Related Threads:
Thermal Tape Selection and Thermal Interface Qualities
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=204693
PIII Coppermine and Heatsinks - quality of the thermal interface...
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203730
PIII Coppermine Core ? Lapping it flat?
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203731
FC-PGA Heatsink ?Feet? ? how to get a custom fit
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203734
Heatsinks: Are they Flat? Answer here?.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203739
Thermal Interface Materials: Required Thickness?
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=204688
In the related threads, I have discussed various aspects of achieving a GOOD thermal interface between the PIII Coppermine core and the heatsink. Older Socket-370 heatsinks cannot generally be used on FC-PGA processors due to the ?tilting? effect caused by the small core size. Newer heatsinks generally have stabilizing ?feet? in the corners to help keep the sink level. At best, these ?feet? only offer an APPROXIMATE solution (as discussed in the PIII Coppermine and Heatsinks - quality of the thermal interface... thread). The following procedure can be used to address both older heatsinks and allow adjustment of newer FC-PGA heatsinks to achieve a better mating for a specific processor core.
Materials:
1 each PIII FC-PGA processor
1 each properly lapped heatsink
1 each pad of 3M Post-its
1 pair of sharp scissors (or a good commercial paper cutter)
A large helping of patience and attention to detail..
Taking a new pad of 3M Post-Its, take off the top three or four sheets and discard to reduce the chance of damaged edges or depressions in the paper.
Now, from the NON-glue side of the pad, count out ten sheets, and carefully remove them as one block of sheets.
If you examine the glue strip on the reverse side, you can see where I ends?.
Take your scissors and cut the glue strip off the block of sheets, leaving a small (1/32?) strip of unglued sheet at the edge. This non-glued edge makes it easier to remove individual sheets later.
Now, cut the strip into smaller squares the size necessary to fit in the corners of the processors substrate. NOTE: Cut them small enough so that they do NOT overlap the black labeling area on the lower half of the processor as it is raised slightly higher than the rest of the substrate. Also take care to preserve the non-glued edge.
Now, take 1 square at a time and remove the bottom sheet to expose a fresh glue area. Place the small square in one corner of the processor substrate aligning the edges congruent to the edges of the substrate. Repeat this procedure for each of the remaining corners. Attempt to keep the non-glued egde facing to one of the outside edges of the processor.
At this point, you should have square stack 9 sheets high in each corner of the processor. This will in all likelihood be too thick for a proper fit, and is intentional.
Temporarily assemble the heatsink to the processor. Now examine the assembly from the side. Holding it up to the light is best (stronger the better). If you can see light between the processor and the heatsink, the pads are too thick.
Remove the heatsink. Carefully, remove a single sheet from the top of each of the four pads. Make sure to only remove ONE from each pad. It is critical that you keep the number of remaining sheets equal on the four pads. (That?s why we left the non-glued edge to the outside? to make adjustment easier.)
Reassemble the processor/heatsink assembly and re-examine. Repeat the above procedure until you no longer can see light between the heatsink and processor.
On an UN-lapped processor, the center of the core will touch the sink first, leaving a small gap at each edge of the core. STOP, once the center of the core touches, you cannot further improve the mating, unless you choose to lap the core (see the core lapping thread).
On a fully lapped core, you should be able to adjust the pads so that no light is visible. This is the optimum. Nce this stage is reached, disassemble once more, and apply the best quality NON-conductive thermal compound you can get your hands on according to the manufacturers instructions (I recommend Arctic Silver), and re-assemble the processor/heatsink. Re-install the CPU into your system.
Now overclock to your hearts desire?. Hope this helped!
Thermal Tape Selection and Thermal Interface Qualities
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=204693
PIII Coppermine and Heatsinks - quality of the thermal interface...
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203730
PIII Coppermine Core ? Lapping it flat?
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203731
FC-PGA Heatsink ?Feet? ? how to get a custom fit
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203734
Heatsinks: Are they Flat? Answer here?.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=203739
Thermal Interface Materials: Required Thickness?
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=204688
In the related threads, I have discussed various aspects of achieving a GOOD thermal interface between the PIII Coppermine core and the heatsink. Older Socket-370 heatsinks cannot generally be used on FC-PGA processors due to the ?tilting? effect caused by the small core size. Newer heatsinks generally have stabilizing ?feet? in the corners to help keep the sink level. At best, these ?feet? only offer an APPROXIMATE solution (as discussed in the PIII Coppermine and Heatsinks - quality of the thermal interface... thread). The following procedure can be used to address both older heatsinks and allow adjustment of newer FC-PGA heatsinks to achieve a better mating for a specific processor core.
Materials:
1 each PIII FC-PGA processor
1 each properly lapped heatsink
1 each pad of 3M Post-its
1 pair of sharp scissors (or a good commercial paper cutter)
A large helping of patience and attention to detail..
Taking a new pad of 3M Post-Its, take off the top three or four sheets and discard to reduce the chance of damaged edges or depressions in the paper.
Now, from the NON-glue side of the pad, count out ten sheets, and carefully remove them as one block of sheets.
If you examine the glue strip on the reverse side, you can see where I ends?.
Take your scissors and cut the glue strip off the block of sheets, leaving a small (1/32?) strip of unglued sheet at the edge. This non-glued edge makes it easier to remove individual sheets later.
Now, cut the strip into smaller squares the size necessary to fit in the corners of the processors substrate. NOTE: Cut them small enough so that they do NOT overlap the black labeling area on the lower half of the processor as it is raised slightly higher than the rest of the substrate. Also take care to preserve the non-glued edge.
Now, take 1 square at a time and remove the bottom sheet to expose a fresh glue area. Place the small square in one corner of the processor substrate aligning the edges congruent to the edges of the substrate. Repeat this procedure for each of the remaining corners. Attempt to keep the non-glued egde facing to one of the outside edges of the processor.
At this point, you should have square stack 9 sheets high in each corner of the processor. This will in all likelihood be too thick for a proper fit, and is intentional.
Temporarily assemble the heatsink to the processor. Now examine the assembly from the side. Holding it up to the light is best (stronger the better). If you can see light between the processor and the heatsink, the pads are too thick.
Remove the heatsink. Carefully, remove a single sheet from the top of each of the four pads. Make sure to only remove ONE from each pad. It is critical that you keep the number of remaining sheets equal on the four pads. (That?s why we left the non-glued edge to the outside? to make adjustment easier.)
Reassemble the processor/heatsink assembly and re-examine. Repeat the above procedure until you no longer can see light between the heatsink and processor.
On an UN-lapped processor, the center of the core will touch the sink first, leaving a small gap at each edge of the core. STOP, once the center of the core touches, you cannot further improve the mating, unless you choose to lap the core (see the core lapping thread).
On a fully lapped core, you should be able to adjust the pads so that no light is visible. This is the optimum. Nce this stage is reached, disassemble once more, and apply the best quality NON-conductive thermal compound you can get your hands on according to the manufacturers instructions (I recommend Arctic Silver), and re-assemble the processor/heatsink. Re-install the CPU into your system.
Now overclock to your hearts desire?. Hope this helped!
Facebook
Twitter