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First time HSF/AS5 Installer.

Atty

Atty

Golden Member
I've got my new rig and I'm planning on installing a CNPS9500 using Arctic Silver 5.

Now I'm no noob to installing components but when it comes to installing a a new HS5 and using AS5 I'm a noob.

My first question is: What is the best way to apply the Thermal Paste? Zalman says to spread it out on the processor then put down the HSF. Arctic Silver 5's installation guide shows that you should put a dab on the middle of the processor then put the HSF down and turn clockwise/counterclock wise to spread it out evenly.

What is the best way of the two? Has anyone installed the CNPS9500 on a Core 2 Duo? If so can you tell me how it went? I'll be using a ASUS P5W DH Deluxe.

Anything else anyone can tell me that will help installing the HSF and Applying the thermale paste would be awsome. I just don't want to screw it up lol.
 
Do it either way, you're unlikely to ever notice any difference (it's one of those tiny differences that's only measurable if you're using tools that can measure out to 3 decimal points, and can only be consistently replicated in a laboratory). Obviously the dab and press method is the easiest and cleanest. Just realize that you really don't need very much at all. A large amount of what you apply is just going to get squeezed out and over the edges.
 
Do I need to get the Thermal Paste all over the processor? On AS's site it shows it just on the middle and a litttle bit of the middle surrounding area not on the edges.

Also if for some reason the thermal paste is done wrong and its all installed, if the processor gets to a certain temp will it auto off?
 
Not sure about C2D systems auto-shutting off. I believe it's dependent on the motherboard having such a feature still. The P4's just throttled down to a lower speed to reduce heat but I don't know if the C2D has that. You can get some idea of how well your cooling is working by just going into the BIOS setup and on letting it sit on the hardware monitor screen for a little while. The CPU will often get pretty warm just sitting there in the setup screens. Unless it starts to hit like 55 or 60C, then you've done an okay job.

It's really hard to get thermal paste "wrong", as long as you mount the heatsink properly.

With current CPUs that use a heatspreader plate, Arctic Silver has started saying that it's okay not to have the entire heatplate covered with compound, as long as the large center area of it is. That's because the actual CPU die is in the middle of the heatplate, and isn't nearly as large as the plate, so the hottest area of the heatplate is in the middle. Not trying to get every bit covered has the advantage of not having the compound oozing out of the edge of the CPU, and is in most cases perfectly okay for cooling, but even if the edges aren't nearly as hot as the center, every little bit of contact helps even if only a tiny bit. If you've got decent airflow through the case and a good fan on the heatsink, then the AS5 method will work perfectly well, and being a fanatic about covering the whole thing gets into the realm of people who get upset if they have to miss out on a 2MHz higher overclock.

If I recall correctly, the thermal pad on the stock heatsink of my recent Athlon X2 build wasn't even quite as large as the CPU heatplate.
 
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