Removing thermal pad from Taisol hs/fan

[Tetsuo316]

I read in a review recently that to get the best performance out of the hs/fan, the pad should be removed and a good paste should be used instead. I agree with this line of reasoning as I've used arctic silver in the past and that brought my temps down another 2-3 degress celsius. What's the best way to remove the thermal pad that's on the hs now?

 

[ErikS]

Use you finger nail to scrape most of the stuff off & then finish with Goo-gone or acetone (nail polish remover). I prefer goo-gone, works on damn near everything, even removes the rear window defogger paint on Durons/t-birds.

 

[Tetsuo316]

i knew i'd heard nail polish remover before. thanks ErikS. just needed some confirmation on a vague, nagging memory.

 

[Vpham97]

Unless you already bought some Artic, I would just use the pad that came w/ the HSF.
Use a lighter to burn off the thermal pad.
After you burn it you can clean up off w/ rubbing alcohol.
Don't use anything sharp to scrape your HSF.

 

[Tetsuo316]

Yeah, i already have some arctic silver, so that's not a problem. thanks for the tips.

 

[Rudee]

No no no no no NO!!! Don't remove the thermal pad from the TaiSol!

The thermal pad that comes with the TaiSol kicks a$$! It allowed me to overclock my 1Ghz T-bird to 1150, and it's running rock stable and cool as a cucumber.

Don't listen to people who tell you to remove it - not with the TaiSol anyway.

The difference between the Delta w/thermal Grease and the TaiSol with thermal pad is 1 degree C!

AMD didn't approve the TaiSol just for the heck of it! They are superior heatsink/fan's, but trust me - leave the pad on.

 

[Tetsuo316]

i thought about that too, and i realize that amd approved them for a reason - that's why whenever anyone asks for a good hs/fan for a tbird, i point them to amd's approved list. the only thing though is, in taking off the pad i'm not going to damage the hs and it will bring the temp down another couple degrees celsius, and considering i already have the arctic silver, i don't see any reason not to. my buddy SilverBack talks about his success with arctic silver here and i just don't see any reason to keep a lower conducive pad on there when i can easily take it off and replace it with a higher conducive paste.

 

[Fardringle]

It's true that Arctic Silver is probably better than the pad on the Taisol, but I've had MUCH better results with the pad than I have with any other grease (Haven't been able to get any Arctic Silver yet) so if it's a choice between generic grease and the pad, I'd say definitely keep the pad!

 

[DaddyG]

Don't forget, that so called 'pad' provides a cushioning action to prevent the crushing of the core. The compound on the TAISOL is CHOMERICS T-725 which is very good. I'm prepared to say that 50% of the people using Arctic Silver apply it incorrectly and DON'T improve temps. Plus its not just about the initial temps, silicone based greases are known to dry out over time due to the high heat output of a BIRD. PCTC will not. Its your choice but I suggest that you leave the pad alone.

BTW heating up the compound by disconnecting your fan helps the change process, watch your temps as you do this. The 'change' happens at about 58c.

 

[Fardringle]

Hehe - some 'components' start heating up due to "the change" at about 12-14 or so, don't they?

(Sorry, but I really couldn't resist...)

 

[Tetsuo316]

DaddyG, when you say "apply it incorrectly," what do you mean? I saw in a previous post that you said people put too much on - is that what you are referring to? I realize that you only have to put on as much as the actual cpu surface allows (ie only the little core on the chip and not all the surrounding area), and that you don't need to goop it on, just a thin layer will do. At least, that was the information that was given to me, and information that I've put to use on several systems. Am I wrong?

Secondly, what "change Process" are you talking about?

I hope you follow up on your posts. I find the PM feature to be very useful in keeping direct one-on-one conversations going.

I appreciate all of the information from all you guys.

 

[Fardringle]

Put too much paste on and you will actually restrict the heat transfer and reduce the effectiveness of the heat sink. Don't put enough and the paste can't do it's job properly..


EDIT: And Tetsuo, the change DaddyG was referring to is that if you let the heatsink get hot, the pad will soften up quite a bit and it will be easier to remove. The change I was referring to is a different type of change, but still tends to cause 'heating up'...

 

[SamWoo]

I vote for leaving the paste on.

 

[Tetsuo316]

should i start a poll or what?

j/k

 

[Spindler]

eriks, where does one get "goo gone" from?

 

[Fardringle]

You can get Goo Gone, or a similar product, from most hardware/auto parts stores as well as many craft stores..

 

[Vpham97]

Goo Gone can be bought at Wal-mart. Grocery store like HEB. Goo Gone look thick & yellow, does it leave residue(stain)?

From what I know, you don't apply all over the core. Put a drop on your core, and it should spread out.
Why the extra headache when you can just use the pad?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

if you're gonna be switching heatsinks around a lot, i would remove the pad and get a quality grease(does not have to be artic silver).


Mike

 

[Vpham97]

Change process huh? Check this linkabout how I forgot to connect the fan back in? The fan of the Taisol HSF was accidently left off for about 1 hrs. Does higher temp = better burn in? Don't try this at home?

 

[Fardringle]

Ouch! I suppose that your experience could be used as an excellent tesimonial for the effectiveness of the Taisol if you ran your system for an hour without having the fan on and it still works!

 

[Tetsuo316]

ok! I'll just use the silly pad!

 

[Vpham97]

Faringle,
During that hour, I spent most of my time running dos programs(partition, format, HD exact copy.) After running for Windows for a little bit, I was given the blue screen of death.:Q If that didn't happen, I would've never put two and two together. Last time it happen for about 20 second w/ my stock HSF(different CPu also) the pad was all bubbling. I haven't took the Taisol HSF off yet. My Duron probably has turn copper colored. Yeah, I got a copper Duron(Just Jkng). I think the motherboard manufacture should make system not boot if there was no HSF connection to the CPU. But then, there are people around who don't use the three pin connection in fear that their Fop-38 would burn it out the motherboard.

 

[Fardringle]

Even then, I generally get close to the same idle temperatures in the BIOS that I do in Windows, so you can't have been running very cool - it's just that DOS isn't too picky about things like heat, voltage, data accuracy , etc, so I'd be VERY curious to see what your actually operating temperature was, since I'm too much of a chicken (cow-ard, really..) to try it on my own system...maybe I'll try it with my old K6-2 and see what happens, since that is my wife's computer.. Hehe!

 

[Vpham97]

Fardringle,
I jumped after I figure out what happen. I hit the shutdown button. That was too long, so I pull off the power plug. I walk out to tell my roomate what has happen. Quickly, I came back in and plug the HSF fan back in, turn the computer on so that the fan can cool the CPU down. The Bios was reading the temp at ~87 C(this was after an hour) on Asus A7v, Bios 1004a and going down. Last time this happen w/ the Stock HSF on a T/Bird, the temp was 89 C after 20 second. My friend, touch it and burn his hand on the sink. I didn't want to burn mine finger this time. My roomate told me to touch the sink and see how hot it was. I wish that I had touch it so I could know how hot it really was. I touch it after a couple of minute, the HSF was barely warm to the touch. This was when I was running my Duron 700 at 950. 1.75 volts(and I'm determine not to go any higher.

Edit: I was right around that critical point for the core. The temp reading was probably 10-15 C off also.

 

[Vpham97]

My roomate say that the temp was at 85 C. I don't remember the Fahrenheit exactly. But that's about 189 F.