replacing retail P4 heatsink

[mattyrun]

i just setup my new system a couple days ago (( P4 2.26B, ga-8iexp, ddr400 512meg stick, 120 gig wd 1200jb hard drive,)) and it's running fairly hot at 37 --> 42 C idle in windows, 47 or so torture testing Prime95 with stock everyting in bios((17x133, 1.5vcore, ddr266)). I decided this was too hot for me to attempt overclocking yet, so today i ordered a Coolmaster IHC-H71 heatsinkfan and some ac3. I've read some threads about people having trouble taking their retail P4 heatsink off because the thermal paste hardened. Does anyone have any tips about how to safely remove the heatsink, get the old hardened thermal paste off their and replace it with the the Coolmaster?

 

[SupermanCK]

take it off slowly...jiggle it a bit...wiggle it a bit...🙂
then be sure to clean off all excess thermal pad on your cpu chip...

 

[mattyrun]

hwo should i clean off the excess, with a little rubbing alcohol? is that safe on a cpu? or do i need to get something else? a different type of solvent? also i bought the ARCTIC SILVER III 1cc tube. 1 cc should be enough to lube up 1 cpu and heatsink shouldn't it? if i have any extra should i try putting it on my northbridge, because my ga-8iexp already has a heatsink and fan on it, is it possible to even put asIII on this?

 

[mattyrun]

ok nevermind, answer the rest of those questions, but i know a 1cc bottle will be enough to do a lot more than 1 cpu. i was a little slow to see 1cc was 1 cubic centimeter.

 

[jiffylube1024]

That is not hot for a CPU, by the way. <50C under prime is totally acceptable.

Oh yeah and I wouldn't recommend jiggling or wiggling that HSF too much, that could damage the CPU. Take off those clamps from the retail HSF then pull with steady force.

 

[Detselom]

run prime all night, that'll heat up the thermal pad. then u should be able to remove it without ripping it out of the mb.

 

[mattyrun]

that's exactly what i did, and it came off so easily, almost all thermal pad was on the heatsink, very little on cpu. i just used a little isopropyll alcohol to rub off the rest of the goo. then i put on my as3 and ihc-h71 and that worked terribly. hehe. but now that i took it back off, cleaned off cpu and reapplied the as3 much thinner, i'm running 42 C at load right now =) very happy with that.

 

[Mikki]

Good deal, 42c is a good temp, my 1.6a at load hits around 48c (stock hsf). Congrats...🙂

 

[PaveGuy]

Awesome! Now that you got it runnin cool, crank up the FSB and see what it will do. 😀

Mik, Check you in box. 😛

P.S. Do you really Know, Mik. :Q

 

[Mikki]

Oh I know...yes, I know...

😉

 

[Lizardman]

did you lap your cpu at all?

 

[mattyrun]

no i didn't lap it at all, cause i wasn't quit sure what that was. i just simply applied the as3 very thin onto the cpu and then i rubbed as3 on the entire base of the heatsink, rubbed it all around with a plastic bag around my hand, and then wiped it all back off with a lint free rag. the heatsink was thin hazey with the as3 remnents on it (( when i wiped it off i didn't scrub it off, just wiped it off)). i am just normal computing now (( irc, anandforms, aim, winamp, ms word)) and at 35 --> 37 C.