about thermal grease...

I just bought a new AMD processor (athlon xp 3000+) that came with the thermal pad on the bottem of the heatsink. I think the general idea is you can either use the pad it comes with OR very carefully whipe it off and replace it with thermal grease on the bottem of the CPU and put some on the processor chip. Which I would say is more hassle then its worth if the heatsink/fan came with the pad anyway.

If you were putting on a fan that didnt have any kind of cooling compound on the bottem (like one that didnt come with the processor) you would have to put the grease on. Or if you took the fan off and you were afraid the pad had got rubbed off or dirty or sumfing.

Im pretty much saying that I think the pad and the grease are just means to the same end, only use one at a time. Hope that healps

You only get warranty with the boxed version if you use AMD's heatsink/fan combo with the grease it comes with. If you replace it, you'll void the warranty.

Wow, i never thought about that. Suppose it would only really matter if the cpu broke down somehow, but knowing my luck... Anywho, thanks for bringing that up tweez; might have saved me some $. I was just wondering about it because AMD's website had said to only use grease if you plan on changing the heatsink alot as it will eventually dry up and break contact with the cpu, yet everyone here seemed to be saying use both. I'll probably just skip the grease then. Thanks for all the info guys :smile:

I've been reading that AMD changed that policy and AS5 etc will no longer void the warranty

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Even if using AS on the A64s doesn't void the warranty, any act of stupidity would. I would say using bothe AS, and the stock TIM would be considered the latter. Use one or the other only.

TIM = thermal interface material.

O.K., you added TIM = thermal interface material but what is AS and A64?

They should've done it that way from the start. I don't see how they will say you did something wrong if you make sure you clean the heatsink and cpu before RMA-ing

AS = Arctic Silver 5

<A HREF="http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm" target="_new">http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm&lt;/A>

A64 = Athlon 64 Microprocessor

Arctic Silver 5 is an excellent thermal grease, and in my opinion would provide better cooling for your brand-new Athlon64. The easiest way to clean it off is to scrape it with a hard smooth plastic object, like a kitchen spatula, then wipe the remaining residue with virgin Acetone (acetone that does not have have any perfumes/surfactants). In other words, don't use nail polish remover. My friend and I bought some AS5; he used it on hiw new A64 and I used it on my P4 3.2, and we're both getting excellent temps! Also, you do NOT want to use the factory pad AND AS5 together; use one or the other. Good luck!

:-)