How do you Correctly Apply Arctic Silver 5 to AMD 64 939 ?

[SourTimes]

What is the correct method of application for arctic silver 5 on a 939 pin athlon 64... not that pincount matters I guess . Just wondering in terms of amount and how it should be spread/cover the cpu. I of course have looked on arcticsilver's site. And have seen that small drop they put in the middle and say to put on the heatsink and move it around a bit to spread it on. But I am curious for specifics, as in just how thick the covering of the grease should be, as well as how to spread it properly and just what amount really is right and how much is too much or too little, and how much of the chip should be covered with it. Also if you should apply to chip & heatsink or just chip. Thanks so much.

 

[Matthias99]

Why don't you just follow their instructions? Put a small amount of AS5 on the CPU:

Athlon64- About the size of one and a half uncooked grains of short-grain white rice or 3/4 of a BB.

And then mount the heatsink (and twist slightly if possible to spread it a bit). They can't really make the instructions any simpler or more idiot-proof.

 

[MasterFlash]

Well, people have different approaches. I've heard of putting the paste on in a couple small rice sized drops, and then letting the contact between the cpu and HS squeeze it, making the spread. I'd rather see the spread first. Apply as little paste as possible to completely cover the surface of the cpu. Put some paste in the middle, and then drag it out to the edge with something like an old credit card. Smooth it out thin, and wipe off any extra the card comes away with. It's recommended to take a small amount of paste and rub it hard into the surface of the HS where the contact with the cpu will be made. The whole point is to improve thermal conductivity. The small imperfections of the the two surfaces being joined benefit by having a medium (the paste) that fills in the gaps. But having too much paste decreases the thermal conductivity. Some people are really anal about lapping and applying paste. Unless you're a hardcore overclocker, a little extra paste isn't going to matter much, and it's safer to have a little more than not enough.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I always used to cover the entire heat plate of the CPU (for P4's) until recently. I saw the 1 drop method on the AS website and tried that. Cools exactly the same as when I used to cover the whole heat plate. I do rub some into the HS just to fill in anything.

 

[Maximus96]

i covered up the entire heat plate on mine. some reason i felt it was safer that way. I will be taking mine apart soon to install a new mobo, maybe i'll try the one-drop method.

 

[thorin]

RTFM

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: thorin
RTFM

awesome!

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: thorin
RTFM

I just did and I must admit I learned something. I normally spread out my paste across the entire portion that contacts the heatsink with a clean finger. I'll do the one drop & heatsink rub with paste this time.