HeatSink compound question

[DarkLord98]

I am getting a new cpu and hs/fan within the next week. I was wondering if the hs compound was absolutely necessary when attaching the hs/fan to the cpu? This is for a thunderbird 850, running at 200fsb. After applying it, will it be very hard to remove the hs from the cpu, should the need arise?

 

[mechBgon]

It's highly recommended. Something is needed to transmit the heat efficiently from the CPU core to the heatsink. In a perfect world, both surfaces would be utterly smooth and flat, with 100% contact at the molecular level, and nothing would be needed betwen them. As it is, the three methods of conduction are thermal grease (aka heatsink compound, thermal paste, etc), a thermal pad, and a special gummy stuff that is like a hybrid between the two and which turns semi-viscous at elevated temperatures. AMD's official recommendation is for the last of these, perhaps because it will conform to the gap if the heatsink is not quite straight.

I guess there's thermal epoxy too, but that is not a good idea for a CPU, since you would not be able to access the CPU-release lever afterwards.

Thermal grease won't glue on your heatsink, although it might take a bit of twisting to break the viscous suction of the very-thin layer of grease. It can be wiped off with a cloth and some rubbing alcohol. Hope that is a help.

 

[DarkLord98]

Thanks