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Heat Sink Thermal Grease...to add or not?

Last response: in Systems
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I've got a retail boxed Athlon 64 X2 3800+ that I plan to install in the next day or two, and I had a question about using thermal grease with it.

The stock heatsink and fan will be used for now...though I'll upgrade when I start overclocking. The stock heat sink has a "patch" about an inch square of thermal grease already on it. And, I was wondering if that will be sufficient or if I should add any (I ordered a little tube of the arctic silver stuff).

If I should add more, is it okay to apply the arctic silver stuff with the stock stuff, or should I scrape off the stock stuff first?
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It actually works just FINE, provided you aren't an idiot: The heatsink needs to be applied on one, smooth continuous movement to prevent damaging the surface of the pad. The CPU must not be moved or twisted afterwards, and once the machine has been running for a while, the heatsink absolutely must NOT be moved at all. If you follow those rules, then the stock pad is more than adequate.

I agree that Arctic Silver is preferable, but only of you are super picky, want to overclock and have the time required to strip the pad, and do it manually. It's not an option in a commercial operation; every minute spent building = less profit...

Quote:
I've got a retail boxed Athlon 64 X2 3800+ that I plan to install in the next day or two, and I had a question about using thermal grease with it.

The stock heatsink and fan will be used for now...though I'll upgrade when I start overclocking. The stock heat sink has a "patch" about an inch square of thermal grease already on it. And, I was wondering if that will be sufficient or if I should add any (I ordered a little tube of the arctic silver stuff).

If I should add more, is it okay to apply the arctic silver stuff with the stock stuff, or should I scrape off the stock stuff first?


He is overclocking.

really i have never seen any diff in my experience
but i overclock and also dont see any diff in that either
oh by the you dont need any paste period my brother ran a barton 2800 on a k7n2 for almost 2 years with stock hsf and no paste
and it still works although i dont recomend it

meh, that's really overkill for an AMD processor. I found that out the hard way, buying a vantec tornado for a 3200...
stock fan/aluminum block of crap should be fine, although something else is flashier/better performing.

i have a arctic freezer for my 3700 it didnt change temps at all
but my brother has a 3500 clawhammer and he put the same cooler on his and the temps went from 115f to 89 or 92 at idle
so thats seems pretty good
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