Thermal pad or no thermal pad? That is the question...

[SpeedFreak03]

I am building my P4 system tomorrow, and I have a P4 2.6C, Asus P4P800 Deluxe., and a gig of Kingston hyperX PC3200. Anyway, should I use the included thermal pad on the P4's retail HS, or should I peel it off and apply my Artic Silver 5? I know the AS5 is better in all respects, butttttttttt removing the thermal pad voids the warranty... So what should I do? Keep my warrenty or have good cooling (and a removable HS lol, I hear the thermal pad acts like an adhesive)? How easy is it to kill this CPU? My case temp is always low (from 21C to 24C depending on room temp).

-Josh

 

[SpeedFreak03]

So the poll is at 3 for AS5, and...um...none for the thermal pad! So I guess nobody uses the thermal pad? Keep the opinions coming!

 

[seepy83]

i dont think i'll ever buy a retail CPU again, because any system will run so much cooler with an aftermarket hs/f and thermal compound. my vote is for AS5. (lol...looks like ass)

 

[Goatsan]

Originally posted by: seepy83
i dont think i'll ever buy a retail CPU again, because any system will run so much cooler with an aftermarket hs/f and thermal compound. my vote is for AS5. (lol...looks like ass)

you mean the retail hsf i guess. granted i dont have an intel, but the company you buy it from should still allow you to return it even if the pad is off, they probably wont even check.

 

[jdogg707]

Thermal Pads are evil, do your self a favor and apply some AS5

 

[myocardia]

If you're worried about keeping your warranty, why remove the thermal pad? It only takes 1/16 on an inch (less really) of AS5 to do the job. I say keep the thermal pad on there, apply your AS5, and see what happens. If you ever need to send it back, just wipe the Artic Silver off. It may not work as well, but I would give it a shot at least. And if it doesn't work well at all, you can still take the thermal pad off anytime you want.

 

[MDE]

If you're overclocking or plan on removing the HS anytime soon, put AS on there, if not just leave the pad on.

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Well I decided to take off the thermal pad and use AS5. It works fine!

 

[INemtsev]

One time I had a 1.33 GHZ Thunderbird and a cooler made for T-birds it came with a crappy yellow pad...so I put it on run it 24/7 for 3 days start to get alerts on temps above 65C me ignores then my fan stalls....I'm like what the.....and I look and the fan melted lol......what a story

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Well my P4 is still running strong! And I have a 1.33GHz t-bird also lol. I have had heat issues with it until I bought a cooler made for an AthlonXP 2500+! Those are some hot CPUs...