Thermal pad on AMD 64 X2 heatsink?

[khkachn]

I have a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800 that came with a heatsink/fan.
The heatsink seems to have a thermal pad on the bottom, but the instructions seem to indicate I should use a thermal grease. The AMD web site is no help at all.
Do I need to go buy some grease or just use the heatsink as is?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[Steaksauce]

You can use the heatsink as is, no problems with that. I think though Artic Silver will do a better job of heat dissipation. Also, I've heard somewhere that if you remove the stock thermal pad, the warranty gets voided... not sure on that one though.

 

[khkachn]

Thanks. That is what I thought, but their docs recomend using thermal gease and even seem to indicate you need to buy it.

 

[mechBgon]

The square patch is, in fact, thermal grease. Shin Etsu, if I'm not mistaken. Smack it on there, latch it down, plug the fan into the power header, and carry on

 

[daveybrat]

Like Mech said, the thermal pad you see is the same thing as using grease. There is no need at all to remove it and spend money on grease.

Pop it on and enjoy!

 

[cubby1223]

I've wiped off the stock thermal pad for arctic silver at times, and the difference in temps is almost negligable nowadays. ~5 years ago there was up to 10 degrees celcius difference in temps, but not anymore.