Heatsink installation

[Brahma]

When installing a heatsink onto my Athlon, do I need to use BOTH a thermal pad and thermal compaound, or do I use either one or the other. thanks for any help

 

[tuesday630]

Don't use both. Usually you scrape off the pad with like plastic credit card like tool, clean it up with rubbing alcohol and then apply the thermal grease.

---There may be more than one way to do it, but why would anyone want to remove the fur from a feline?---

 

[Brahma]

Thanks Tuesday. You say that you scrape the pad off...is the pad inferior to thermal grease?

 

[tuesday630]

It depends on the quality of your thermal grease. Most would agree that Artic Silver is better than the pad.

Be sure to read the installation guide on thier wedsite:
<A HREF="http://www.arcticsilver.com/" target="_new">http://www.arcticsilver.com/</A>

---There may be more than one way to do it, but why would anyone want to remove the fur from a feline?---

 

[Brahma]

Cool. thanks for the help.

 

[eden]

Yes a grease is almost always better than a pad. The pad is very simple heat conductive material that is necessary at the very least to ensure proper heatsink contact, while grease is often comprised of advanced heat dissipation material, and really covers well. Arctic Silver III can take off at least 5ºC when properly applied, a must for overclockers.

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This post is brought to you by Eden, on a Via Eden, in the garden of Eden.

 

[Zivman]

AMD actually doesn't recommend using grease, they recommend using the pad. Grease eventually works its way away from the center of the die over time as the computer is turned on and off. Thermal pad won't do this, but it sounds like most of you already knew this, or maybe not.

 

[eden]

Yes I am aware AMD does not recommend it, that is obviously because they do not want any of the grease's disadvantages appearing and causing more failures.
The pad is safe to use as you have nothing to really do other than just peel off the protection tape.
However while I am aware of the grease waste over time, I've yet to hear anyone here complaining. If anything, Intel and AMD actually will sometimes ship retail CPUs with grease. I don't know if it contradicts their recommendations, or how it's handled but I do remember seeing the instructions booklet showing diverse Retail CPU installation instructions for either a pad or thermal grease that shipped with the retail box.

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This post is brought to you by Eden, on a Via Eden, in the garden of Eden.