To grease or not to grease?!

[DrAmar]

Hi guys,

I just asked the following question in the regular CPU forum and there doesn't seem to be an easy answer to it. I was just wondering how the things look like from the overclocker perspective. Also since I assume that I have bought a fairly common MB + Cpu combo, I am very interested in hearing what people with the same configuration decided to use (AMD recommended Thermal Pad ot AS)
Here it goes!


I just ordered the parts for my new comp., and I was wondering about my upcoming CPU installation.

I will be installing an Athlon 2500+ XP and I am planing to overclock it to 3200+ speeds using the standard AMD fan(+ Asus A7N8X_E Deluxe MB with nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset + 512Mb Corsair XMS ram; 2x256 dual channel)
Originally I was planing on puting a small amount of thermal grease between the heatsink and CPU, but then I went to the AMD site and watched their CPU installation guide.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_4348^6678,00.html

Basically they explicitly suggest not to use any grease but instead to stick with the Thermal Pad that I assume will be provided with the heatsink. Furthermore, they clearly state never to use the grease together with the thermal pad.

Toms Hardware Guide however seems to clearly prefere using the paste, so my question is whether to stick with the pad or buy some paste/grease and remove the pad, or even use both (Which doesn't seem to be a good idea according to AMD,but just checking )
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20020918/diy_2-04.html

Thanks,
DrAmar

Ps. Also if grease is better solution, should I go and buy the 10$+ Antec silver paste, or is 2-3$ generic (packed in some bags) sufficient?

I don't even believe in JEBUS!
Homer, you are on the flight to a remote island where you will be doing some missionary work.
SAVE ME JEBUS!!!!!!

 

[scottchen]

Well if you want to look at it from overclocking perspective, then we'd never use stock cooling, but if you're gonna use stock, the pad is good enough. Even with AS5 or ASC you won't see too big of a difference.

NEED NEW SYSTEM!

 

[DrAmar]

One more thing,

P4man also gave me this great link, and informed me that using the paste actually even voids the AMD warranty.
It kind of really disturbes me that AMD would go to such lenghts to prevent using the paste.
http://www.xtremetek.com/info/index.php?id=14

So guys, should I stick with the Thermal Pad or does that really make OC almost impossible as AS suggests it; should I go with the AS despite the AMD recommandations and the fact that I would have to extra drive to the store again to pick it up ; or should I even consider using both?
Does it even matter what I do, or are all the solutions about the same?


I don't even believe in JEBUS!
Homer, you are on the flight to a remote island where you will be doing some missionary work.
SAVE ME JEBUS!!!!!!

 

[Coyote]

You have more/additional responses in the CPU section

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