How Important is Thermal paste?

[Moss]

Hey Guys,

Well I have not really Put any Heat Sinks on CPU's before...And I just got an AMD 500 K6-2 off Ebay for an Old system I have, which will be used as a server soon. But It Came with no Heat sink, So I found one at a local shop and popped it in last night, but when it gets fully booted the system shuts down, if I reboot and check in the Bios the CPU temp seems to be quite abit higher than the 350 ever was (about 8-10* C), and the temp keeps Climbing. The heat sink is pretty big and the Fan is working, so the only thing I can think of is that the heat is not transferring very well. (If I touch the Heat sink its Cold to the touch) Is it very important for Heat transfer to have thermal Paste between CPU and Heat sink?
Thats the only thing I can think of...does anyone have any other Ideas??

 

[Xazzu]

yea, get yourself some thermal paste, that should help quite a bit, you'd be surprised. check to be sure the fan's running at a good rpm too, and that there's good air flowage inside.

 

[Moss]

The case is off So should be good airflow

The fan was running, I think the Bios reported at like 4500 RPM or there abouts.

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

just get some generic thermal paste and give it a shot (even if it doesnt do the trick, you need it anyways)

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: ChampionAtTufshop
just get some generic thermal paste and give it a shot (even if it doesnt do the trick, you need it anyways)

Yah, you'll need SOMETHING on there. I've never been a big advocate of the hyped compounds like AS2/3 or whatever, I just prefer it for its ease of application and removal....smoooooooooooth.

Chiz

 

[Moss]

I ordered some Ram from www.Ramstore.ca yesterday for the system I am Building, and they throw in free thermal Paste with every order, it should be in early next week, So I'll just wait for it to arrive, and try that.

Or If I find I can't wait I'll stop by a computer shop later today and give it a shot.