Thermal paste issue/question

[xbdestroya]

Posted this in CPU's, but thought I'd post here too.

Normally I use Artic 5, but my new Zalman 7000 only makes contact with my A64 2800 on the edges of the AMD heat spreader. Soooo.... right now my CPU is idling at about 48 C.

It's not going to end my computer, but it's still a little warm.

Now, there cannot be much space between the cpu and the heatsink, so I was thinking of getting a thermal pad and using that instead, as it will probably (I think) make contact.

Any ideas or suggestions? Or any higher performance products anyone can suggest that don't have to be spread on in a super thin layer?

 

[MDE]

You could always use a little bit more paste to fill the void or lap the Zalman flat.

 

[xbdestroya]

Well I could fill the gap, no doubt, btu for some reason I was under the impression that that would be 'bad' using Arctic Silver. Why then the need for normal layers to be so thin on the CPU?

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: xbdestroya
Well I could fill the gap, no doubt, btu for some reason I was under the impression that that would be 'bad' using Arctic Silver. Why then the need for normal layers to be so thin on the CPU?

Normally the CPU and HSF mating surfaces are flat, so you'd want to use as little AS5 as possible because it's only there to fill the air gap between the CPU and HSF. In your case there's a bigger air gap which requires more AS5.

 

[Zepper]

AS doesn't recommend AS5 for any but die type CPUs. They recommend pads (or perhaps their Ceramique) for heat-spreader topped CPUs.
.bh.

 

[xbdestroya]

Oh yeah? Well that's good to know Zepper - I never would have guessed that. I'll go to Antec's site and see if I can dig up more.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Zepper
AS doesn't recommend AS5 for any but die type CPUs. They recommend pads (or perhaps their Ceramique) for heat-spreader topped CPUs.
.bh.

Um, where did you learn that?

AS Instructions

Scroll down and there is an entire section on applying to CPU's with heat spreaders.

-spike

 

[xbdestroya]

Ah well then - my Arctic Silver is back on track then! Good news indeed. And with the indication that I should just put a bunch of AS5 in the center of the heat spreader and put the heat sink on should ensure contact is made between my heat sink and the CPU. Finally I'll be able to bring that copper into play.

BTW, any idea what a normal A64 idle temp should be to begin with?

 

[gobucks]

AS5 is supposed to be much thicker, so that it can handle slightly larger gaps than the older version. It's very possible that the thinner versions like AS3 were not recommended for heatspreader CPUs.