Help about heatsink and Arctic Silver 5

[Shadmere]

I just got an Opteron 165.

It's got a really nice heatsink that came with it. The bottom of the heatsink is covered in a thin layer of silverish goo.

Is this goo thermal compound? Should I remove it before I apply AS5?

I think I should, but I wanted to ask before I removed something I shouldn't.

Thanks!

 

[BoboKatt]

Yeah that's the standard compound. Works well and I have yet to see much difference between scraping and cleaning that crap off and adding my own. What does help it seems that over time, expecially if you removed the HS/Fan a few times or whatnot you may eventually need to remove and clean that crud off and apply new stuff.

 

[Aquila76]

You do need to remove that stuff first if using AS5. Their website has a great step by step on how to do it, but basically it's lint free cloth, Qtip with rubbing alcohol (higher % alcohol the better) until shiny and clean, AS5.

 

[Fallengod]

I use the same stock heatsink. To be honest, it cools exactly the same with AS5 I applied, as it does with the stock compound. I wouldnt waste your time.