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To Shim or not to Shim?

I would say no.
Copper conducts electricity... one false move and zap-o.
just get a normal HSF like a taisol or hedgehog.
 
They look a little screwey to me. It would be easy to short out the components on the surface of the CPU. If you do use it, make sure it doesn't keep the heatsink from contacting the core. Install it all with thermal compound, then remove it and check the compound on the core. if it's very thin then it's contacting fine. If it looks a bit thick on one half or wherever, the shim is keeping it from contacting.
 
The placebo effect is wonderful with a copper shim. Nice, shiny, "protector". but once you get past the fuzzy goodness it ain't worth it. I bought one. Its really pretty sitting here on my desk.
 
so you dont waste your money, use it to prop up a lop-sided table or chair. Its electrical conductivity will be negligable in that respect.
 
I use them on some Intel FCPGA systems I overclock. I wouldn't put one on an AMD chip for anything in the world with all the electronics and connections on the top of the CPU due to the possibility of damage and or shorting.

On the FCPGA, I have seen benefits from their use. One is temperature and the other is cooler stability. If a customer goes to LAN parties (most systems I build are for gamers) I suggest it as the computer usually rides around in a trunk of a vehicle and I am concerned about the cooler getting out of proper alignment. Also if the CPU is highly overclocked and temperature is a concern I will use them (I usually "paint" both sides of the shim with arctic silver and also apply Arctic Silver between the edge of the CPU die and the inside of the opening of the shim). I have seen this drop CPU temp by 1 to 1.5 degrees C - not a lot but in my opinion worthwhile in some cases. In my opinion the copper shim helps "spread" the heat across the full surface of the heatsink more efficiently.
 
I am purchasing a Socket A Thunderbird, however i bought from cpufx and they have cutouts for all of the elestronics on top of the chip
 
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