How much Thermal Paste to put on a heatsink? Overclocking P4 2.6C

[RussianSensation]

My system:

2.6@3.06 @1.50 (actual) - 1.575 Effective stock heatsink/fan
Abit IS7 1.6 bios (234FSB/186MEM = 5:4 ratio)
2x256 Geil PC3500UP @2-6-3-3 Gat@turbo-a-a-d-d @2.74 actual
350 watt turbolink

Now i just ordered Zalman CNPS-7000Cu cooler and some Arctic Silver 3 and i am not sure how much of the thermal paste to put on the heatsink...also should i put a little on the cpu and a litlte on the heatsink? spread it over the cpu evenly or in the middle so when heatsink comes down it spreads the compound "naturally"

It would be very helpful if there was a picture with teh thermal paste on the cpu so I could see how much I have to put ..does anyone know of a link to something like that?

And one more question right now my cpu idles at 45.5 and load at 64*C in Hardware Doctor...Assuming I keep the same setup and relax the RAm timings if necessary with stock northbridge cooler what approximate overclock could i achieve with Zalman cooler (assuming limited by Temperature)? (I am hoping around 3.5ghz)

Would it be of any benefit to get a better Northbridge cooler like Tiger 1 or something??? or stock one is fine?

 

[high]

Ok, let me be the first to offer some suggestions:

1. Thermal Compound - whenever I add any I just put a "dab" in the very centre of the CPU so when the heatsink comes in contact it evenly spreads it. That issue is open for debate because some people use the plastic bag over finger technique to evenly spread it...but I prefer just a little bit on the actual CPU and none put on the heatsink.

2. You should hit minimum 3.2, no questions asked and I'm sure with the ASIII and you're cooler you will definitely drop your idle/load temps.

3. I have found 3rd party north bridge cooling effective if you're only given a passive heatsink. I have seen people replace factory mobo fan cooling on the NB with VERY minimal change, but passive ---> active will be a very nice change and will give you just that much more headroom.

Good luck in your o/cing.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanx for your suggestions I'll let you know how it goes in a week's time

My northbridge cooler is active but i am not sure if its gonna be sufficient enough

I guess it will because most people hit high FSBs with the stock active northbridge coolers on Abit IS7s and IC7s

With stock heatsink and fan i could get 3.25ghz but the problem is I had to raise the voltage to 1.60V and that was getting too hot in high 65*C thats why i needed a better cooler

Either way thanx for the advice on AS3

 

[FPSguy]

Here are the instructions for applying AS3, complete with pictures. Among other things, they say "On Intel P4s with the integral metal heat spreader, more compound is needed. Transfer about the size of 2 uncooked grains of short-grain white rice or 1 BB."