Newbie at this: Do I need Thermal Paste for my 2.8c

[nnnnnpatel]

I got a new Pentium 4 2.8c Chip from Intel. The Stock Heat Sink has a black pad like stuff on bottom surface. My CPU chip is all flat on top side. Should I be putting Thermal compound on it. I brought the good Arctic Silver 3. I have also installed the cpu/fan and used it for 5 hours, would this be a problem? If I have to put the thermal compound (based on community recommendation), will there be special steps I have to take. How much would I apply on chip surface? The picture on my Arctic Silver showed a different type of chip with small amount being applied in the middle. My chip is all flat. Anyway if some can please advisor, I would really apprciate it.

thanks
nick

Thanks.

 

[infinite012]

Take off your heatsink and peel off the black pad. It's a thermal transfer device, but it's not as good as AS3. Directions for applying arctic silver. Make sure yours doesn't have a red cap or you bought the wrong one.

 

[Jeff7181]

You can use the black pad... or you can use Arctic Silver or some other thermal compound. AMD says they won't honor warranties if you don't use the thermal pad on their retail heatsinks... a tech support agent from AMD has told me directly via e-mail that AMD doesn't have to honor the warranty if you use AS3... but that doesn't mean they won't =) Just means they're not obligated to.

*EDIT* Reread your post and noticed you said you've already used the black pad... you'll NEVER be able to completely remove that material from the heatsink and CPU now because it works it's way into microscopic valleys when it heats up and it's impossible to remove it all... so in theory, AS3 will never work as good as it would have if you hadn't used the thermal pad at all...

I say, if you're not overclocking, go ahead and use the pad to keep your warranty in tact... if you're overclocking, you void your warranty anyway, so go ahead and use a compound that will help keep it running cooler.

 

[stevejst]

Take off your heatsink and peel off the black pad.

Do not do that unless you intend to overclock. That is an excellent indicator for Intel to deny warranty claim.

 

[Icewind]

Pff warranty? who needs warranty

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Icewind
Pff warranty? who needs warranty

Somebody who doesn't overclock.