Replacing Thermal Paste - Tricky or Difficult?

[radioactiveman]

I got an Epox 8KHA+ MB and an XP 1600 the other day - hooked it up and it posted fine - everything purring like a kitten - hardest part was figuring out that I had the FDD connecter in upside down.

Anywho... so I used the pink sticky goop that comes stuck to the bottom of the XP chip b/c I didn't have any thermal paste. Now that I did it, I've bought some Artic Silver II and I want to use this instead. Is there anything tricky with doing this? Is it even possible? Any experience you can share would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TexDotCom]

It is possible. In fact, if you remove the heatsink from the chip, it is a necessity to apply new stuff and get rid of the remains of that old thermal pad. You will need to scrape all of it off the heatsink that you can. I usually use a sharp razor blade for this. You also need to get it all off of the chip. Fingernail polish will usually take it all off of both the chip and the heatsink. I use a soft cotton cloth and acetone.

Once you get all of the old mess off, you will need to apply the new stuff. Apply the ASII only to the die on the chip. You do not need to put it anywhere else (although you can put some on the botton of the heatsink where it contacts the die if you really want to). Dab a little on, and use the aforementioned razor blade to smooth it out to a very thin layer on the die. Then, put your system back together and you should be ready to rock-n-roll.

Hope this helps. 🙂

 

[Shack70]

The easiest way I found to clean a chip is dish detergent. Just a little on a moist paper towel and the thermal paste comes off. Then clean the chip with alcohol afterwords to get any soap resedue off. Let the chip dry before you re-install or put on the artic silver.

 

[radioactiveman]

Thanks guys for the help - it's greatly appreciated. Where would I be without Anandtech? (Answer: $2000 richer - stupid Hot Deals 😉

The other part I forgot to add to the original question is this...

How likely am I to goof this up? What's the risk factor? Is it as low risk as installing a MB without a wrist strap or what?

I don't wanna spend another $140 on another chip.

 

[radioactiveman]

Can anyone help me out with this one? How dangerous is removing the old thermal paste?
I'm itching to do this! 😉

 

[tbalon]

It is not really that bad........ I have done it alot. Are you planning on overclocking this CPU? If so, then ok, you should do it. But if you are not going to be boosting the voltage to get every little ounce of MHZ out of it, then just leave well enough alone. It is not worth the chance of cracking the core. putting the HSF back on w/o cracking the core is the tricky part. Just think about what you are doing,(don't get distracted) use slow and steady pressure on the clip and it sholud snap back into place.

Good luck

 

[Jerboy]

<< I got an Epox 8KHA+ MB and an XP 1600 the other day - hooked it up and it posted fine - everything purring like a kitten - hardest part was figuring out that I had the FDD connecter in upside down.

Anywho... so I used the pink sticky goop that comes stuck to the bottom of the XP chip b/c I didn't have any thermal paste. Now that I did it, I've bought some Artic Silver II and I want to use this instead. Is there anything tricky with doing this? Is it even possible? Any experience you can share would be greatly appreciated! >>



Why do you want to use ASII seeing that everything is working fine as is now?

Don't mess with it unless its not working.

 

[radioactiveman]

I hadn't decided whether or not I wanted to OC this machine - but I figured that if it wasn't hard to replace the paste, then I could probably use the 3 or 4 degrees that it would get me even if I didn't decide to OC. Less Heat = Longer Life whether or not I'm overclocking, right?

If I'm in danger of cracking the core every time I re-set the heatsink, then I'll just wait till I decide to upgrade the heatsink & fan and just do it then.

Thanks for the advice!