. If you look at the layer of thermal materiel on the AMD retail heatsinks you will see that it is large enough to cover the entire surface of the heatspreader. A paper thin application of thermal compound across the entire contact surface of the heat spreader is the optimal application.
 
Your full of crap! The entire top surface of the heatspreader is the transfer surface. Why pray tell would you not use compound across the entire surface of the heatspreader?


Erm - because the paste spreads across the whole surface under pressure......
 
Originally posted by: ohnnyj
Will that small of an amount really cover the entire core though?

The reason I say this is I thought that the pea, rice, bb, whatever sized amount applied to the smaller cores of processors such as the T-Bird and XP Athlons.

A pea-sized amount of paste on, for example, a Barton-core Athlon? :shocked:

That's way too much.
 
Originally posted by: Deckham
Your full of crap! The entire top surface of the heatspreader is the transfer surface. Why pray tell would you not use compound across the entire surface of the heatspreader?


Erm - because the paste spreads across the whole surface under pressure......

This method, I believe, is what AS recommends themselves...
 
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