does heat sink grease destroy celeron 2?

Cyberian89

Member
Jul 13, 2000
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hi!
in my pc shop i was told that heatsink grease would destroy the celeron 2. is that true?

thanks for your help!

rupert
 

Dogbertatwork

Member
Jul 19, 2000
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Sounds like a good pc shop you have there. Can you post their name and address? Remind me never to buy anything from them.
 

Ulysses

Platinum Member
Jun 17, 2000
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Well maybe - if you use a conductive type grease (like Radio Shark's, I'm told) and slather enough of it on the chip - you might be unlucky enough to do some damage. But it's not very likely.
 

Cyberian89

Member
Jul 13, 2000
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the shop was "K&M Elektronik" in Mannheim, a german shop who normally has quite a good name... extactly that fact was frightening me ;-)

i mean if i had been told that at "vobis" (the german idiot discounter), i would have ignored it, but at K&M i thought that should be different...

@Ulysses: how do i recognize such a grease?

is there even a need for grease? because K&M allows to return the CPU in 14 days, so i might test if it works at 850 and if not simply return it. when i put grease on it, i suppose that would not be so easy any more, because i suppose it wouldn't be that simple to get the grease off the CPU...
they only allow you to return it, when there are absolutely no traces that it had been used...

rupert

 

UserX

Junior Member
Jun 19, 2000
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Hey, I've been buying a Cel2-533 at this very shop (I mean it's brother in Berlin) and bought some or the "original" thermal compound. (They only have one sort, I think) By the way, the compound is white, does it mean it is bad? No one said anything to me about the compound damaging the cpu, and by now everything works. No damage until now :) Just their standard cooler (for around 5$) which seemed to be not bad finally rather seems to be not that good cause the cpu runs a little bit hot (57°maximum) when running at 800 MHz. Hey, don't choose their mid-tower, cause you could only use the two above 5,25" slots, the third one is blocked by the mobo!
Anyway, good luck with your 'puter! Me, I'm sooo glad I finally have a super stable system! Speed is not important for me at the moment, so I'm running at 533 while continue to think about cooling and stuff and finally overclock when I really will need the speed and know exactly how I keep my system cool.
 

Ben_Tech

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Jan 12, 2000
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It is not possible to harm the FC-PGA cpu with reasonably-carefully applied thermal grease.
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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Actually, NOT putting on grease (or at least some sort of thermal conductive agent) is a good way to help along the early demise of your CPU.

The standard grease which most people seem to use silicone based and is white. The electrically conductive silver stuff is darkish silver and the electrically non-conductive silver stuff is a much lighter silver colour (oooo.... shiny paste....).

The silver (and copper ones) are much better than silicone, but the silicone ones are good enough. Stick with the electrically non-conductive ones though, like the silicone one or Arctic Silver (but NOT the Circuit Works silver stuff).

If I recall correctly, the Radio Shack stuff comes in very large amounts and is cheap and electrically non-conductive. However, it isn't that good. Given that the silicone stuff only costs about 2 deutsche marks (enough for several CPUs) you may as well get that stuff, unless you're willing to spend 30 to get the awesome Arctic Silver (if you can even get it in Germany).

P.S. It may be quite hard to test without using grease. Unless you have a very good chip, my guess is that it will very difficult to have it survive extended stability testing without thermal grease. However, the same chip may be just fine with thermal grease.

This is pure conjecture, but I'm guessing if it boots and loads Windows fine and runs for a least a little while at 1.65 V without thermal grease, it may be fine with thermal grease at the same voltage or a little higher. If it makes it that far, then feel free to put the stuff on to test more. (Personally, the idea of not using thermal grease even for testing makes me uncomfortable however.) Also, you can clean the stuff off with acetone and EtOH, but I can't remember if the any noticeable residue remains.
 

DaddyG

Banned
Mar 24, 2000
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This mis-information may have come from reports that Intel has refused warranty on RETAIL P3/Celery 2's when the thermal pad has been removed and thermal grease applied in its place. The fact that the thermal grease performs better doesn't seem to matter. The FC-PGA package is quite fragile and the chip cracks easily if too much force is applied when installing the heatsink and fan.
 

Cyberian89

Member
Jul 13, 2000
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hi again!
do you think that i will be able to test the cpu WITHOUT grease but WITH a pad? this way i could test it, and if works a that temperature, then i could still place the grease instead of the pad to lower the temp still a little more. do you think that is okay, or do you think that only using the pad i will not get far enough to make a reliable test?

another question: this competent employee at "K&M" also told me that some thermal pads leave some "white stuff" on the celeron if removed. is that incorrect as well? if it is not, is it possible to remove this stuff?
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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Don't buy the retail chip with the el cheapo heatsink/fan and thermal pad. You're much better off buying an OEM one and getting a good heatsink/fan with grease.
 

mpitts

Lifer
Jun 9, 2000
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I agree with Eug.

You are better off saving some money on the OEM CPU and buying a descent HSF for it. Retail HSF's are generally cruddy..
 

UserX

Junior Member
Jun 19, 2000
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"white stuff"? My thermal pad is silver and doesn't leave anything on the cpu. Hmmm, seems that I should remove the thermal pad... By now, I had added some thermal grease to that pad and the temps dropped a tiny bit. So, from what I hear here, it should further drop if I remove the pad and only use thermal compound?
 

Cyberian89

Member
Jul 13, 2000
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i have already ordered an excellent cooler (alpha pep66), as far as i know it should be delievered with a pad that has to be removed before using grease. do you think that this good cooler with a PAD would be enough (for testing)?
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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The PEP66 does not come with a pad, it just has a nice copper inlay to help conduct. Just apply a sparing layer of thermal paste to the cpu core and mount it. Enjoy! :)