Thermal paste later?

[koomba]

I know this may seem like a stupid question, but ive never used thermal paste before. Anyways my question was: can I go ahead and install my cpu right now, and then put some arctic silver on it later, whenever I get some? Because I wasnt really planning on overclocking right now, I wanted to wait for some as3. So is there anything that says i cant just do it later? Thanks.

 

[Lonemagi]

You need some thermal interface material (TIM) inbetween the cpu and heatsink. It fills the gaps between the 2 (and it may look flat to your eye, but it's probably not) and keeps air from doing the same. Air, btw, is a great heat insulator.

If the heatsink ame with some pink stuff on it, or with grease of some sort, use it (remember to pull of the protective tape on the pink stuff) and replace whatever it is later with arctic silver. That will hold you fine for a long time, and if you dont plan on overclocking, and it has that pink stuff on there, use that!

<A HREF="http://tekkoshocon.com/" target="_new">http://tekkoshocon.com/</A> Southeast Pennsylvania gets an Anime Convention!

 

[svol]

This is funny but IIRC I used to run my Alpha PAL6035 on a T-bird 1GHz a couple of months without ANY thermal paste before I put AS2 on it. Temps where rather high though.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dimms when I turn it on

 

[funkdog]

Yeah that Pal6035 was an extrodinary heatsink. 4 years old at this point, but still have a friend using my old one on his 1.2ghz Athlon, always loved the quality of that heatsink. I can't imagine if you used some 10 dollar sink and forgot to use paste.

<b>"These are my thoughts, your mileage may vary."

 

[svol]

That is right... most normal HSFs wont work good without thermal paste.
It is now running on a P3 700@933MHz with a normal fan... very nice temp I must say.
I really like the Alpha PAL6035 HSF... easy installation methode and solid cooling. Too bad they are hard to find nowadays.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dimms when I turn it on

 

[bob_dn]

koomba

You should always apply thermal compound between heatsink and processor.
If you plan on using Arctic Silver you can find detailed instructions <A HREF="http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm" target="_new">here</A>.