Thermal paste vs. graphite pad vs. combos?

[Gunnar]

I just got a Pentium 3 800 that is replacing my Celeron 433. I am reusing the antec fan that I had previously, which has some sort of pad affixed to the bottom. I also got a tube of arctic silver, and I used it in combination of the graphite pad and HSF. Is this better or worse in terms of a cooling solution? Are you not supposed to use thermal paste and graphite pads?

My asus cubx is reporting a 40 Degrees celsius (104 fahrenheit) temperature for my CPU... sounds a little hot.

 

[Mavrick007]

You should use one or the other, the pad or the paste, not both, and if you do try to take the hsf off of a cpu once, you must clean off the hsf and cpu completely and then reapply the paste before seating the hsf back on. It has to be a really thin layer or else it can be harmful cause it will trap the head instead of dissipating it.

40C is not too hot for a cpu. Typically you will see cpus go in the 50'sC and 60'sC sometimes. I'm not positive what the range for the P3 was but 40C is not too bad by the sounds of it. Was this idle or after full load?

 

[Hobbes28]

Use either the thermal pad or the thermal grease but not both together. Each one by itself has the purpose of filling air voids which impedes thermal transfer. Typically Arctic Silver type greases conduct heat and enhance the thermal transfer as well as fill the air voids, whereas the pads (the ones I've seen are typically parafin wax (pink) and fill the air voids fine but do nothing in the way of helping move heat from the core. You also want to be careful of using to much of one as this can also limit the heat transfer, just enough to cover the desired area with a thin film. You also want to be careful not to leave any residue such as body oils or lint on the opposing surfaces. Check this link for good application instructions from Arctic Silver.

Good luck to ya...

 

[Gunnar]

wow, sounds complicated. from the looks of that page, I didnt apply it properly.

What is the normal operating temperature for a pentium 3 class cpu? How about a P3-800?