New Athlon x2

[Ejhocky313]

Hi All!

New to the forums, so far love all the information on this fine site! anyways to my topic, I am upgrading from a(n) Athlon 2800+ XP to a 3800+ x2 in the next week or so and I have a question. The retail box comes with a HSF, I always took off that pink "bubble gum" they put on the bottom of the heatsink, and applied arctic silver... does AMD still do that, or do they do something else? Should I still do the same thing, or leave it how it is? Thank you in advance for whatever input anyone has, I appreciate it!



P.S.-New egg has the 3800+ X2 for $353 as of this morning

 

[RichUK]

The retail heatsink has a thermal pad already on the bottom of it (Grey square), it has like a plastic shroud just to keep it clean when packaged which you take off to apply the heatsink to the CPU.

You can scrape it off but you might need to use some rubbing alcohol to get it nice and clean, some lapping on the retail heatsink would be good aswell but totally not worth it. After that you can then just apply some arctic silver and your ready to go. I probably wouldnt take this route, it is not worth the effort, as the current thermal pad is quite efficient. If you are going to use AS5 i would recommend a new heatsink.

 

[Heckler 5th]

a lot of people still take the grey stuff off before installing but i wouldn't waste any AS5 on the retail heatsink. you won't gain anything. that grey stuff isn't too bad, actually.

 

[klah]

Remove the thermal pad. After it melts the first time it become a very strong adhesive. There are many threads here concerning HSs that have bonded with the cpu and have become extremely difficult to remove, often resulting in the destruction of the cpu.

 

[Leper Messiah]

IIRC AMD actually uses Shin Etsu for their thermal pads, which is pretty damn good stuff. I haven't had any problems getting the stock HSFU off my winny either.

 

[Ejhocky313]

So if the HSF that comes stock will work fine, but there have been cases of the CPU beeing fused to it, for lack of better term, what's a good HSF to get, maybe around 50 or so bucks? Im still used to Socket A...I need to get with it! Thanks

 

[RichUK]

Big Typhone

Thermalright xp90c & Panaflo 92mm

 

[forumposter32]

Originally posted by: Ejhocky313
So if the HSF that comes stock will work fine, but there have been cases of the CPU beeing fused to it, for lack of better term, what's a good HSF to get, maybe around 50 or so bucks? Im still used to Socket A...I need to get with it! Thanks

some people use Arctic Silver Ceramique. It's non-conductive and apparently does not glue the heatsink to the CPU like AS5.

 

[Heckler 5th]

Originally posted by: Ejhocky313
So if the HSF that comes stock will work fine, but there have been cases of the CPU beeing fused to it, for lack of better term, what's a good HSF to get, maybe around 50 or so bucks? Im still used to Socket A...I need to get with it! Thanks

yeah, this is a problem with AS5 not the heatsink. happens to me too.

 

[Mogadon]

Thermaltake Big Typhoon

 

[evilharp]

Originally posted by: forumposter32

Originally posted by: Ejhocky313
So if the HSF that comes stock will work fine, but there have been cases of the CPU beeing fused to it, for lack of better term, what's a good HSF to get, maybe around 50 or so bucks? Im still used to Socket A...I need to get with it! Thanks

some people use Arctic Silver Ceramique. It's non-conductive and apparently does not glue the heatsink to the CPU like AS5.

Ceramique is nice, but it has a "curing" period, and it is a little harder to work with than AS5.

AS5 is fine for CPUs with heatspreaders, and you'd really have to make a mess to get the AS5 on a printed circuit (ie MOBO). Remember, a little AS5 is all you need. Check the Arctic Silver site for installation instructions.

As for a better heatsink:

-Thermaltake Big Typhoon
-Thermalright XP90/XP90c/XP120 or the SI series
-Scythe Ninja (if you can find one)
-Zalman 9500

Whatever you get, read some reviews first (from good sites, not the kind that "Editor's Choice" everything they see) and make sure it will fit your motherboard.

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: Mogadon
Thermaltake Big Typhoon

QFT.

If you're going to remove the thermal pad, just get a new heatsink altogether

 

[Markfw]

XP90 (non copper) for $30-35 including fan it can't be beat in value IMO.