Thermal tape or thermal paste?

[BadOmen]

Greetings

Have you ever tried those on CPUs?

Chromerics Thermattach

Akasa Thermal Adhesive

Is it the future or just a feeble attempt?

Come to think of it, I would definitely prefer to stick a tape to my cpu/hsf than spend the night thinking "should I have used a line or a drop of AC5?". "should I spread it with a credit card or leave it like this?".

But it sounds too easy to be true. So, I ask you: thermal tape or thermal paste?

 

[Zepper]

On CPUs you use pads or grease - no adhesives. Those are for ramsinks or bridge sinks when there is no holding mechanism for the sinks. Use a good grease like MX-2 or TX-2 on everything else. Line or pea makes little diff, enough is the key either way, just wipe the excess off around the edges and all will be well.

.bh.

 

[BadOmen]

Oh, I thought that could help with the cpu as well.

Now, I'm used to grease and the mess it does, but I am not familiar with pads. Can you say the name of one of them so I can research?

I really would like to find something better and easier to measure than thermal paste.

 

[Rubycon]

Pads are better when the fit is uncertain or there may be larger gaps between the heatsink and the cooled device.

 

[Zepper]

There are several good thermal pads out there. Shin Etsu makes good ones but you can seldom find them under the Shin Etsu brand. Akasa is probably the most familiar name among the S-E repackagers. Honeywell also makes a decent one that is generally sold OEM only. And Parker - Chomerics is good for pads too - these are usually OEM only as well. You can find the best selection on eBay that I know of.
. Generally pads are a phase change material which means that at a given temperature, they will change from a solid to a semi-liquid state which allows them to "bed in" and fill any microscopic bubbles and air pockets that are present. I prefer those that change at a higher temp. You allow your CPU to get a bit hotter for a while to bed the pad and then run below the change point as much as possible. I think that if you use one that is changing all the time that a lot could eventually get "pumped out" by the continuous changes. However, I've been known to be wrong on occasion.
. One nice thing about pads is that they are an apply once and forget it solution. I like to update my grease TIMs at least once a year. But your typical ATer won't leave things alone long enough to experience the consequences of pumping or drying...

.bh.