Thinking about thermal paste

[Mist]

I'm going to lap my CPU some time soon, and I've been thinking about thermal paste, then I had this idea:

What about applying a layer of gold leaf to the CPU, (Tualatin Celeron, btw)?

Then give it a gentle lap with maybe 1200 or 1500 paper, so any surface inconsistencies wiuld be filled with gold instead of thermal paste.

Surely gold conducts heat better than thermal paste?

Any thoughts, anyone?

Michael.

 

[WarCon]

I had this thought awhile back and was curious. I say try and let us know.

 

[Corporate Thug]

go for it, and tell us how it goes

 

[lenjack]

Sometimes called gold foil. It's 24 carot.

 

[Mist]

Yeah, I'm quite prepared to do a bit of lapping, but if I try the gold foil/leaf, I might ah heck up my CPU and it'll take me a couple of weeks to get another one.

So, I'm a bit wary, you might say.

Michael.

 

[Blooz1]

This is an interesting idea, but consider this: If you hit that layer of 24 carat gold with <U>any</U> type of abrasive, you'll remove 98% of the gold with the paper!

I have been in electroplating QA for 20 years, and I'm around 24 carat gold plating all day, so I'm more than a little familiar with it's properties. Most people don't realize how soft pure gold actually is!

 

[GooGooCluster]

Originally posted by: Blooz1
This is an interesting idea, but consider this: If you hit that layer of 24 carat gold with any type of abrasive, you'll remove 98% of the gold with the paper!

I have been in electroplating QA for 20 years, and I'm around 24 carat gold plating all day, so I'm more than a little familiar with it's properties. Most people don't realize how soft pure gold actually is!

So do you think his Idea will work then? Have you tried this? If your around it all the time you should give it a try if not. I am interested in the results.

 

[lchyi]

So you think a gold plated slug would do well? What about Arctic Gold 3!

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: lchyi
So you think a gold plated slug would do well? What about Arctic Gold 3!

I don't know much about electroplating unfortunately - I imagine that there's a good reason that we don't see heatsinks with gold plating on the bottom. I figure that it's because the gold layer would be incredibly thin, and any scrape would remove it.

 

[Mist]

Exactly, and that's the idea behind thermal compound.

For example. audio/signal cables make a big deal about it, so why not CPUs?

Michael.